10/12/07 Removing an obstacle to possible wheat and barley commission merger

Washington Ag October 12, 2007 Now that the Washington Wheat Commission, the Barley Commission and the Washington Association of Wheat Growers are being administered by one CEO and staff, called the Washington Grain Alliance, the question becomes should the Wheat and Barley Commissions combine into one entity. There is no official answer to that yet, but a step may be taken to remove a significant obstacle should that path be pursued. Wheat Commission Chairman Randy Suess says commissioners have approved going to the state legislature to seek a change in the law regarding the merger of state agencies, such as the Wheat and Barley Commissions. Suess: "The current rules say that if we do that we would lose any money that we have in the account of excess and we have some money in there we would hate to lose to the state. So it would take going to the legislature this coming winter and getting those laws changed so we wouldn't lose that money, which would just go back to the new entity, which would be a combination of the two organizations." Without that legislation Suess doubts there would be any consideration of combining the two commissions. The Barley Commission has now also approved seeking the legislation. Suess says there has been no decision about whether or not there should be a merger of the Wheat and Barley Commissions. I'm Bob Hoff.