Co-Sponsorship Memo Details

Since 2022, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has been working with our poultry producers to prevent the spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, also known as High-Path, a type of bird flu. In the past few months, states around the country, including our neighbor Ohio, have found High-Path spreading to dairy cattle, demonstrating the importance of those preventive efforts. Certified Poultry Technicians are key to preventing the spread of High-Path. Unfortunately, the law authorizing Certified Poultry Technicians to do this work, which was first passed in 1956, sorely needs to be updated.
 
Many individuals who work in Pennsylvania’s poultry operations are not US citizens and despite legally being able to work on farms in the United States, limiting Certified Poultry Technicians to US citizens, prevents these hardworking individuals from becoming Certified Poultry Technicians. My bill would change this so that anyone able to work in the US legally would be able to become a Certified Poultry Technician, once they complete the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s training course.
 
Additionally, Certified Poultry Technicians would be able to take samples from birds from the farms where they work. Our poultry operations have indicated that this limitation also heavily impacts the ability of our farmers to make use of Certified Poultry Technicians in an efficient manner. My bill would eliminate this prohibition.
 
Finally, my bill would align the fee structure in the authorizing law to match that from the Administrative Code of 1929. Section 602-A(7) set the annual fee to $10 in 1981, which is the same as in my bill, so there is no fee increase in this bill.
 
I hope that you will join me in supporting Pennsylvania’s poultry industry.