Testimony of Jeff Olson,
Registration Coordinator
House Bill 1128
February 20, 2003
9:00 a.m.
Senate Agriculture Committee
Roosevelt Park Room

Chairman Flakoll and members of the committee. My name is Jeff Olson. I am a Program Manager at the Department of Agriculture. I am here to testify in support of HB 1128 a bill that amends Chapter 19-14 of the North Dakota Century Code. This bill is a housekeeping bill to clarify existing language and to add a late fee for registering livestock medicines.

We deleted the requirement to register all medicated stock feeds and added a requirement to register "Type A Medicated Articles" as livestock medicines. "Type A Medicated Articles" are primarily drugs added to feed to create a medicated livestock feed, whereas Medicated Stock Feeds are used primarily for nutritional purposes.

In an effort by the Department to maintain a registration process that is cost effective and time efficient, we are proposing to change the language in Section 2, from "second ensuing" year to "every even-numbered" year. All registrations at this time follow the even-numbered year timeline.

In Section 4, the Department is proposing to add a penalty fee of ten dollars for the late renewal of livestock medicine registrations. This provision is allowed for other product registrations and it also encourages timely registrations prior to product sales. A fiscal note was prepared showing an increase of approximately $1,300 to the general fund because of the addition of a late fee. This figure was based on ten-percent of the approximately 1,240 livestock medicine registrations and the projection of approximately 70 new registrations for the Type A Medicated Article requirements for a total projected registration of 1,310 products.

Section 7 was made at the request of the Attorney General's office. This clarification to the section was added for enforcement compliance to make it uniform to other registration chapters in the Century Code.

Section 8 was also made at the request of the Attorney General's office. This change defines the penalty provision of this chapter to include a civil penalty and to allow for an administrative hearing according to chapter 28-32.

Thank you for considering HB 1128. I would be happy to answer any questions.