Legislative Update: House bills on crop protection tools, Clean Cars comments, and USDA Assistance
By Amanda Bilek, senior public policy director for the Minnesota Corn Growers Association
Although the Minnesota Legislature is on a break this week for the Easter/Passover holidays and the Federal Congress is on a two-week recess, I wanted to cover a few items at the state level not included in my previous updates that are very important for Minnesota Corn Growers Association (MCGA) members to be aware of. Additionally, I also want to give an update on a USDA financial assistance announcement from late last week.
MN House bills to increase restrictions and fees on crop protection tools
Last Monday, March 22, the Minnesota House Agriculture Policy and Finance Committee heard four bills for possible inclusion in the omnibus Agriculture Policy and Finance bill. These four bills propose to further regulate or increase gross sales fees on important crop protection tools for Minnesota farmers. The four bills are summarized below:
- HF 670 (Morrison, Deephaven) proposes to ban the sale, use and application of Chlorpyrifos in Minnesota.
- HF 766 (Hansen, South St. Paul) proposes to require a caution statement on corn and soybean neonicotinoid treated seed. The statement would warn users about potential negative impacts on pollinator health and not to use for food, feed, or oil purposes or ethanol production. The bill would also amend current seed law to add a violation for using or selling neonicotinoid treated seed as food, feed, or as an ethanol feedstock. Finally, the bill would require labelers of treated seed to enter into an agreement with a stewardship organization for the disposal of unused treated seeds, which would be subject to approval by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA).
- HF 408 (Hansen, South St. Paul) proposes to increase the pesticide registration fee by 0.1 percent on gross pesticide sales. Additional revenue collected will be deposited in the pollinator research account for pesticide, parasite and climate disruption impacts on pollinators by researchers at the University of Minnesota. The additional fee would only be collected between calendar years 2021-2024 and would sunset in 2025.
- HF 1450 (Hansen, South St. Paul) proposes to increase the gross sales fee by 0.1 percent for dicamba herbicides and creates a dicamba compensation program at MDA to compensate for damages caused from drift.
MCGA submitted a written testimony for the committee hearing outlining our opposition to HF 670 and voicing specific concerns about HF 766. You can view our letter here and you can watch video of the hearing here. You can also review all other written testimony submitted by other organizations here.
When the legislature returns next week, the House Agriculture Finance and Policy committee will put together their omnibus bill and we will be reviewing the omnibus bill language carefully to see if any of the above proposals are included. We will also continue to advocate for key MCGA programmatic funding priorities, such as biofuel infrastructure. MCGA has already expressed our concerns about the House bills on crop protection restrictions with key Senators as we move towards final negotiations this session.
MCGA submits Clean Car comments
Last year, I wrote a detailed blog on the proposed Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Clean Car Standards. In short, MPCA has begun a rulemaking process to adopt the California Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) and Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) standards for passenger vehicles in Minnesota. MPCA has proposed adoption of these standards to reduce carbon emissions in the transportation sector. You can review MCGA’s comment letter here.
During the course of the public comments period, over 10,000 comments were submitted to the Office of Administrative Hearings on the proposed rule. Recently, the Chief Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued an order extending the deadline for completion of the final ALJ report. The new deadline for the final ALJ report is Friday, May 7, 2021. The ALJ report will make a determination if the rulemaking can proceed and direct the MPCA to correct any deficiencies in the proposed rule, if any are identified. You can learn more about the MPCA rulemaking process here.
USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers
Last week, following a freeze and regulatory review of program rules by the USDA under the Biden administration for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), the USDA announced the Pandemic Assistance for Producers which is divided into four parts. There are two parts that are most relevant to corn farmers.
Part three of the program will carry out payments for CFAP 3, which was authorized in December 2020 appropriations and the program rules developed by USDA under the Trump administration. The Biden USDA will authorize the $20 acre payments for CFAP 3 eligible crops beginning in April. If you previously applied and received assistance under CFAP 2, you do not need to submit a new application for the $20 per acre payment. USDA estimates additional payments of $4.5 billion to more than 560,000 farmers across the nation.
Part one of the Pandemic Assistance for Producers will make an additional $6 billion available to expand help to more farmers and ag-based industries, including the biofuels industry. USDA will be developing new programs or modifying existing proposals to make this assistance available. For assistance to biofuels producers, new program rules will likely be needed before payments will be made. There are a variety of other sectors also included in the new assistance category.
The Minnesota Legislature returns next week and the various committees in the House and Senate will be hearing and moving omnibus budget and policy bills. We will be scouring the various bills carefully and be sure to keep you updated as we move through the final weeks of session.
Be sure to follow the MCGA blog and its social channels (Facebook, Twitter) for updates. You can also follow me on Twitter (@AjBilek).
