05/15/2026
Yesterday, I was able to testify in committee regarding the Bill I sponsored. Interestingly enough, it was changing a law that my dad wrote and got passed in 2000. I like to think that my bill completes the original intent of his law, but negotiations got in the way!
Yesterday, the House Agriculture Committee took up House Bill 5645, a bill that cleans up how Michigan regulates private cervidae facilities.
Right now, a Michigan deer farmer answers to two state agencies. The DNR handles the fence and the registration paperwork. The Department of Agriculture handles the animals — disease testing, animal ID, herd health. Two inspections, two sets of paperwork, two points of contact to run one livestock operation.
That split came out of an executive order back in 2004. Twenty-two years later, the Department of Agriculture is already on these farms doing disease work while the DNR shows up separately to inspect the same fence. Producers pay for both.
HB 5645 brings that work under one roof at the Department of Agriculture, the same agency that already regulates Michigan’s cattle, hogs, dairy, and poultry. The DNR keeps a consulting role where its wildlife expertise matters. This legislation is not about less oversight. It is about consolidating the redundant duties of two state departments for efficiency as regulators and business owners.
Michigan has more than 250 registered deer and elk farms supporting nearly 2,000 jobs and $88 million in economic activity, much of it in rural communities like ours.
Thank you Phil Green - State Representative and the United Deer Farmers Of Michigan for your work on this bill.
