Thanks to dedicated voters getting through to legislators, two states are in the process of repealing their versions of mandatory NAIS.

Texas: On April 24, 2007, the Texas House passed, by a vote of 88 to 51, HB 461 which repeals the authority for a mandatory NAIS system in Texas, and requires that farmers be fully informed regarding the program’s voluntary nature, that everyone already in the premises registration database be notified they are in it, and that Texans be given the right to withdraw from the premises registration database and the entire program. The bill also has anti-coercion provisions, protecting farmers from being denied services or licenses because they choose not to participate in NAIS. HB 461 now goes to the Texas Senate.

Arizona: Senate Bill 1428, which rids Arizona of a mandatory NAIS, has been approved by the Arizona House by a vote of 57 to 1. Unfortunately, the House also approved an amendment to take out the right to withdraw, because the state Agriculture Department argued that the federal government, not Arizona, controls the database.  The bill now goes back to the Senate for reconciliation. This probable final version of SB 1428 is far from a perfect bill, but the current law allows a mandatory program to be implemented, so SB 1428 is an important first step to rolling back NAIS in Arizona. If SB 1428 is passed, Arizonans will continue educating the public and the legislators so the law can be further improved in the next session.

Karin Bergener of Ravenna, Ohio, is an attorney and co-founder of Liberty Ark Coalition. This article appeared in the Spring 2007 issue of Rural Heritage.