Wheat growers heading to Olympia
Washington Ag Today January 29, 2010 Representatives of the Washington Grain Alliance are heading to Olympia this weekend for the grain growers annual lobbying trip to the state legislature. Washington Association of Wheat Growers President Brett Blankenship and other members are just back from a trip to Washington D.C. Blankenship: “We will head to our state capitol and try to help our legislature solve this pending budget crisis of another 2.5 billion hole in the biennial budget. With the slow economy receipts are down but the temptation to just raise taxes we want to avert. Control spending where we can. Limit the size of government where we can and be a part of the process.” One goal of the wheat growers is to preserve the Ag Burning Task Force, which the governor wants eliminated. It appears key legislative support for the governor’s position is lacking. In his latest Ag Alert, Senator Mark Schoesler, the ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture and Rural Development Committee states that agriculture will likely experience a net loss from the 2010 legislative session. He sees no relief from rising workers’ comp and unemployment insurance taxes, the end of at least one tax exemption and underwhelming changes concerning a B&O tax not paid by farmers in the first place. Senator Schoesler says one bill he is watching closely this session is the Stock watering bill. It’s House Bill 2599. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
