Bill prohibiting local livestock rules sent to McCrory

RALEIGH – The House gave final approval Thursday to a bill preventing local governments from regulating the care of farm animals, leaving Gov. Pat McCrory’s signature the last step needed for the bill to become law.

The bill sponsored by Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, is a response to rules on the treatment of animals that the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners adopted in January.

Commissioners made the rules less restrictive in March after horse owners and others argued that language in the original Buncombe ordinance requiring a three-sided shelter and socialization for horses was unnecessary.

The House had approved the bill in April and Thursday’s 88-16 vote was on whether to agree with a change made in the Senate. The change allows municipalities to regulate flocks of poultry of 20 birds or fewer.

McGrady said the state Department of Agriculture is better equipped to deal with questions of how to treat livestock than local governments and the provision regarding poultry was not worth arguing over.

“I don’t want to get into a chicken debate,” he said.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, spoke against the bill, saying it “is a problem because it ties the hands of local governments who want to set stricter standards.”