“The theme for the 48 th Annual Legislative Day on March 11 was Grassroots Legislation: How To and Its Effects. Sixty participants started out the day’s agenda with a quick course in the National Grange Grassroots Training Manual and participated with questions and comments. All attendees were supplied with a hard copy of the Manual to follow along with the power-point presentation and to use in their home Granges. Audience participation with the three speakers was tremendous starting out with Cory Noonan who is the Legislative Liaison with the Ohio Department of Agriculture. A good noon meal was followed by Cindy Shuster who is with the Perry County Extension Service. Her presentation on Humor and Good Health was enjoyed by all, and got the group revved up for the third speaker. A presentation by Ohio Representative and Agriculture Committee Chairman, James Aslanides sparked much discussion and questions that ran overtime. The day finished up with an overview of Legislative Activities of the Ohio State Grange and a report on the Ohio resolutions that went to National Grange Convention. A longer day than was expected; but very good participation and interest.”

Cory Noonan, the Legislative Liaison with the OH Department of Agriculture speaks to Grangers		Laddie Marous speaks to the Ohio Legislative Day participants.

“Thirteen Colorado Grangers and our guest, Chil-Sook Hwang, National Grange Legislative Research Analyst, met at 8:00 Thursday morning March 16 th at a café near the State Capitol building to begin a Legislative Workshop. Packets were handed out that contained legislative rosters, and materials that would be used during the day. After rolls, coffee and a briefing for the day’s activities from Jeanne Davies the group walked to the Capitol to sit in the Gallery of the House of Representatives and were introduced to the Representatives by past Agriculture Committee Chairman, Rep. Diane Hoppe.

The Senate opened an hour later that morning and the Grangers were invited onto the Senate floor by Senator Tom Wiens. After listening to the opening and following some of the bills being presented the group went back to the Gallery of the House where

Representative Diane Hoppe visited with us for about 45 minutes. She outlined the process the legislators use in discussing and passing bills and some of the differences of processes used by the Senate and the House. She also spoke at length concerning the complicated Colorado water laws which have been subjects of bills for the last few years driven by the drought that has plagued Colorado for several years.

We were back at the café for lunch with Senator Lewis Entz and Representative

Mary Hodge who visited with us after lunch about the subjects being heard at the session this year and bills they were sponsoring. Chil-Sook Hwang gave an interesting presentation about the issues that National Grange has been following and materials available to all Grangers on legislative issues and activities. We appreciated the materials brought for us. Granger Dave McCord spent some time explaining the committees that were meeting in the afternoon and had copies of the bills being heard that the Grangers could follow in the committee of their choice. Kara Wardle and Dave McCord have helped at all the Legislative Workshops the last three years running errands gathering bills, escorting Grangers through the Capitol, etc. The Grangers met at 3:00 for a debriefing and then many of them left to go to a Meet and Greet for Chil-Sook Hwang at the Victory Grange Hall.”

		Colorado Representative Diane Hoppe
Colorado Grangers Attending the annual Legislative Day in front of the CO State Capitol in Denver		Grangers watching the CO Senate Floor debate

“On March 23, 55 VT Granger members from across the state visited the VT State Capitol in Montpelier VT for the annual State Grange Legislative Day. The morning's program included attending the opening of the daily session of the VT House of Representatives as well as introductions of many of the Grange members by their state representatives on the floor of the House, a tour of the VT capitol building, visiting individual legislative committees and distribution of the VT State Grange and National Grange 2006 Legislative Policy books to members of the state legislature.

VT Governor James Douglas presents Phyllis Mason with the Grange Month proclamation

The afternoon program consisted of a luncheon program. Statewide officials attending the lunch included Governor James Douglas, Lt. Governor Brian Dubie, State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding and commissioner of Agriculture Steve Kerr. In addition nearly one third of the members of the Vermont Legislature attended the luncheon.

VT State Grange President Phyllis Mason opened the luncheon program with the Pledge of Allegiance and State Chaplin Lester Gibbs offered the blessing. Then VT State Grange lobbyist Ed Larson introduced Governor Douglas. Governor Douglas thanked the Grange members for their participation in the political process. He also spoke briefly about his recent trip to Iraq to visit with members of the Vermont National Guard units currently stationed in that country. Governor Douglas finished his remarks by signing a proclamation designating April as Grange Month in the State of Vermont.

Mr. Larson then introduced several of the other honored guests, including representatives of the VT Farm Bureau and the Northeast Organic Farmers Association, who were also at the luncheon. Then Mr. Larson introduced Lt. Governor Dubie for a few remarks. Lt. Governor Dubie spoke about the importance of agriculture to the history and culture of Vermont. He mentioned that his family's maple sugar farm was recently certified as organic. Lt. Governor Dubie touched on the need for eligible Vermonters to sign up for the national Medicare Part D Prescription Drug program prior to the sign up deadline of May 15. He reported that in an informal survey of the eligible Vermonters sitting at his table for lunch that day, all of those who had signed up for the program had already experienced significant savings on the prescription drug costs.

VT State Grange Legislative Day Luncheon in the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Montpelier, VT

Following Lt. governor Dubie's remarks, VT State Grange Legislative Director Jim Ballard introduced National Grange legislative director Leroy Watson for remarks on the status of the National Grange Legislative program. Mr. Watson thanked the group for their support of the Grange legislative program at the state and national level. He walked through highlights of the National Grange's priority issues: Agriculture, telecommunications, Property rights, energy and healthcare that are collectively known as the Blueprint for Rural America 2006, with specific references on how these issues affects Vermonters. He also provided the Grangers and legislators with additional information on existing and upcoming educational and service programs being created by the National Grange for use in local Granges around the nation at no cost. These programs include Medicare Part D prescription drug awareness, eminent domain action program, GOTV (Grangers Organized To Vote) on-line voter registration and absentee ballot program and the Methamphetamine Awareness program. Mr.Watson concluded his remarks with an invitation to attend the National Grange Legislative Fly In in May 2006 and a few brief reminiscences of his time as the Legislative Director and lobbyist for the Vermont State Grange, where he obtained his first practical experiences as a government relations professional.

Jim Ballard then closed the day's program and expressed his excitement over the high turnout of Grangers and legislators. Both Mr. Ballard and Mr. Larson received a round of applause for their organizing a successful 2006 VT State Grange Legislative Day.”

“There will be a surplus in the budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006, but no one will know exactly how large the surplus will be until September or October when all the books are closed and the accounts reconciled. Meanwhile, everyone is lobbying for some of the surplus money for their program. The Grange is lobbying for $30 million of the surplus to be dedicated to farmland preservation. If everyone got everything they are asking for, the total would be about ten times the amount of the surplus.”

HB 2725 – On Call Workers – Grange Opposed.  This bill would have required minimum wage be paid for on-call workers and workers whose jobs require them to live at their place of employment.  Farmers who provide room & board as part of a farm workers wages would have been required to pay minimum wage for that employee for the entire time that they were “on-call”.  This bill would have been burdensome to all farmers with farmhands.  In turn, they would have not been allowed to claim a reasonable deduction against wages.  This bill died in committee and its companion, SB 6434, died in Rules. A victory.

SJM 8004 & HJM 4005 – Estate Tax – Grange Supports.  This bill requests Congress to permanently repeal the death tax.  The tax is likely to force many families who inherit small farms/businesses to close or sell when the owner dies just to pay the tax.  Both of these bills died in committee but we are working with the legislature until the end to see if they can procedurally pull the bills to the floor for a vote.

HB 2815 & SSB 6569 – Growth Management /Best Available Science – Grange Opposed.  Best Available Science (BAS) provisions have been in place in local government decision-making requirements as part of the Growth Management Act.  However, two bills this session take this requirement away from local government and instead give the decision making authority to the state.  This is in direct conflict with current Grange policy to allow more local control in land use decisions.  The Grange has communicated our concerns directly to the Governor’s office and testified in opposition of both of these bills. 

Eminent Domain – Grange Supports.  Over half a dozen bills have been introduced on this subject.  The Grange has worked with the Governor’s office, legislators and stakeholders to find a vehicle that will capture many of the issues our members are concerned about.  Property owners need reassurance that Washington State has strong constitutional protections against the abuse of eminent domain for private use or economic development.  First and foremost, adopted legislation must ensure that the statutory protections are clear thus keeping property owners out of court.  Additionally, we are seeking a clear definition of “blight” so that outbuildings or Grange buildings, not up to par, are not “taken” under such a law. We would also like to see a “first right of refusal” provision in the event that a “public use” does not occur after a “taking for a public use” the owner has the first right to purchase the land back.  All of the bills introduced have died but we have been told that there is a chance that these bills could come up before Sine Die (the end of session).

Bloated Budget Passes

Republican lawmakers and various organizations have blasted the budget that passed this session, which sets a record for spending. Senate GOP budget leader Joe Zarelli won a small victory late in February when he and Lt. Gov. Brad Owen agreed that SB 6896, the Democrats' budget, need to be re-titled to reflect what it actually did, namely amend I-601, which set spending limits for the legislature. Reps. Alexander and DeBolt chided the majority Democrats for their $1.3 billion added to the supplemental budget and an overall budget that raises government spending by more than $4 billion from two years ago. The Grange is part of a lawsuit charging last year's legislature of illegally raising the state spending limit, and that coalition is looking at similar action against this year's legislature.

Resolutions for this Years’ Session

This years’ session in Puyallup is quickly approaching and we are currently at work in getting resolutions ready.  We have already received more than 20 resolutions in the office and they continue to come in almost daily.  We have just started the process of scanning all of the resolutions so that they can be distributed to the Granges via e-mail.  Please be sure to let us know right away if you are interested in receiving them.  We will only send them out to Granges that have requested them (These are very large files that not all computers can accommodate).  Please either e-mail Rebecca at grange@wa-grange.org or give her a call at headquarters 1-800-854-1635.  Thank you in advance for your help and understanding.

Letter to Rep. James P. McGovern on HR 4694