Liberty Township
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Ordinance No. 2006-
Note: This municipal Ordinance has been prepared by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit law firm located in Pennsylvania. This Ordinance has been prepared as a “model” Ordinance for jurisdictions that wish to nullify animal identification and premises registration laws. The Legal Defense Fund can be reached at (717) 709-0457 or at info@celdf.org.
AN ORDINANCE OF LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, WESTMORELAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, VINDICATING PEOPLE’S BILL OF RIGHTS’ AND PENNSYLVANIA CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTIONS, AND PROTECTING FARM PRIVACY AND PROFITABILITY BY NULLIFYING ALL MANDATED FEDERAL AND STATE LIVESTOCK TRACKING AND PREMISES IDENTIFICATION LAWS AND REGULATIONS
Section 1. Name. The name of this Ordinance shall be the “Liberty Township Farm Privacy and Profitability Ordinance.”
Section 2. Authority. This Ordinance is adopted and enacted pursuant to the authority granted to the Township by all relevant state and federal laws including, but not limited to the following:
§ The Declaration of Independence, which declares that governments are instituted to secure people’s rights, and that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed;
§ The Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution, including the First Amendment’s guarantee of the free exercise of religion and free speech, the Fourth Amendment’s guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process, the Thirteenth Amendment’s prohibition of involuntary servitude, and the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantees of due process and equal protection of the laws;
§ The Pennsylvania Constitution, Article 1, §2, which declares that “all power is inherent in the people and all free governments are founded on their authority and instituted for their peace, safety, and happiness”;
§ The provisions of the Second Class Township Code Article XV, as codified in 53 P.S. § 66501 et seq. that provide for the protection and preservation of the natural resources and human resources, and for the promotion, protection, and facilitation of public health, safety, and welfare;
§ The provisions of the Second Class Township Code, Article XVI, as codified in 53 P.S. § 66601 et seq. that authorizes the Township to enact ordinances dealing with the protection of the township residents’ health, nuisances, and promotion of public safety.
Section 3. Purpose – Fundamental and Inalienable Rights. The purpose of this Ordinance is to defend and protect the right of the people of Liberty Township to Bill of Rights’ constitutional protections, farm privacy, and their right to earn a living from farming. In support of those goals, the Board of Supervisors of Liberty Township declares that the people of the Township are born equally free and independent, and possess certain inalienable and fundamental rights, among which are those of enjoying life and liberty, pursuing happiness, and participating in democratic self-governance. People establish governments to secure and protect those rights, and governments are just which derive their powers from the consent of the governed. Therefore, the Board of Supervisors declares that any and all actions taken by governments that deny the people’s inalienable and fundamental rights, either individually or collectively, are illegitimate, unauthorized, and void.
Section 4. Purpose – Animal Tracking and Premises Identification. The Board of Supervisors of Liberty Township recognizes that the United States Department of Agriculture has adopted a National Animal Identification System (NAIS) that was created by agribusiness corporations and their trade associations. That System will require mandatory farm registration and animal identification by January of 2008. Under that System, premises identification will require the registration of homes keyed to global positioning systems, and those registrations will be maintained in a federal database using a seven digit premises identification number. Animal identification will require a tag or microchip which will contain a radio frequency identification device, and may also require a collection of genetic material and/or a retinal scan of every registered animal.
Section 5. Purpose – Impact of Animal Tracking and Premises Identification. It is the belief of the Board of Supervisors that a mandatory animal tracking and premises identification system will (1) impose costs for registration on small farmers that threaten margins of farm profitability, (2) require owners of even one animal to register their home and animals into the federal database, (3) require owners of animals to report the birthdate of all of their animals, report times that the animals leave or enter the property, report the loss or replacement of an animal tag, and report the death of the animal – all within twenty-four hours of those events, (4) require veterinarians to report animal owners who have not complied with the animal tracking system to the United States Department of Agriculture, with enforcement carried out by that agency, and (5) enable the federal government to seize privately owned farm animals without due process or other constitutional protections. It is the belief of the Board of Supervisors that governmental animal tracking and premises identification therefore violates the Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, and First Amendment federal constitutional rights of the people of Liberty Township, and violates rights secured under Article I of the Pennsylvania Constitution.
Section 6. Definitions. As used throughout this Ordinance, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:
“Corporation” – any corporation organized under the laws of any state of the United States or any country.
“Families” – natural persons related to one another within the fourth degree of kinship according to civil law, or their spouses.
“Family farm corporations” - corporations or syndicates engaged in farming or the ownership of agricultural land, in which seventy-five percent (75%) of the partnership interests, shares, stock, or other ownership interests are held by members of a family or a trust created for the benefit of a member of that family.
“Independent family farm operation” – agricultural operations wholly owned and operated by families or by family farm corporations.
“Municipality” – the Township of Liberty.
“Person” – a natural person.
“Syndicate” – includes any limited partnership, limited liability partnership, business trust, or limited liability company organized under the laws of any state of the United States or any country.
Section 7. Statement of Law – Declaration of Rights. Every person and family in Liberty Township interested in creating, or already engaged in, an independent family farm operation, has an unabridged right to make a living wage from farming. Every person and family in Liberty Township has the right to privacy and security, a right to due process of law, a right to free exercise of their religion, a right to be free from involuntary servitude, and a right to equal protection of the laws. The people of Liberty Township also possess the rights guaranteed to them by the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the federal Constitution, in addition to the rights guaranteed to them by Article I of the Pennsylvania Constitution.
Section 8. Statement of Law – Nullification. Any state or federal law requiring a mandatory animal identification or premises registration system within the Township of Liberty shall be null and void within the Township of Liberty.
Section 9. Statement of Law – Duty of Municipality. The Township of Liberty shall protect and defend the residents of the Township, with all necessary financial resources, from state and federal efforts to enforce mandatory animal identification or premises registration systems within the Township of Liberty. That duty shall include, but not be limited to, seeking injunctive relief against governmental and corporate entities which seek to enforce laws mandating animal identification and/or premises registration within the Township.
Section 10. Statement of Law – Corporate Constitutional Protections. No corporation or syndicate engaged in, or planning to engage in, agricultural operations within the Township of Liberty shall be protected, or empowered by, the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution, or by rights claimed within the text of the United States or Pennsylvania Constitutions, within the Township of Liberty. No corporation or syndicate shall be empowered by any private enforcement provisions contained within animal identification or premises registration systems within the Township of Liberty, to force any resident of the Township to comply with laws governing those systems.
Section 11. Enforcement. The Township Board of Supervisors shall take action to enjoin all efforts by County, State, and federal governmental officials to enforce any mandatory animal identification or premises registration laws against any resident of Liberty Township. Any attempt by those officials to enforce a mandatory animal identification or premises registration law shall be considered a summary criminal offense, punishable by $1,000.00 per violation, and such penalty shall be assessed personally against any individual, even if acting within their official capacity, who attempts to enforce a mandatory animal identification or premises registration law.
Section 12. Severability. The provisions of this Ordinance are severable, and if any section, clause, sentence, part, or provision thereof shall be held illegal, invalid or unconstitutional by any court of relevant jurisdiction, such decision of the court shall not affect, impair, or invalidate any of the remaining sections, clauses, sentences, parts or provisions of this Ordinance. It is hereby declared to be the intent of the Supervisors that this Ordinance would have been adopted if such provisions deemed by the Court to be illegal, invalid, or unconstitutional section, clause, sentence, part, or provision had not been included herein.
Section 13. Effect. This Ordinance shall be effective immediately upon its enactment.