Florida Farm Bureau Federal Legislative Update June 1, 2015

Welcome back! I know many of you were back in the district and I hope you had productive weeks
connecting with your constituents. Apologies for the long edition.

Ready for Harvest

H.R. 944, National Estuary Program Monitoring We support the goal of this bill and would ask
offices to be on the lookout for amendments which would be likely to have the net effect of directing
funding away from Florida (such as changing Sec. 1, (C) to habitats that do not exist on Floridas
coastline).
H.R. 2578/2577, Appropriations Monitoring I have not heard of any riders which Florida Farm
Bureau specifically opposes or strongly supports on either of these bills, although I would venture to
guess AFBF isnt thrilled with the Cuba riders. We will be keeping a close eye on Commerce, Justice,
Science for any language which would affect agriculture labor, especially DOJ, EEOC, and Legal
Services.
H.R. 2576, TSCA Modernization Act Support Scheduled for markup at 5PM Tuesday and/or
10:00AM Wednesday, this is bipartisan legislation to modernize our nations chemical safety laws.
Well be monitoring for ag chemical and fertilizer impact.
There is no other legislation on the Weekly Schedule which Florida Farm Bureau considers a priority.

Planted Seeds
**KEY VOTE** S. 1140, WOTUS Support As you all know, the final Waters of the US (WOTUS) rule was
released by the EPA last week. Weve concluded our analysis, which is attached. We strongly object
to the final rule. Moreover, we feel the final rule was substantially different from the draft rule and
merits a second comment period. We urge the Senate to take up and pass S. 1140 to address this
problem and move forward with the House. We support language in both House and Senate
appropriations to prevent enforcement of this rule. THANK YOU to our wonderful Florida team of
House appropriators for your dedication to Floridas farmers and ranchers on this point.
**KEY VOTE** H.R. 2510, Bonus Depreciation Support A Farm Bureau supported bill, H.R. 2510, to
permanently extend 50 percent bonus deprecation was introduced in the House last week by Rep.
Tiberi (R-Ohio). In addition to making bonus depreciation permanent, the bill also expands bonus
depreciation to include fruit and nut bearing plants with preproductive periods of two or more years.
Thank you to Rep. Buchanan for co-sponsoring the bill and working hard to include the trees and
vines language. This bill is a TOP PRIORITY of Florida Farm Bureau.
H.R. 2393, COOL Support American Farm Bureau last week was able to come out in support of this
bill repealing COOL requirements for certain meats. We are in support of the bill but will not be key
voting it, though Cattlemen and Citrus may and offices are encouraged to be in contact with Dusty
Holley and Mike Sparks.
**KEY VOTE** H.R. 1890/S. 995 Support We will be tracking amendments and Ill do my best to
communicate support/oppose on amendments. While FFBF may not score the overall vote, we may
score amendments that address our core issues of intellectual property rights and
sanitary/phytosanitary standards.

No Bill #, Better Agriculture Resources Now Act or BARN Act No Position Some offices have been
contacted by Rick Allens (R-GA) staff regarding this legislation which would improve the H-2A legal
guest worker program. As weve analyzed it, our policy supports individual components of the
bill. Specifically, we support moving the program to USDA, allowing for a housing allowance,
eliminating the 50 percent rule, eliminating the ability of legal services to provide legal assistance to
H-2A workers, and accelerating the application process. However, the bill as currently drafted does
not create a new program, it does not adequately address the year-round workforce (our policy
supports a 3 year visa), it does not eliminate the Adverse Effect Wage Rate structure rather provides
a wage cap of the state AEWR (our policy supports prevailing wage), it does not eliminate the labor
certification process (our policy supports attestation based), and it does not create an at-will
program which is important to our short-term harvesters like fruits & vegetables.
We feel the best way forward is to work with Chairman Goodlatte to draft legislation which
adequately addresses our needs. We commend and appreciate the work of Rep. Allen and look
forward to working with him and others interested in providing agriculture a solution to our labor crisis.
Hearings of Interest
Tuesday, June 2
Update on the Financial Health of Farm Country
Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management 10:00 AM 1300 LHOB
Hearings to examine the status of drought conditions throughout the western United States and
actions states and others are taking to address them. Energy and Natural Resources 10:00AM SD-366
Wednesday, June 3
Review of Agricultural Subsidies in Foreign Countries
Committee on Agriculture 10:00 AM 1300 LHOB
Challenges and Implications of EPAs Proposed National Ambient Air Quality Standard for GroundLevel Ozone and Legislative Hearing on S. 638, S. 751, and S. 640, Environment and Public
Works 9:30AM SD-406
Business meeting to consider , an original resolution expressing the sense of the Committee on
Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate that the rule relating to the definition of the
term waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act will have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities, . Small Business and
Entrepreneurship 10:00AM SR-428A
Thursday, June 4
Examining H.R. 2017, the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 2015
Subcommittee on Health (Committee on Energy and Commerce) 10:00 AM 2123 RHOB
Please let me know if there are any questions!
Janell Hendren
National Affairs Coordinator
Florida Farm Bureau Federation
P: 352.378.8100 ext. 1449 | C: 352.359.5268