Friday, February 12, 2021
CapitalPress.com 5
Meet the new
House Agriculture
Committee leaders
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
WASHINGTON, D.C.
— The chairs and ranking
members of the six House
agriculture
subcommit-
tees were announced on
Monday.
Rep. David Scott, chair-
man of the Agriculture
Committee, announced the
election of the Democratic
subcommittee chairs.
“Each of these members
is well-suited to take on the
task of the very important
issues facing the subcom-
mittees,” Scott, a Geor-
gia Democrat, said in a
statement.
Pennsylvania Rep. G.T.
Thompson, a Republi-
can, also announced the
six GOP members who
will serve as subcommit-
tee “ranking members,”
the most senior minority
members.
Industry leaders say
it’s important for farmers
to know these names and
what they represent.
Subcommittee chairs
Jim Costa, D-Calif.,
Livestock and Foreign
Agriculture: Fruits, vege-
tables, tree nuts and dairy
are priorities for Costa. He
has helped farmers convert
to newer engines that meet
air quality standards and
secured funding for drip
irrigation systems.
He recently called on
USDA to prioritize farm-
worker safety.
Abigail
Spanberger,
D-Va., Conservation and
Forestry: In 2020, the
American Farm Bureau
Federation awarded Span-
berger the “Friend of Farm
Bureau” award for her sup-
port of crop and livestock
producers.
Spanberger
supports
the United States-Mexi-
co-Canada Agreement, or
USMCA, and has increased
voluntary
conservation
programs.
Jahana
Hayes,
D-Conn.,
Nutrition,
Oversight and Depart-
ment Operations: Hayes
is known for dairy advo-
cacy, including pushing to
open international markets
and co-sponsoring legis-
lation to expand USDA’s
Milk Donation program.
Antonio
Delgado,
D-N.Y.,
Commodity
Exchanges, Energy and
Credit: Delgado’s key
issues are expanding rural
broadband access and sup-
porting rural hospitals.
Delgado also helped
make farmers eligible for
Small Business Adminis-
tration loans.
Cheri Bustos, D-Ill.,
General Farm Commod-
ities and Risk Manage-
ment: Bustos is known for
investing in rural commu-
nities and healthcare sys-
tems and combating opioid
and heroin crises.
Bustos has also pushed
legislation
to
support
young farmers.
Stacey Plaskett, D-U.S.
Virgin Islands, Biotech-
nology,
Horticulture,
and Research: Plaskett
helped shape the 2018
Farm Bill and has voted in
favor of rural broadband
investments.
more (meat)
processors”
and wants
to rein in
over-reg-
ulation by
the Envi-
Rep. David r o n m e n t a l
Scott
Protection
Agency.
On trade, Fischbach said
she generally sided with
former President Donald
Trump.
Doug LaMalfa, R-Ca-
lif., Conservation and
Forestry:
Last
year,
LaMalfa was a strong
advocate for the Water
Resources Development
Act, a package to fund
Western water projects.
He is also known for
opposing Gov. Gavin New-
som’s lockdown orders
and supporting restoring
water to Klamath Basin
farmers.
Don Bacon, R-Neb.,
Nutrition, Oversight and
Department Operations:
Bacon has introduced leg-
islation to help farmers
participate in voluntary
carbon markets and voted
against bills that sought to
limit the number of H-2A
visas.
Jim Baird, R-Ind., Bio-
technology, Horticulture
and Research: Baird is
known for supporting uni-
versity research in agri-
culture and advocating on
behalf of hog and poultry
farmers.
Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.,
Livestock and Foreign
Agriculture:
Johnson
advocates on behalf of vet-
erinarians, spoke in favor
of delisting the gray wolf,
introduced legislation to
provide more price report-
ing in the cattle indus-
try and is now pushing to
allow state-inspected meat
to be sold across state lines
through e-commerce.
Bill would clarify Oregon
farm building code exemption
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Farm structures would
remain exempt from building codes
even if they’re occasionally used for
non-agricultural purposes under a bill
that aims to clarify Oregon law.
House Bill 2611 would make clear
that a building only qualifies for the
exemption if it’s “primarily” dedicated
to storing or maintaining farm machin-
ery, managing crops and livestock, or
other agricultural activities.
Currently, the exemption statute
doesn’t clearly define when a farm
structure is “used for” agricultural pur-
poses, which is subject to disparate
interpretations, said Dave Hunnicutt,
president of the Oregon Property Own-
ers Association.
The law could be understood to
require exclusive farm use, under
which a barn could lose the exemption
even if a camper is sometimes parked
inside, he said. At the other extreme,
the exemption could apply even if a
building is rarely used for agricultural
purposes.
“I doubt that’s what the Legislature
intended, but you could make that argu-
ment,” Hunnicutt said during a recent
hearing before the House Agriculture
and Natural Resources Committee.
Code enforcement issues have
recently arisen over the exemption in
Washington, Multnomah and Yam-
hill counties, but the courts haven’t yet
weighed in on the statute’s meaning, he
said.
By passing HB 2611, lawmakers
could “short-circuit potential litiga-
tion” over the exemption, Hunnicutt
said.
Lawmakers approved a statewide
building code law in 1973 but then
created the exemption two years later,
after farm structures were subjected to
the same requirements as buildings fre-
quently occupied by the public, he said.
However, counties have lately
taken a stricter approach to the law and
threatened to disqualify farm structures
used for any other purposes, Hunnicutt
said. “I don’t believe that’s what the ’75
Legislature intended.”
Though code enforcement officers
don’t typically go looking for such
problems, they do respond to com-
plaints that are usually generated by
neighbors, he said.
The bill would not change any land
use requirements, so landowners would
still have to abide by state and county
land use processes to convert farm
structures to other uses, Hunnicutt said.
The exemption would still not apply to
dwellings or certain buildings used by
more than 10 people at a time.
“We aren’t changing any of the side-
boards,” he said.
The Oregon Farm Bureau supports
HB 2611 because some counties have
“attempted to erode” the exemption,
which could lead to expensive build-
ing upgrades if farmers keep personal
items in their barns.
“We do not believe that the law was
intended to be this prescriptive,” said
Samantha Bayer, OFB’s policy coun-
sel, in written testimony.
Wash. Democrats push for ‘net ecological gain’
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Wash-
ington House Democrats
are advancing a bill requir-
ing public works projects
to benefit salmon and have
a “net ecological gain,” a
vague standard the Farm
Bureau warns could spread
to private land.
House Bill 1117 doesn’t
define net ecological gain,
besides requiring road,
sewer and other projects to
aid salmon recovery. Fish
and Wildlife, other state
agencies and tribes would
write the rules.
The bill’s prime spon-
sor, Skagit County Rep.
Debra Lekanoff, said the
“very essence of net eco-
logical gain” incorporates
“a standard of leaving it
better than how we found
it.”
Nick Longrich/Wikipedia
A pair of chinook salmon. Washington House Demo-
crats are advancing a bill to require public works proj-
ects to have a “net ecological gain” and benefit salm-
on.
“Shifting
from
(a)
no-net loss standard to
one of net ecological gain
will start us on the road
to improving our environ-
ment rather than keeping
the status quo,” Lekanoff
said.
The bill exempts proj-
ects on private land, but
that could be changed by
future legislatures, Wash-
ington Farm Bureau gov-
ernment relations director
Tom Davis said.
The bill’s vagueness
gives state agencies a
free hand to block proj-
ects, making it impossi-
ble or too expensive to sat-
isfy net ecological gain,
he said.
“I think it is irrespon-
sible for legislators to
approve this standard when
it’s undefined,” Davis said.
“Why would legislators
want to pass such vague
legislation?”
Fish
and
Wildlife
endorses the bill. “We feel
a great urgency for the
passing of this policy,” the
department’s conservation
policy director, Jeff Davis,
told a House Environment
Committee hearing.
The
Democrat-con-
trolled committee was
expected to pass the bill
Thursday,
recommend-
ing its adoption by the full
House.
Democrats have rejected
Republican amendments to
make “net ecological gain,”
a voluntary goal rather than
a mandate.
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Ranking members
Austin Scott, R-Ga.,
General Farm Commod-
ities and Risk Manage-
ment: Scott has welcomed
new dicamba registrations,
advocated on behalf of nut
growers and is now push-
ing for protections for U.S.
blueberry producers hurt
by imports.
On Feb. 4, Scott intro-
duced a bill that would
raise the borrowing ability
of the Commodity Credit
Corporation from $30 bil-
lion to $68 billion.
Michelle
Fischbach,
R-Minn.,
Commod-
ity Exchanges, Energy
and Credit: Fischbach is
a strong supporter of the
ethanol industry, opposes
a federal minimum wage
hike, supports “smaller and
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