SARL Members and Alumni

The Iowa Senate passed a bill Tuesday aimed at limiting lawsuit damages in cases filed by unhappy neighbors against livestock producers. Senate File 447 allows for an affirmative defense to be raised when an animal feeding operation is alleged to be a public or private nuisance or otherwise interfere with a person's enjoyment of life or property. The legislation suggests the public interest is served by preserving and encouraging responsible animal agricultural production. [node:read-more:link]

Delivering needed assistance to Minnesota’s 74,000 farmers, Governor Mark Dayton on Feb. 17 signed the bipartisan $35 million Rural Finance Authority legislation (H.F. 14) into law.  The new funding will allow the Authority to continue offering eligible Minnesota farmers affordable financing and terms and conditions not offered by other traditional lenders.  Without the investment, many Minnesota farmers would face a credit crunch caused by several years of low commodity prices and rising expenses. [node:read-more:link]

Oregon farmers would dodge a key requirement of two bills aimed at improving schedule predictability for workers but still face a “show-up pay” requirement for canceled shifts.Under House Bill 2193 and Senate Bill 828, large employers in the retail, food service and hospitality industries would have to provide workers with additional compensation if their schedules are changed with less than two-weeks’ notice, among other provisions.Proponents say the bills are necessary because workers in these sectors often contend with schedule disruptions that prevent them from pursuing an education, ob [node:read-more:link]

State agriculture officials and ranchers are scrambling to secure feed and other supplies for approximately 10,000 cattle and horses that fled this week from wildfires in the Texas Panhandle. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension said Thursday about 4,200 large bales of hay are needed to feed displaced animals over the next two weeks.Trucks to shuttle animals from one location to another and fencing are among the needs as ranchers recover from the fires that killed four people and burned about 750 square miles in the state. [node:read-more:link]

For years a utility that supplies drinking water to Iowa's capital city has spent millions of dollars to rid its water supply of pollutants that run off farm fields upstream. Finally, exasperated officials filed a lawsuit to force the agricultural counties to clamp down on the runoff. But the state Legislature, now controlled by Republicans who won big majorities in the November election, has decided to address the issue in a different way. It's preparing to dissolve the utility, effectively killing the lawsuit. [node:read-more:link]

Gov. Rick Snyder wanted to outline the importance of providing resources for local food suppliers to connect with global buyers. “This isn’t rocket science, this is simple,” said Snyder. “The goal of this initiative is to get people to talk to each other.”Pure Michigan Business Connect, formed in 2011, is a public/private initiative developed by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation that helps connect local and global purchasers to suppliers of Michigan goods and services. [node:read-more:link]

A bill that would codify in Idaho law a landmark court ruling on who owns stock watering rights on federally administered land has been approved by the Senate Resources and Environment Committee.  The committee voted unanimously to send the bill to the Senate floor with a “do-pass” recommendation March 1 following impassioned testimony by the two Owyhee County ranchers who won that court decision. Paul Nettleton and Tim Lowry fought a decade-long battle with the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Should air contaminant emissions from large dairies be tracked and regulated in Oregon? A legislative task force concluded in July 2008 that they should.The Legislature didn't implement the recommendation, and dairy industry officials say voluntary actions are better than regulations. Buta proposal for a new mega-dairy in Eastern Oregon has prompted legislators to take a second look. [node:read-more:link]

The Maryland state Senate passed a bill extending the EmPOWER Maryland energy efficiency program, following similar action in the House of Delegates. Senators voted, 32-14, to extend the program, which was created in 2008 to require utility companies to reduce per capita electricity use by 10 percent by 2015. The law didn't require the program to continue past 2015, although the state's Public Service Commission has supported the program and asked utilities to lay out plans to invest more in energy efficiency. [node:read-more:link]

The Colorado Senate on Thursday passed a first-in-the-nation bill expressly permitting marijuana clubs. But Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) is hinting that he will veto the measure unless it bans indoor smoking. The bill allows local jurisdictions to permit bring-your-own pot clubs, as long as those establishments do not serve alcohol or any food beyond light snacks. The bill does not say whether those clubs could allow people to smoke pot indoors. [node:read-more:link]