Odor Legislation HB 262a
             Rep. Doug Jones’s, (R)Filer, bill on odor was introduced into the Senate
             Agriculture Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Darrel Deide (R)Caldwell, this
             week. The Twin Falls Times News did not like the privacy afforded in the bill and
             had enough push to amend the bill to make it more public and thus more
             acceptable to the newspaper industry. None of the Ag groups, including the IFBF
             objected so the bill was sent to the amending order to attach the amendments.
             The quizzing regarding the bill was conducted mainly by Sen. Laird Noh,
             (R)Kimberly, Sen John Sandy, (R)Hagerman, and Sen Clint Stennett,
             (D)Ketchum, and centered around the Dept. of Agriculture being subservient to
             DEQ and Nutrient Management Plans being public. Sen. Noh even questioned the
             USDA One Plan as being able to keep information private. The debate made this
             observer very nervous, for usually business operational plans are rarely open to
             the public and especially not open to those whose only motive is to sue the
             business to see if they can build a case to close down the operation. If the USDA
             One Plan becomes public information the IFBF and AFBF should make every
             attempt to simply scuttle the USDA effort. Perhaps Sen. Noh would think
             differently if he forgot about dairies for awhile and thought about his own
             management plan for predators. Every activist group in the country would like to
             see his business plans and expenditures to control coyotes, gophers etc. and if
             the plan is made available, suits will quickly follow. Frankly, it would be a disaster
             in my opinion. HB 262a was sent to the 14th (amending) order and will then move
             to the floor of the Senate for a vote.

             More Odor Observations
             Once again legislation dealing with odor brought in many concerned citizens from
             the Magic Valley to testify for anything that might control odor. One lady who has
             been evident in every hearing identifies herself as a Planning and Zoning member
             from the Gooding County P & Z. Since she is in a position to sit in judgement of
             permits for operations of dairies, it is quite evident to this writer that any such
             application would certainly not receive an unbiased opinion from this P & Z
             member. Planning and Zoning members are supposed to judge issues based
             upon a hearing and testimony at that hearing. Judgement should be from an
             impartial and neutral position. Those who are no longer capable of such conduct
             should no longer serve in the position. Incidentally the answer to odor control may
             be in the mill in a small factory in Nampa. The prototype filtering system plus odor
             control apparatus are built and ready for trial. We will watch closely to see if we
             finally have an answer that is affordable and dependable. We do hope so.

             Electrical Buyback
             With Idaho Power settling on 15 cents/kWh for buyback of power from farmers in
             their service area and Avista holding at a flat 10 cents/kWh in northern Idaho,
             scrutiny now has turned to PacifiCorps and what they are doing. Unfortunately,
             PacifiCorps is being totally inconsistent and totally unfair to Idaho farmers. We
             have learned that the 8.5 cents/kWh is only being offered in Idaho. In Utah, the
             offer is 10 cents/kWh and in Oregon it is 12.5 cents/kWh. Those of you who are
             served by Utah Power may want to ask the company to explain why it is that
             Idahoans receive such shabby treatment at the hands of their power company. If
             they have a good explanation, please let us know, for we haven’t heard one yet
             and we intend to protest loudly to the Idaho PUC.

             Truck Registration Bill HB 364
             The compromise truck registration bill received a unanimous do pass from the
             House Transportation & Defense Committee, chaired by Rep. JoAn Wood,
             (R)Rigby, last week and was quickly passed on a 65-0 vote and was moved to the
             Senate Transportation Committee, chaired by Sen. Evan Frasure, (R)Pocatello.
             The bill has not received a hearing yet and we are concerned that unless Sen.
             Frasure moves it soon, it could run out of time. IFBF is asking the good Senator
             to move the bill. In a related bill, Rep. Chuck Cuddy, (D)Orofino, has the
             companion bill HB 369 that takes care of the pup trailer by permit rather than
             increasing the weight of the entire truck. This bill had it’s hearing and received a
             unanimous do-pass from the House Transportation & Defense Committee. We do
             not expect any problem passing this bill.

             RS 2477 Roads HB 268
             The bill that was introduced by Rep. JoAn Wood, (R) Rigby, that offers some
             hope of a local process to control opening and closing of RS 2477 roads and trails
             was passed by the House on a 58-2 vote. The bill also received a do pass from
             the Senate Transportation Committee and is on the floor of the Senate awaiting
             voting. It has hit a snag in that some ranchers have called in with concerns and
             some Senators are trying to review the bill to make sure it doesn’t do more than
             intended. At this point we feel the positives of the bill outweigh the negatives, but
             if it needs adjusting, IFBF will not oppose adjustments to it. We will let you know
             the outcome.

             Teacher Tenure  HB 362
             H.B. 362 was heard by the House Education Committee, chaired by Rep. Fred
             Tilman, (R) Boise, this week and IFBF was there and testified in favor of the bill in
             accordance with IFBF policy # 28. Almost every school district in Idaho had at
             least one teacher in the room and the IEA was present and testifying strongly
             against the bill. After my testimony it appeared that every teacher in the room
             was outraged and I was even followed out by a teacher from McCall that
             challenged my testimony and even doubted that a farm organization would have
             policy on education matters. I have written the teacher a letter regarding our
             policy and our opinion and anyone wanting a copy should let us know. In
             discussions with the Chairman of the House Education Committee, a
             sub-committee will be set up to look at teacher tenure and will delve into every
             angle so that recommendations can come forth to the Education Committee.
             IFBF will try to get a seat on the committee. Incidentally, HB 362 was held in
             committee so the teaching profession shouldn’t feel too threatened.

             Meat Labeling SJM 108
             Sen. Rick Branch, (R)Midvale, introduced Senate Joint Memorial 108 which urges
             Congress to enact legislation to mandate country of origin labeling for meat and to
             further define the term "US Produced" to be animals that are born, raised, and
             processed completely in the United States. The Memorial also asks Congress to
             require foreign meat products to meet the same exacting standards as American
             produced meat products. IFBF fully supports the Memorial and it passed the
             Senate on a unanimous voice vote.

             SJM 109 Foot & Mouth Disease
             Senator Rick Branch also introduced SJM 109 calling upon Congress to support
             safeguards to prevent F & M Disease from entering the United States on persons,
             animals and objects. The memorial also calls upon Congress to declare a
             moratorium on all cloven - hoof animals and products for a 3 year period or until
             importers can prove the animals free of F&M Disease. We like the intent and will
             support the memorial even though we think 3 years from all countries is too long.
             This bill also passed the Senate on a unanimous voice vote.

             Sine Die
             Well, the weather has warmed, the grass is greening the smell of fresh earth is
             wafting through the Statehouse and our Legislature is still at it. It appears that
             March 23, 2001 will not be the date of ending and guesses are now centering
             around Wednesday March 28, 2001 for the legislature to end. The compromise on
             the tax bill is still not forged although we hear it is getting closer. The Senate
             version of the bill has been whittled down to about $128 million and parts of it has
             lost the support of IACI. The House version was about $200 million, so there is
             quite a difference and it really centers around the tax rebate idea. Personal
             property tax relief for farmers is still holding in there in every proposal, so be sure
             and remind your Senators and Representatives that we do need tax relief and this
             bill would actually put dollars back in the pockets of farmers for the small cost of
             only $12.4 million per year. A mere pittance.

             HB 224 Depredation Claims
             The Fish & Game Advisory Committee brought a bill this year which would allow
             the deductible amount on a wildlife damage claim to be waived on subsequent
             and consecutive claims on standing and stored crops. This is a welcome change
             by the committee and should help a good many ranchers and farmers whose
             lands border US Forest Service lands. The other part of the bill would make a
             landowner responsible only for the first claim if the Dept. of Fish & Game did not
             prevent the damage on consecutive years. We were hoping we could get the
             deductible amount lowered to $500.00 this year, but were pleased with these two
             changes in handling depredation claims. The bill passed the House on a 63-0 vote
             and the Senate on a 32-1 vote and is on its way to the Governor for signature.

             HB 256a Coeur d’Alene Basin Commission
             Lt. Gov. Jack Riggs and Rep. Don Pishner brought this bill to head off the
             designation by EPA of an enormous (1,500 sq. miles) cleanup site that would
             include the entire mining district of north Idaho. IFBF opposed the makeup of the
             Commission, the provision that gave the Commission eminent domain powers and
             the fact that the current committee handling the EPA cleanup had no role in the
             new Commission. We worked closely with the Kootenai-Shoshone Farm Bureau
             on the issue. After a lot of discussion and testimony, the bill was changed
             enough so that IFBF withdrew it’s opposition and the bill then passed the House
             on a 67 - 1 vote and cleared the Senate this week on a 33 - 0 vote.
             Kootenai-Shoshone county President Mike Schlepp pointed out that with the
             passage of the bill, the Washington Group (old Morrison Knudson) is in line to do
             a lot of the work and thus will benefit from the bill at a time that may be very
             important to the survival of the company. This points out that legislative bills have
             many consequences that most of us really know very little about.

             Lien Law HB 366
             Rep. Doug Jones, (R)Filer, introduced a new bill that will adjust the Commodity
             Indemnity Fund from the current $5 million to a new $10 million dollar figure. The
             bill also stipulates types of transactions that are to be assessed and makes clear
             that the fund is a trust fund for use of the depositors. This bill really does nothing
             to solve the other seed problems associated with the ABT bankruptcy, but does
             make the CIAP account a little more realistic in line with all of the mergers and
             acquisitions going on in agriculture. This day and age a $5 million indemnity
             account will not go far, so $10 million is needed. IFBF supports this bill. The bill
             has cleared the House Ag Committee and is on the 3rd Reading Calendar in the
             House. We expect it to pass.

             UCC Revision HB 205
             The 117 page revision of the UCC in accordance with the recommendations of the
             National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws has progressed
             through the Legislature and is awaiting the Governor’s signature to become law. In
             our evaluation of the bill we could not find anything wrong, nor could the
             Legislature. It passed the House on a 61-0 vote and the Senate on a 32-1 vote.

             Commodity Dealers SB 1260
             A last minute bill by Sen. Bart Davis, (R)Idaho Falls, and Rep. Mike Moyle,
             (R)Star, offers a little more lien protection for products delivered under contracts or
             bailment. It also gives a little more protection to growers from business failures of
             wholesalers, processors and warehouses. We have reviewed the bill and think it
             is O.K. but probably not as strong as it should be. Please look this bill over and
             let us know if you see problems with it. Remember, it only has about 3 days to
             make it through the legislature and it just received it’s bill number today.