A comprehensive summary of today’s judicial, legislative, and regulatory developments in agriculture and food. Email important additions HERE.
LEGISLATIVE: Includes Oregon
OREGON
HB 4055 relating to forest products harvest taxation—extends biennial privilege taxes on merchantable forest products harvested on forestlands. Info here.
LEGISLATIVE: Includes Virginia
VIRGINIA
SB 509 right to aquaculture—provides that the right to use and occupy the ground for the terms of a lease in Chesapeake Bay waters includes the right to propagate shellfish by whatever legal means necessary. Info here.
LEGISLATIVE: Includes Virginia
VIRGINIA
HB 179 permanent farm use placard—requires an owner or lessee of a vehicle claiming a farm use exemption from the registration, licensing, and decal requirements for a motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer to obtain a nontransferable permanent farm use placard from the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles and to display the farm use placard on the vehicle at all times. Info here.
LEGISLATIVE: Includes Wyoming
WYOMING
SF 61 extends the expiration date on certifications for greater sage grouse game bird farms. Info here.
LEGISLATIVE: Includes South Dakota
SOUTH DAKOTA
SB 135 revise provisions regarding agritourism liability. Info here.
REGULATORY: BLM, FCA, FSA, FWS
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Notice announcing that BLM intends to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement to analyze the impacts to the environment from approving new herbicide active ingredients for use on BLM-managed public lands. Info here.
FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION
Proposed rule to update, restructure, and reorganize FCA’s regulations that govern the appointment of the Farm Credit System banks, associations, service corporations, and the Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation. Info here.
FARM SERVICE AGENCY
Notice announcing the new Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP). Info here.
FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
Proposed rule reopening the public comment period on the proposed rule to list the Amur sturgeon (Acipenser schrenckii), a fish species from the Amur River basin in Russia and China, as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. Info here.