CapitalPress.com
Friday, April 23, 2021
April 2021
Dear Farm Bureau member,
We are at the half-way point of the 2021 Oregon Legislative Session.
Thanks to an enormous amount of Farm Bureau member engagement, OFB has
already helped stop bills that would have had major impacts on Oregon’s farm and
ranch families. These included bills that would have created citizen suits for the
enforcement of Oregon laws; increased the minimum wage; imposed a tax on dyed
diesel, farm equipment, and tires; prohibited employees from working outside during
wildfire season; and banned large dairies and mink farms; among others.
However, there’s still work to be done. Bills that are still alive as of press time would
mandate overtime pay in the agricultural sector (HB 2358), regulate indirect sources
of emissions (HB 2814), impose a severance tax on timberland (HB 2379), and limit a
stay of water rights decisions (HB 2244), among other bad bills.
OFB is also working to amend legislation to avoid impacts on Farm Bureau members,
including the proposal to require measurement and reporting for water users (HB
3166), a myriad of wildfire bills, a bill to site new broadband connections (HB 2654),
and several others.
So, what can you do to help and get better informed?
• Visit OFB’s Advocacy Center, where you can write your legislators about
important bills, as well as sign up for emailed action alerts and issue updates.
Visit OregonFB.org/advocacy.
• Attend OFB’s Monthly Member Briefing via Zoom. Voting and supporting
members of Farm Bureau are invited to tune in the last Friday of every month
at 7 a.m. to hear updates from the OFB Government Affairs Team about
the most pressing state and federal issues. Find the Zoom credentials at
OregonFB.org/monthlybriefing.
• Learn how to testify remotely during the virtual Legislative Session with
step-by-step instructions. Find them at OregonFB.org/howtotestify.
• Ag employers: Sign up to join FEELDS, OFB’s Farm Employer Education &
Legal Defense Service. With more labor-related rules, regulations, and red
tape than ever before targeting ag employers, farmers and ranchers need a
program to help them stay informed, organized, and compliant. Learn more
at OregonFB.org/feelds.
We thank the hundreds of Farm Bureau members who have already responded to
OFB Action Alerts, filled virtual hearing rooms ready to testify on bills, submitted
written testimony, and sent letters to the editor explaining why proposed legislation
would harm or benefit Oregon agriculture and family businesses.
And as always, we thank you for your membership in and support of Farm Bureau. As
a grassroots group, we are only as strong as our membership. Check out our page in
this issue of the Capital Press to see some of the volunteer leaders who help make
Farm Bureau the most respected, most effective general agriculture organization in
the entire state.
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