I filed Senate Bill 506 on Dec. 1, 2013. As the legislative session progressed, key agricultural measures were added in the Missouri Senate and House of Representatives. When the session ended on May 16, 2014, SB 506 and House Bill 1326 were almost identical and served as the major agriculture bills for the year. They include commercial pesticide spraying provisions, land transfer title requirements, cattle liability protection, increased hauling limits for livestock, the Dairy Revitalization Act, the large animal vet student loan program and the classification of captive cervids as livestock. This is one of the most comprehensive agriculture bills passed in recent years and I fully support it.

Cervids are hoofed mammals characterized by the males having antlers. White-tail deer, elk and many other deer species are members of the cervid family. The classification of captive deer as livestock would transfer the regulation of captive deer owners and breeders from the Department of Conservation to the Department of Agriculture. It would also allow Missouri meat processors to market and sell venison harvested from captive herds year round.

The debate in the Legislature over captive and non-captive white-tail deer has been ongoing for several years. In the summer of 2013, the House formed an interim committee to study chronic wasting disease (CWD), which affects cervids, and its presence in Missouri. The committee heard from the Department of Conservation, scientists, veterinarians and captive deer farmers. My understanding is that they tried to facilitate an agreement between the deer farmers and Department of Conservation, but to no avail. The department would not consider the impact of its decisions on these independent and private property owners and would not meet with them. Since then, the Department of Conservation has proposed rules that will effectively put captive deer owners and breeders out of business, under the guise of managing CWD.

The Department of Conservation is unchecked in the rules they make, the budget they control and how they choose to impact intra- and interstate commerce. They believe this power is granted to them by our state constitution and thus far it has not been challenged.

In 1995, Senate Bill 109 was sponsored by then-Sen. Joe Maxwell and handled in the House by then-Rep. Steve Gaw. The bill classified “elk” as livestock, provided they are obtained from a legal source and not the wild. It also defined "aquaculture" as livestock, in accordance with the livestock definition contained in rules made by the Department of Conversation. Both the Departments of Conservation and Agriculture testified in favor of adding elk to the listing of livestock in statute. Senate Bill 109 passed and was signed into law. Since then, the two departments have successfully shared the responsibility of overseeing these two sectors of agriculture, an example of how they can work together to benefit all of us. Of course, this was 16 years before the Department of Conservation began to “restore” the elk population in Missouri. Today, captive deer farmers go through the same basic procedure for bringing captive deer into Missouri that the Department of Conservation went through to bring wild elk here in 2011.

In explaining his decision to veto SB 506, the governor stated, "these changes would eliminate the role of the Missouri Department of Conservation in regulating white-tailed deer." That statement is not accurate. This legislation applies only to captive cervids, not the non-captive deer that run free through our fields, yards and roads. He also describes white-tail deer as game animals, yet other game animal owners are permitted and overseen by the Department of Agriculture, such as big cats (lions and tigers), bears, and the circuses and zoos operating in the state. If the governor is worried about disease, then the move to the Department of Agriculture is a positive one, as that is where the state veterinarian is located.

I will work to overturn this veto and maintain my support for all of these measures that are so important to Missouri agriculture and our the citizens and property owners of our state.