Legislative Recap Pt 1
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. The winter legislative session is now behind us as the ag community looks back at what amounts to not much progress made either for or against agriculture.
Washington State Tree Fruit Association President, Jon DeVaney says some of the big issues included things like the new ag overtime laws …
DeVANEY … “We did get a hearing on that this session which was a change from when we discussed this last year and I think we made some significant progress there. And we’ll continue to have discussions here over the summer as we have more evidence of how that’s effecting producers.”
So as we approach another harvest season, DeVaney says the talks continue …
DeVANEY … “We still do want to get the legislature to take some action to modify the implementation of ag overtime because we are seeing it have, since phased in, having some severe impacts on both growers and their employees, their inability to manage the hours that they work during peak periods of activity.”
Another big frustration for agriculture, DeVaney says got no action …
DeVANEY … “Is the implementation of the ag exemption to the Climate Commitment Act. The state did do its auction for carbon emissions and that resulted in some additional costs being added on to fuel prices at the pump by those fuel suppliers whether at the pump or direct deliveries.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on what did and did not happen for agriculture in the past legislative session.
