FRANKFORT, Ky. – A Senate committee Thursday approved a bill that would create a commission to set rules for how animals are treated on farms.

The bill is aimed at pre-empting efforts by animal-rights groups to pass treatment standards.

An overflow crowd with a large contingent from Kentucky Farm Bureau saw Senate Bill 105, sponsored by Senate Agriculture Committee chairman David Givens, R-Greensburg, approved and sent to the full Senate. Givens said he hopes the bill will be considered next week.

The bill would create a 14-member Kentucky Livestock Standards Commission chaired by the state agriculture commissioner. The state veterinarian would be a non-voting member.

“The goal is that the conversation be driven by scientific standards and practical animal care standards and the conversation not be driven be emotion,” Givens said.

Commissioner Richie Farmer said the bill is intended to block efforts seen in other states by groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Humane Society of the United States to restrict farming in the name of animal welfare.

“It simply doesn’t make sense that farmers are going to mistreat their animals because that’s how they make a living,” he said.

State Veterinarian Robert Stout said some animal abuse complaints are valid but many are not and the people reporting them are often not being familiar with agricultural practices. He said most of the commercial livestock industries already have standards that can be used in Kentucky.

“We won’t be reinventing the wheel,” Stout said.

The bill also prevents the ability of local governments to pass standards that are stricter than those set by the state commission.

Lynda Farley, a former cattle farmer from Edmonton who now raises show dogs, told the committee she opposes the animal rights groups and supports the limit on local governments. But she said she believes the bill creates a new bureaucracy with “one-size-fits-all standards” that could be problematic.

“That would be a cure that’s worse than the disease,” she said.

The bill specifically says it does not preclude the authority of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and the Kentucky Board of Veterinary Examiners. Tom FitzGerald of the Kentucky Resources Council said he hopes a provision is added to protect the authority of state environmental regulators.

FitzGerald said he also feared counties’ and cities’ existing ability to abate nuisances would be hurt.

Givens said he doesn’t believe the changes are necessary because the law is limited to on-farm animal care and doesn’t deal with production standards generally.

“It is not our intent to supersede any environmental regulations with this regulation,” Givens said.

FitzGerald said in an interview afterward that his concern is that the intent isn’t included in what would become law.

Reporter Gregory A. Hall can be reached at (502) 582-4087.