Florida Farm Bureau Federal Legislative Update June 1, 2015 Welcome back! I know many of you were back in the district and I hope you had productive weeks

connecting with your constituents. Apologies for the long edition.

Ready for Harvest H.R. 944, National Estuary Program Monitoring We support the goal of this bill and would ask offices to be on the lookout for amendments which would be likely to have the net effect of directing

funding away from Florida (such as changing Sec. 1, (C) to habitats that do not exist on Floridas coastline). H.R. 2578/2577, Appropriations Monitoring I have not heard of any riders which Florida Farm Bureau specifically opposes or strongly supports on either of these bills, although I would venture to

guess AFBF isnt thrilled with the Cuba riders. We will be keeping a close eye on Commerce, Justice, Science for any language which would affect agriculture labor, especially DOJ, EEOC, and Legal

Services. H.R. 2576, TSCA Modernization Act Support Scheduled for markup at 5PM Tuesday and/or 10:00AM Wednesday, this is bipartisan legislation to modernize our nations chemical safety laws. Well be monitoring for ag chemical and fertilizer impact. There is no other legislation on the Weekly Schedule which Florida Farm Bureau considers a priority.

Planted Seeds **KEY VOTE** S. 1140, WOTUS Support As you all know, the final Waters of the US (WOTUS) rule was released by the EPA last week. Weve concluded our analysis, which is attached. We strongly object to the final rule. Moreover, we feel the final rule was substantially different from the draft rule and

merits a second comment period. We urge the Senate to take up and pass S. 1140 to address this

problem and move forward with the House. We support language in both House and Senate

appropriations to prevent enforcement of this rule. THANK YOU to our wonderful Florida team of

House appropriators for your dedication to Floridas farmers and ranchers on this point. **KEY VOTE** H.R. 2510, Bonus Depreciation Support A Farm Bureau supported bill, H.R. 2510, to permanently extend 50 percent bonus deprecation was introduced in the House last week by Rep.

Tiberi (R-Ohio). In addition to making bonus depreciation permanent, the bill also expands bonus

depreciation to include fruit and nut bearing plants with preproductive periods of two or more years.

Thank you to Rep. Buchanan for co-sponsoring the bill and working hard to include the trees and vines language. This bill is a TOP PRIORITY of Florida Farm Bureau. H.R. 2393, COOL Support American Farm Bureau last week was able to come out in support of this bill repealing COOL requirements for certain meats. We are in support of the bill but will not be key

voting it, though Cattlemen and Citrus may and offices are encouraged to be in contact with Dusty

Holley and Mike Sparks. **KEY VOTE** H.R. 1890/S. 995 Support We will be tracking amendments and Ill do my best to communicate support/oppose on amendments. While FFBF may not score the overall vote, we may

score amendments that address our core issues of intellectual property rights and

sanitary/phytosanitary standards.

No Bill #, Better Agriculture Resources Now Act or BARN Act No Position Some offices have been contacted by Rick Allens (R-GA) staff regarding this legislation which would improve the H-2A legal guest worker program. As weve analyzed it, our policy supports individual components of the bill. Specifically, we support moving the program to USDA, allowing for a housing allowance,

eliminating the 50 percent rule, eliminating the ability of legal services to provide legal assistance to

H-2A workers, and accelerating the application process. However, the bill as currently drafted does

not create a new program, it does not adequately address the year-round workforce (our policy

supports a 3 year visa), it does not eliminate the Adverse Effect Wage Rate structure rather provides

a wage cap of the state AEWR (our policy supports prevailing wage), it does not eliminate the labor

certification process (our policy supports attestation based), and it does not create an at-will

program which is important to our short-term harvesters like fruits & vegetables. We feel the best way forward is to work with Chairman Goodlatte to draft legislation which

adequately addresses our needs. We commend and appreciate the work of Rep. Allen and look

forward to working with him and others interested in providing agriculture a solution to our labor crisis. Hearings of Interest Tuesday, June 2 Update on the Financial Health of Farm Country Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management 10:00 AM 1300 LHOB Hearings to examine the status of drought conditions throughout the western United States and

actions states and others are taking to address them. Energy and Natural Resources 10:00AM SD-366 Wednesday, June 3 Review of Agricultural Subsidies in Foreign Countries Committee on Agriculture 10:00 AM 1300 LHOB Challenges and Implications of EPAs Proposed National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Ground-Level Ozone and Legislative Hearing on S. 638, S. 751, and S. 640, Environment and Public

Works 9:30AM SD-406 Business meeting to consider , an original resolution expressing the sense of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate that the rule relating to the definition of the

term waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act will have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, . Small Business and Entrepreneurship 10:00AM SR-428A Thursday, June 4 Examining H.R. 2017, the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 2015 Subcommittee on Health (Committee on Energy and Commerce) 10:00 AM 2123 RHOB Please let me know if there are any questions! Janell Hendren National Affairs Coordinator

Florida Farm Bureau Federation

P: 352.378.8100 ext. 1449 | C: 352.359.5268