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Volume 25, No. 5 Published by the Georgia Agribusiness Council, Inc. February 12, 2016
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We are halfway home! Lawmakers hit the highways Thursday afternoon after having completed the 20th of the allotted 40 legislative days. It’s a good reminder that just because half of the days are complete, the work of the session is far from halfway done. The pace of the final 20 days will far surpass that of the first 20. Lawmakers will return Tuesday to get the ball rolling once again…so stay alert.
Action on several key bills is expected next week, including GATE and truck weights. Here’s an update on bills of interest:
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AG TAX EXEMPTION CHANGES (GATE CARDS)
Since HB 911 was introduced late last week, we have had several meetings around the Capitol with key leaders in this debate. Meetings with the sponsor, Rep. Geoff Duncan, House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jay Powell, House Ag Chairman Tom McCall, Rep. Sam Watson and Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black have all been very helpful. Through these discussions, we expect several adjustments to the bill to be made. In addition, we have growing support for moving the annual card to a multi-year card that would be good for our industry. Increasing the $2,500 minimum in annual sales up to $10,000 is an issue we continue to discuss and keeping the program under the control of the Georgia Department of Agriculture is very important. We’re also expressing concerns about potential GATE sales requirements that may be put on retailers. There is much work to do on this legislation and we expect the committee meetings for HB 911 to begin next week. With just 20 days to go in the session, please watch this discussion closely and let us hear from you.
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TRUCK WEIGHT LIMIT INCREASE
The truck weight increase bill is set to start moving as early as Tuesday next week now that the benefits and concerns have started to settle. A revised version of HB 411 will be provided to the House Transportation Committee by Rep. Sam Watson and the next phase of lobbyist input will begin. Moving the overall truck weight limit from 84,000 lbs up to 88,000 lbs is priority for this effort – but it will be an uphill battle. We commend Rep. Chad Nimmer for his fact-finding work over the past year. The input and data stemming from his good work will be key to shaping the next steps for this debate. Stay tuned as this debate picks up speed…
(pictured (l-r): Rep. Sam Watson,
Rep. Chad Nimmer
)
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TAX FILING COMPLIANCE FIX:
Rep. David Knight’s HB 742 cleared the Senate on Wednesday and has now landed on the desk of Governor Deal for signature. We appreciate Senate Finance Committee Chairman Senator Judson Hill for leading the bill through the Senate. Once signed by Governor Deal, we’ll have the necessary state language to take advantage of the Section 179 expense deductions passed by Congress in late December. This law provides for up to $500,000 for those in the agriculture heavy equipment industries and we are very pleased with the expedited handling of this legislation to help with tax filings. Thanks again to Rep. Knight for his leadership in tackling this issue so early in the session.
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STREAM BUFFER LAND GRAB
A new battle over stream buffers has surfaced in the form of HB 966. This bill was crafted by a host of environmental groups that aspire to make your land become their land. By adding a definition of “ordinary high water mark,” they want to move the required 25ft state buffer on most streams from the normal level of water flow to the highest possible level, which is eerily identical to wording used in the federal Waters of the US (WOTUS) regulations that we and other ag groups vigorously opposed. This action would grow the buffer width and take land out of production or use, in addition to building the case for litigation. We’ll be watching this one closely. It has been assigned to the House Natural Resources Committee.
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PROPOSED UAV COMMISSION
With UAV use on the rise, there has been more interest from legislators and the public on how to manage and regulate their use. Senator Judson Hill’s SB 325 seeks preempt local regulations with a statewide approach, which we support. It also outlines the development of a five year “Georgia Unmanned Aircraft Commission” to better evaluate the various benefits of drone use for the state. Public safety, job creation and positive economic impact are among those topics. Unfortunately the bill does not include agriculture as a part of this potential commission - we are working to fix that.
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BUDGET
This week, Governor Deal announced Georgia’s tax collections for January 2016 were up 6.4% over January 2015...a great sign of continued growth. As the state collection improve, so does the budgeting process for those dollars.
The FY 2016 Amended Budget passed the Senate on Wednesday, setting the stage to have it sent to the desk of the Governor soon. There is still work to do, but you can click here to see the latest tracking document.
The FY 2017 Big Budget began moving through the numerous House subcommittees this week. It includes funds for the Georgia Dept of Agriculture to further improve the numerous state run farmers markets across the Georgia. Bond funds that will assist the Georgia Forestry Commission, the FFA/FCCLA Center, and the Soil & Water Conservation Commission, among others are also included. There are numerous long overdue state wage adjustments for teachers and state workers. We’ll continue monitoring the long and thorough budget process as it builds momentum.
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Agri-Business Supply Inc.
Brooksco Diary,LLC
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Boston Gin Co.
C.M Tanner Grocery Co. Inc
Doug Hopkins
Georgia 4-H Foundation
Hardy Farms
Quality Feedstuff, Inc.
Sylvania Peanut Co. Inc.
Swainsboro Stockyard
The J.L. Morgan Co, Inc.
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Special thanks to our Star Sponsors listed below. We welcome having GAC member companies be a part of this initiative. Please call our office at 706-336-6830 or
click here for details
. Thank you!
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GAC 50th Anniversary Recognitions
We appreciate the many special recognitions shown to our organization in recent days as we began the 50th anniversary celebrations. We thank U.S. Senator David Perdue for providing the video that was shown during our membership supper last week. In addition, Senate Ag Committee Chairman John Wilkinson hosted a group of our board of directors in the Senate Chamber for a presentation of Senate Resolution 884 and House Ag Committee Chairman Tom McCall did the same with House Resolution 1206 from the Georgia House of Representatives. Thanks again for the generous support by so many members and friends this past week. We are grateful for each of them!
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Pictured (l-r): Sen. Dean Burke,Sen. Ellis Black, GAC 1st Vice Chair Steve Crouch, GAC Board Member Weyman Hunt, GAC Past Chair Merrill Folsom, Sen. John Wilkinson, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, GAC 2nd Vice Chair Spencer Black as Senate Resolution SR 884 was presented in the Senate Chamber)
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*
We enjoyed seeing former
Georgia Senator Ross Tolleson
at a recent event where he was honored by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources for his service to Georgia.
Sen. Tolleson was also recognized in the State Senate this week with
SR 943
and he will be further honored by the Senate on
Friday, Feb. 19
. Senator Tolleson provided great leadership and friendship for our organization during his 13 years of service. Our prayers remain with him and his family as he battles Alzheimer’s disease.
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*Congratulations to the Georgia Young Farmers Association on their annual day at the Capitol. The Capitol halls were filled with red coats and the great smell of brisket and biscuits for their breakfast event. We appreciate the many GYFA friends that make this event so great!
*We enjoyed seeing the Georgia Crop Production Alliance leadership team on Thursday. We met with their board of directors in Tifton and provided a legislative update. We appreciate all GCPA does for professional certification and scholarships to ag students.
* Advancing Georgia Leaders: We were pleased to serve on a panel of agriculture industry lobbyists and show the AGL group around the Capitol Thursday morning. They spent the day in Atlanta engaging in reviews of legislation, meeting with legislators like Reps Terry England, Tom McCall, Chuck Williams, Jason Shaw and Sen. Frank Ginn among others. Our own Anna McIntyre is enjoying being a part of this group and provided speaker introductions during portions of the program. Congratulations to this outstanding group of ag industry friends and to UGA’s Lauren Griffeth for the great work of her team in pulling this program together.
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Rep. Tom McCall meeting with AGL participants.
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GAC's Anna McIntyre addresses the AGL class at the Georgia Department of Agriculture.
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Senator Frank Ginn speaks with AGL participants.
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Georgia Forestry Association's Andres Villegas and other ag industry lobbyists meeting with AGL.
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*Pesticide Drift Training:
The University of Georgia and Georgia Department of Agriculture have collaborated to provide a series of
required classroom trainings for the use of auxin herbicides (2,4-D or dicamba) in auxin-tolerant seed technologies.
The 2016 crop year will be the first time these cotton and soybean seed technologies are available for use in Georgia. No doubt they will prove helpful for the control of glyphosate-resistant pigweed and other weeds. Even though 2,4-D and dicamba have been used effectively for decades without this required advanced use training, the Georgia Department of Agriculture decided to require attending a "Using Pesticides Wisely" training prior to making applications of dicamba to dicamba-tolerant cotton/soybean or 2,4-D to 2,4-D-tolerant cotton/soybeans in Georgia. The training will focus on helping applicators/growers make wise decisions when applying not only 2,4-D and dicamba, but all pesticides. Growers that attended trainings during 2015, as long as they registered, are not required to attend the meeting again.
Drift prevention or reduction is important for all product uses.
Click here for the list of "Using Pesticides Wisely" workshop dates and locations.
* The
2016 Georgia Agritourism Association’s Annual Conference will be held February 23 - 24
at Berry College in Rome, Georgia creates an opportunity for people to tour Georgia Agritourism operations, network, and learn about the latest in effective marketing strategies, on-farm activities that work, and hear first-hand testimonials from agritourism operators about their success. Contact
Jessica Carter
at 706-845-9085 or
jcarter@asginfo.net
for more info.
Register online today
!
*February 23 is FFA Day at the Capitol. We always look forward to seeing the Capitol halls filled with FFA leaders from all over the state!
*March 4, 2016 is the Evening for ABAC which supports the ABAC Foundation. Acts include Jeremy Davis and the Fabulous Equinox Jazz Orchestra. Please join ABAC for this wonderful event. For more information click here.
* We are proud to again be a sponsor for the Georgia Peanut Commission and National Peanut Buying Points Association, Peanut Butter & Jelly Day at the State Capitol. This special event will be held Wednesday, March 16 from 9:00 a.m. to noon.
*
Nominations for the
CAES Alumni Association's Awards
are now open
.
These awards recognize alumni who have made significant contributions and have achieved excellence in their chosen field and/or in their community.
Click here for nomination form
.
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This information is intended for members of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, Inc. No part of this document shall be copied, edited, or redistributed in any form without express written consent from the Georgia Agribusiness Council, Inc. Georgia Agribusiness Council | 706-336-6830 |
WWW.GA-AGRIBUSINESS.ORG
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CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP TO GEORGIA'S STRONGEST INDUSTRY
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