Kansas Senate Bill SB89

Kansas 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/28/25
• Refer: 1/29/25
• Report Pass: 2/11/25
• Engrossed: 2/20/25
• Refer: 2/20/25
• Report Pass: 3/12/25
• Enrolled: 3/27/25
• Passed: 4/10/25

Caption

Authorizing the animal health commissioner to adopt rules and regulations to administer the poultry disease control act and to establish an annual participation fee for participation in the national poultry improvement plan, a certification fee for persons performing testing and diagnostic services and a testing fee per visit to each location participating in the plan.

Summary

SB 89 updates Kansas’s poultry disease control act to give the animal health commissioner broader rulemaking authority over the National Poultry Improvement Plan and related disease-control procedures. The bill authorizes the commissioner to set annual fees for plan participation, certification fees for people who perform testing or diagnostic services, and a per-visit testing fee for commissioner-provided services. It also clarifies definitions and standards for hatcheries, hatchery supply flocks, poultry, and pullorum-typhoid/fowl typhoid control, and it requires that poultry shipped into Kansas come from approved or equivalent sources. The bill also tightens compliance and enforcement provisions. Hatcheries and supply flocks must either be designated under the national plan or meet equivalent standards, poultry shown at public exhibitions must meet testing or surveillance requirements, and infected flocks may be quarantined until marketed, destroyed, or cleared by testing. The commissioner may revoke plan participation if a participant fails to comply with the act or plan requirements, including failure to pay the annual participation fee within a 60-day grace period, or if repeated disease outbreaks occur. The bill repeals and replaces the existing statutory sections governing these topics.

Impact

SB 89 amends K.S.A. 2-909 through 2-915, affecting the poultry disease control act and the regulatory authority of the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s animal health commissioner. It creates new fee structures for plan participation, certification, and testing services, and it strengthens the state’s ability to regulate poultry imports, hatchery status, exhibition birds, quarantine procedures, and revocation of plan participation. The bill primarily affects poultry producers, hatcheries, exhibitors, veterinarians or other certified testers, and owners of infected flocks.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have been broadly supported. It passed the Kansas Senate 38-2 and the House 123-0, indicating strong bipartisan approval and little visible opposition in the recorded votes. The overall sentiment suggests lawmakers viewed the measure as a practical administrative update to support poultry disease prevention and state compliance with national standards.

Contention

The main potential points of contention are the new fees and the commissioner’s expanded authority to set and enforce them, including the ability to revoke plan participation for nonpayment after a 60-day grace period. Those provisions could affect hatcheries, flock owners, and service providers who must pay to participate or certify testing. Another possible concern is the stricter shipment and exhibition requirements, which may impose additional compliance burdens on poultry owners and exhibitors, though the recorded votes suggest these issues did not generate significant legislative resistance.