Tennessee is the latest state to legislatively acknowledge the need for equine processing facilities.

A bill, HB 1428, has been approved by the Tennessee House Government Operations committee. It directs the Tennessee Department of Agriculture to put rules into effect for licensing and inspection of equine slaughter and processing facilities. It also requires anyone filing court action to halt the construction of a plant to post a bond equal to 20% of the building costs.  Without a bond, the lawsuit would be automatically dismissed, according to news reports.

A similar bill became law in Montana on May 1, and several other states have legislation in consideration.