WA Political Outlook for Ag Pt 2
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. As we watch to see what kind of post-election changes there will be in Olympia, Washington farmers will be following closely.
Washington Policy Center’s Ag Director, Pam Lewison says there are a couple pieces of tricky but familiar legislation to watch out for …
LEWISON … “We know that there’s going to be a new version of a “buffer bill.” We don’t know what it looks like per se, but certainly it’s probably going to have what one side of the aisle likes to call a regulatory backstop, which is just fancy legislator talk for making farmers give up land in favor of fish.”
And, Lewison says we’re likely to see some push and pull on the overtime issue …
LEWISON … “I think certainly overtime, now that it is fully in place, will absolutely come back with some of the shuffles in legislators. So, there’ll probably be a new prime sponsor in the House continuing to push for a seasonal flexibility within overtime.”
Overtime seasonality, Lewison says would help both the farmers AND the workers …
LEWISON … “And allowing the thresholds to rise allows workers to work longer, thus giving them more money.”
Lewison says buffers and overtime are both perennial issues that will continue to get more attention.
