Healthy Poultry Assistance and Indemnification Act of 2025
This bill amends the Animal Health Protection Act to create a new program that pays compensation to poultry growers and layer facilities located in APHIS-designated control areas who were prohibited from growing or laying birds because of their location. The compensation is calculated using a formula based on the owner’s recent income and the number of restricted flocks, with an offset if the owner has received other compensation for the same period. Payments would be made within 60 days after the owner requests compensation, and the Secretary’s determination would be final and not subject to federal judicial review. The bill also prohibits duplicate payments with other compensation already received for the same period and aligns with existing exceptions for other parts of the program. In short, the bill aims to provide a defined, timely federal payout to poultry producers affected by disease-control zones, while limiting duplication with other payments and keeping the agency’s decision-making final.
Key Points
- 1Establishes a new compensation provision (Compensation for Poultry Growers and Layers in Control Areas) within the Animal Health Protection Act, to aid owners of poultry facilities in control areas.
- 2Definitions included:
- 3- Control area: a region designated by the APHIS Administrator.
- 4- Poultry: domesticated fowl raised for eggs or meat (includes chickens, turkeys, ostriches, emus, rheas, cassowaries, waterfowl, and game birds) but excludes doves and pigeons.
- 5How compensation works:
- 6- Eligibility: owners of poultry growing or laying facilities within a control area who were prohibited from operating due to their location.
- 7- Calculation: compensation equals the product of the average income from the facility’s five most recent flocks and the number of flocks the owner was prohibited from growing/laying during the control area period.
- 8- Limits and offsets: payments cannot exceed the amount calculated minus any compensation already received from a state or other source for the same prohibited flocks.
- 9- Finality: the Secretary’s determination of the amount is final and not subject to judicial review or review by other federal officials.
- 10- Timing: payment must be made within 60 days after the owner submits a compensation request.
- 11Exceptions and interactions:
- 12- Applies the existing exceptions from subsection (d)(3) to this new subsection.
- 13- No payment to an owner who has already received compensation under subsection (d) for a facility in the same control area during the same period.