1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to animal health; prohibiting new registrations for farmed white-tailed 
1.3 	deer; establishing a voluntary farmed white-tailed deer buyout program; 
1.4 	appropriating money;amending Minnesota Statutes 2022, section 35.155, 
1.5 	subdivision 10.
1.6 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.7 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2022, section 35.155, subdivision 10, is amended to read:
1.8 		Subd. 10.Mandatory registration. (a) A person may not possess live Cervidae in 
1.9 	Minnesota unless the person is registered with the Board of Animal Health and meets all 
1.10 	the requirements for farmed Cervidae under this section. Cervidae possessed in violation 
1.11 	of this subdivision may be seized and destroyed by the commissioner of natural resources.
1.12 	(b) A person whose registration is revoked by the board is ineligible for future registration 
1.13 	under this section unless the board determines that the person has undertaken measures that 
1.14 	make future escapes extremely unlikely.
1.15 	(c) Beginning July 1, 2023, the board must not approve a new registration under this 
1.16 	subdivision for farmed white-tailed deer. This paragraph does not prohibit a person holding 
1.17 	a valid registration under this subdivision from selling or transferring the person's herd and 
1.18 	registration to a family member.

1.19 	Sec. 2. VOLUNTARY FARMED WHITE-TAILED DEER BUYOUT; 
1.20 	APPROPRIATION.
 1.21 	$....... in fiscal year 2024 is appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner of 
1.22 	agriculture to offer a buyout payment to the owners of farmed white-tailed deer registered 
2.1 	under Minnesota Statutes, section 35.155. The commissioner must establish buyout payment 
2.2 	amounts and criteria, with each animal disposed of as determined by the Board of Animal 
2.3 	Health. Owners have until October 1, 2023, to accept the buyout offered by the commissioner 
2.4 	under this section. A participating owner who subsequently possesses farmed white-tailed 
2.5 	deer or otherwise violates the buyout contract must repay all money received under this 
2.6 	section and is subject to appropriate penalties under Minnesota Statutes, chapter 35. This 
2.7 	is a onetime appropriation.