September 2011 - Iowa Pork Producers Association
September 2011 - Iowa Pork Producers Association
September 2011 - Iowa Pork Producers Association
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funding was provided for voluntary conservation<br />
programs. These new resources will provide IDALS<br />
with much needed funds to assist in nitrogen<br />
and wetland on-the-ground projects. In addition,<br />
legislators pulled livestock and other fines<br />
administered by the <strong>Iowa</strong> Deptment of Natural<br />
Resources from the IDNR budget and placed those<br />
dollars into the <strong>Iowa</strong> Watershed Improvement<br />
Board (WIRB), administered by IDALS to further<br />
its voluntary on-the-ground water quality projects.<br />
Livestock Feeding Bill, S.F. 478<br />
This bill has been signed into law. It creates a state<br />
funding mechanism to deal with circumstances<br />
in which owners of livestock become financially<br />
unable to provide immediate sustenance (feed,<br />
water, adequate shelter) to their farm animals. The<br />
new law renames the manure storage indemnity<br />
fund to the “livestock remediation fund.” In<br />
addition, it allows IDALS to petition the courts for<br />
a superior lien on livestock fed under this program<br />
to recoup state-paid expenditures.<br />
Water Resources Council and Federal<br />
319 Funds, S.F. 535<br />
S.F. 535 has been signed into law. This legislation<br />
transfers the Water Resources Council from the<br />
office of the governor to the secretary of agriculture.<br />
In this bill’s original form, it also provided for the<br />
transfer of powers and duties for the administration<br />
of Section 319 of the federal Clean Water Act from<br />
IDNR to IDALS. However, late in the session, this<br />
bill was amended to remove all language pertaining<br />
to the transfer of the 319 funds administration.<br />
The final bill only transferred the Water Resources<br />
Council to IDALS.<br />
Ag Protection Act (Video and False<br />
Pretenses Bill), H.F. 589<br />
This bill passed the House but did not pass the<br />
Senate and therefore was not enacted into law.<br />
The bill would have prohibited tampering with<br />
property associated with an animal facility or crop<br />
operation and would have prohibited the production<br />
and possession of an audio or visual recording<br />
without the owner’s consent. The bill would also<br />
have prohibited anyone from gaining access to an<br />
animal facility or crop operation under false pretenses.<br />
Finally, the bill would have prohibited making a<br />
false statement as part of an employment application<br />
with the intent to commit an unauthorized act.<br />
The <strong>Iowa</strong> attorney general’s office considered the<br />
bill, as passed by the House, to be unconstitutional<br />
under First Amendment rights to free speech if it<br />
was enforced against those who had possession of<br />
a prohibited video, but did not participate in the<br />
production of the video.<br />
Subsequently, amendments to the bill were considered<br />
in the Senate to address these constitutional concerns.<br />
One amendment would have essentially eliminated<br />
the prohibition on production and possession of a<br />
video, but it retained the prohibitions on gaining<br />
access to an animal facility or crop operation under<br />
false pretenses and making a false statement as part of<br />
an employment application with the intent to commit<br />
an unauthorized act. The amendment would also<br />
have added prohibitions on conspiracy and aiding<br />
and abetting in committing the prohibited actions.<br />
None of these amendments passed and the Legislature<br />
adjourned without passing any version of the bill,<br />
although the measure remains alive for action in 2012.<br />
Electrical Licensing Requirements,<br />
H.F. 618<br />
This bill provided agriculture with a complete<br />
exemption from the current electrical licensing and<br />
inspection requirements. It passed the House, but<br />
was considered dead in the Senate. To move the issue<br />
forward, Sen. Steve Sodders and others developed<br />
a compromise, which IPPA supported, that would<br />
give farmers a seat on the electrical board that adopts<br />
rules on electrical issues, provide an exemption for<br />
small projects (100 amp or less), include a general<br />
maintenance provision, and an emergency provision<br />
in the case of major failure that might impact<br />
operational flow (power outage to hog facilities or<br />
drier failure in the middle of harvest). Although<br />
IPPA supported the full exemption, the association<br />
also sought the compromise to give members some<br />
relief from the current system. The Legislature<br />
adjourned without taking any action.<br />
SEPTEMBER <strong>2011</strong><br />
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