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2026 Regular Session Introduced by Joanna King

North Dakota updates its meat and poultry rules to adopt federal standards current as of July 3, 2024, harmonizing state enforcement with recent federal requirements.

Authored by Representative King

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Main purpose

HB 1085 updates North Dakota law to adopt the current federal meat and poultry inspection regulations by changing the federal-reference date in state statute. The bill aligns state regulatory text with the version of Title 9, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), parts governing meat and poultry inspection as they existed on July 3, 2024.

Key provisions

Amends ND Century Code § 4.1-31-01.1 to change the incorporated-by-reference date for federal meat and poultry inspection regulations from October 19, 2022 to July 3, 2024.

Continues to incorporate by reference the federal rules found in 9 CFR, parts 301–320, 325, 329, 381, 391, 416–418, 424, 430, 441, 442, and 500.

Explicitly retains the exclusions of 9 CFR parts 307.5 and 381.38 (these federal subparts are not adopted into state law).

Who or what is affected

State agencies: North Dakota Department of Agriculture and other regulatory/enforcement units that apply state meat and poultry inspection law will enforce a version of federal rules current as of July 3, 2024.

Regulated industry: livestock slaughterers, meat and poultry processors, processors of prepared meat products, and associated laboratories and service providers who must comply with the state-adopted inspection standards.

Consumers/civil enforcement: the update affects the legal basis for inspection, labeling, safety standards, recordkeeping, and enforcement under state law that mirror federal requirements.

Implementation and timing

The statute is amended to reference federal regulations as of July 3, 2024; incorporation-by-reference is effective once the bill becomes law (the bill record indicates the measure was introduced Nov. 12, 2024 and filed with the Secretary of State on Mar. 14 — see procedural history below).

Agencies will need to ensure enforcement, guidance, forms, and communications reflect any new or changed federal requirements adopted by the updated reference date.

Procedural history (selected)

Introduced: November 12, 2024 (Agriculture Committee at request of the Agriculture Commissioner).

Legislative activity: Passed both chambers (committee reports and calendar activity recorded); filed with the Secretary of State on March 14 (document record).

The bill as enacted replaces the older federal reference date (Oct. 19, 2022) with July 3, 2024 in state law.

Practical impact / considerations

Primary effect is regulatory alignment: streamlines state–federal consistency so that state enforcement references the more-recent federal requirements without requiring wholesale separate state rulemaking.

Regulated parties should review the differences between the October 2022 and July 2024 federal texts to identify any new or changed compliance obligations (labeling, operational, testing, recordkeeping, etc.).

The continued exclusion of 9 CFR 307.5 and 381.38 means those specific federal provisions remain outside the state-adopted framework.

Bill