The goal of do no harm to agriculture seen as achieved during legislative session

Washington Ag Today April 29, 2009 Now that the 2009 regular session of the Washington State Legislature is history, how did agriculture fair? John Stuhlmiller, Director of Government Affairs for the Washington State Farm Bureau, summed up the session this way. Stuhlmiller: "All said and done we are pretty happy with the outcome of the session. Bad stuff, really bad stuff went away. It is kind of a low standard to say do no harm but given the political make up we saw going into this session I would say that would be determined a success." Among the bad things that never succeeded was what was called the "Get Retro" bill, which was seen as political retribution and would have impacted the Farm Bureau's Retro/Safety program. Major climate change legislation supported by the governor also went by the wayside. So did a tax measure aimed at agriculture. Stuhlmiller: "There was a B&O tax, a bill introduced to put a B&O tax on ag. That did not happen and no other tax measures, tax increases happened." There were of course spending reductions and Stuhlmiller says there is a little bit of concern about that impact on the State Department of Agriculture. The legislature's budget means about a ten percent net reduction in funds for Washington State University for the next biennium. There is budget language urging moderation in reductions to agricultural extension. WSU says it will announce its plan to meet the 54 million dollar spending reduction on May 1st. I'm Bob Hoff and that's Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.