Agricultural News
OFB's John Collision Confident that Right to Farm Measure Moves Forward in Senate This Week
Mon, 06 Apr 2015 06:55:11 CDT
The 2015 Oklahoma State Legislative Session is moving quickly right now, as bills passed by House are being heard in the Senate- and vice versa- and the Vice President for Public Policy of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, John Collison, has one bill at the top of his list as another week of legislative work gets underway- and that is the so called "Right to Farm" proposal that has already cleared the House.
HJR 1012 passed the House a couple of weeks ago by a strong 90 to 6 vote- and Collison says the Senate Rules Committee is set to take up the measure this week. If passed by both bodies, the proposed constitutional Amendment will be voted on in the fall of 2016 in the general election that will include a vote for President and for the US Senate seat held by James Lankford, who is serving out the last two years of term that was origially won by Tom Coburn. Senator Lankford is fully expected to run for a full six year term at that time. The language of the bill as passed by the House can be read by clicking or tapping here.
One year ago, similar language was passed by both the House and the Senate- but slight differences between the two measures were never resolved and the proposal died at the end of the 2014 legislative session. Reintroduced in 2015, Collison says of the 2015 version of the bill "we've made this a protection for people in the state of Oklahoma- it has to be a state interest to ban a crop or an animal Husbandry practice." He goes on to add "you can pass laws in the future banning castor beans or whatever- that's fine" but he adds that adding this language to the constitution will mean that proponents of a bill that wants to restrict a farming practice must show a "compelling state interest" for it to be constitutional if passed by the legislature and signed into law. The language of HJR 1012 does not specifically say that the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture would determine the "compelling state interest," but that would be the likely body within the state government that would be the gatekeeper for this proposal if the voters approve it in the fall of 2016.
Beyond Right to Farm- Collison also argued passionately for the State Legislature, the Governor and the Federal Congressional delegation to look forward and invest into the necessary infrastruture to move the excess water that is now being given away for free to Texas and Arkansas as it flows out of Oklahoma into those states- to move it west into parts of Oklahoma that are often water deficient. Collison says that there is twenty million acre feet of water leaving Oklahoma annually above and beyond what we are obligated to allow to flow beyond the borders of Oklahoma- and that the money that would be spent to move that water incrementally from eastern Oklahoma lakes to current lakes in central and then western Oklahoma could result in billions of dollars of increased productivity for Oklahoma agriculture alone- not including a reliable water supply for drinking water, as well as industrial and recreational use. Collison says previous multi year droughts have resulted in water storage infrastructure being developed in the state- and up to now- this current multi-year drought has failed to spark new development.
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays talked with Collison about Right to Farm, as well as tax issues, water issues and the budget shortfall that lawmakers are facing this year and will likely face again in 2016. You can hear their full conversation by clicking on the LISTEN BAR at the bottom of this story.
In addition to the audio conversation that you can hear- Hays also had John Collison on his weekly TV segment, In the Field- and Right to Farm was the primary topic of conversation. Click on the PLAY button in the VIDEO BOX below to see that conversation as seen on KWTV News9 on Saturday morning.
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