[I read it as MO is rejecting NAIS unless the legislature specifically authorizes it at some future point. The way things are right now is the Department of Agriculture can get involved with Cooperative Agreements with the USDA and implement regulations without forethought or permission. This happened in Vermont, our Agency of Ag (AoA) said they were going to do it because they could. We piped up and told our legislators. Our legislators said, “Whoa! AoA, you need to back up a few paces, you didn’t say “Mother May I’! First you must hold hearings around the state and see what the people say. The AoA held hearings during the summer of 2006. The People said “No!!!” loud and clear. In fact the AoA got a headache. The head of the AoA said, we’re bagging this bad idea, Premises ID is dead in Vermont (and thus NAIS is dead). The Secretary of Ag got fired, er, stepped down over this. We new have a new Secretary of Ag who says we won’t be doing Premises ID or NAIS. Sooo… back to MO. My reading is that what you’re seeing in MO is the start of the same sort of thing, maybe even a step beyond. Missouri’s legislature will hopefully pass this bill an stop the MO Department of Agriculture from unilaterally leading you down the slippery road to NAIS, mandatory or voluntary. Doreen is there in the thick of things and I’m sure she’ll chime into explain as developments happen. Write your state reps and let them know you want support for House Bill 422. Cheers -Walter]