2016 Georgia Agribusiness Council weekly legislative report 
Volume 25, No. 2       Published by the Georgia Agribusiness Council, Inc.       January 22, 2016
Three more legislative days ticked off the calendar this week as legislators wrap up on Friday. Eight days of the 40-day session have now been completed. They return Monday morning as committee meetings begin to cram their schedules. 
Several ag bills we are supporting will be introduced in the coming weeks. Increasing truck weights is one of the more anticipated and those discussions should begin very soon. Here is an update on the budget talks as a quick look at a couple of bills of interest:

BUDGET: 
Budget talks begin quickly this week as the money talks started Tuesday morning with the Joint House and Senate Appropriations Committee hearings. Led by GAC member and  House Appropriations Chairman Terry England  and  Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Hill , lawmakers discussed program details and performance with many state agencies.
The budget starts with the Governor, works its way through the House and then the Senate as legislators make adjustments along the way. Governor Deal provided the first presentation on Tuesday and touched on the budget growth in education and transportation (photo). His proposed 3% pay raise for teachers, expanded support for K-12 funding, $59 million new dollars for funding the HOPE scholarship, topped the list. He also included a much needed 3% merit based pay raise for state employees.  With emphasis on transportation funding last year, the revamped fuel tax collection program generated $759 million devoted to road and bridge maintenance. Also of importance, the Forest Land Protection Act (FLPA) is set to receive an extra $15 million to help reimburse counties for lost property tax revenues on these protected wooded lands. Last but not least, Governor Deal included $20 million for economic development projects that will give agribusinesses and others some dollars to bargain for in the year ahead.

Georgia's state fiscal economist, Dr. Ken Heaghney, provided lawmakers with an economic update that contained several positive notes. State reserves (the rainy day fund) has grown to $1.4 billion with a target to have it grow to $2 billion over the next 3 years. State revenue growth is at a very good 8.7% in the current fiscal year and that boosted revenue projections for FY 2016 budget by 5.8%. Much of this growth comes from the new fuel tax formula. Looking ahead, Economic growth is expected to be modest in the coming year. and FY 2017 budget, which totals $23.7 billion, reflects just a 4.2% increase over FY 2016. Even though projected growth is low, it’s always good to see economic progress.

On Wednesday, as more detailed FY 2016 discussions began, Dr. Joe Broder, Interim Dean at UGA CAES provided excellent testimony to Members of the Appropriations committee, expressing the need to boost their budget by $181 thousand to provide for merit raises for retention and parity with raises made to other university staff. Stay tuned…    
TAX FILING COMPLIANCE FIX:
HB 742 by Rep. David Knight , mirrors the Section 179 expense deductions passed by Congress in late December, providing for up to $500,000 with a $2,000,000 cap. This bill, which looks to be on the fast-track, moved through a House Ways & Means subcommittee Thursday and could reach the House floor next week. This will be a great help to those in the agriculture heavy equipment industries as well as farmers. 
Rep. David Knight
UAVs/DRONES:
 Representative Kevin Tanner filed HB 779, which outlines suggested parameters for drone usage. In 2015, a study committee was formed to delve into the use of drones and how they need to be regulated, which GAC member and vegetable farmer Rep. Sam Watson was a participant. In their findings, they outline when using a drone is lawful and how an expectation of privacy must be maintained. Some of the lawful usages are using drones to inspect electric or natural gas utilities, inspecting vegetation on utility easements and use by the US military.  The bill discusses unlawful uses, which include flying drones over public streets, roads and state highways or aid in the taking of wildlife. The bill does not specifically address agricultural uses. Please let us know if you have specific concerns. We’ll monitor the bill as it starts takes flight.  
  FEDERAL ISSUES

We appreciate Congress taking action last month on the complex, yet very beneficial Omnibus spending bill. Agriculture interests in Georgia were especially fortunate to receive an influx of funds and tax savings that are excellent investments in our industry. It contained funding for USDA’s ARS Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory (SEPRL) in Athens. This is the leading poultry disease research facility and a world-class training center for avian influenza and many other poultry diseases. These resources will help us have the tools needed to prevent, detect and contain HPAI (bird flu). The bill made the Section 179 provisions permanent - a great win for farmers, manufacturers and processors. Repeal of country-of-origin meat labeling (COOL) is a win for livestock producers, plus it provided for restrictions on EPA funding…just to name a few. An added bonus was that in the final hours, Georgia’s delegation was successful in the removal of language that would have been harmful to our state water planning efforts. There is still plenty of work that needs to be done in Washington, DC, but this bill has a long list of benefits to celebrate.

We would like to thank the following from the Georgia Delegation that voted for the Omnibus bill:
Senator Johnny Isakson
Senator David Perdue
Rep. Buddy Carter
Rep. Sanford Bishop
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland 
Rep. John Lewis
Rep. Tom Price
Rep. Rob Woodall
Rep. Austin Scott
Rep. Doug Collins
Rep. Barry Loudermilk
Rep. Doug Collins
Rep. David Scott
Rep. Tom Graves
Battles with the EPA continue…this time on restricted use pesticides. In late 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced proposed changes to regulations for certification of applicators of restricted use pesticides. Among the changes, it contains an effort to establish uniform nationwide applicator training and competency testing standards for commercial and private applicators. It would also include any noncertified applicators working under their direct supervision, and identify changes that states will have to make to their training and certification programs, testing and enforcement, and the data they report to EPA. The proposed rule would establish a minimum age of 18 for all restricted use pesticide applicators and has additional requirements for those that provide commercial (ground and/or aerial) application services. We submitted comments earlier this week and, while we support pesticide applicator training efforts, we expressed our opposition to much of the planned changes offered by EPA.
Special thanks to our Star Sponsors listed below. We welcome having GAC member companies be a part of this initiative. Please call our office at 706-336-6830 or click here for details. Thank you!
Boston Gin Co.
Brown Implement & Milling, Inc.
CSA Farms, Inc.
Center for Agribusiness & Economic Dev.
Coley Gin & Fertilizer Co. Inc.
C.M Tanner Grocery Co. Inc
Curry Farm Supply Inc.
Doerun Gin Co. Inc.
Doug Hopkins
IsoAge Technologies L.L.C.
Israel Farm Supply Inc.
J & B Irrigation Inc.
KAKEGA LLC
Lauri Jo's Southern Style Canning
Leger & Son, Inc.
LHR Farms, Inc.
Majors Electric & Mechanical Co., Inc.
Marion Reeves Equipment Sales
Mercier Orchards
Mobley Gin
Newcastle Trucking, LLC
Northeast Georgia Livestock. LLC
Patrick Farms
Pike Creek Turf, Inc.
Pineland Plantation
Plantation Seed Conditioners, Inc.
Quality Gin, Inc.
Quality Feedstuff, Inc
Southeastern Cotton Ginners Association
Southern Crop Production Assn.
Southern Equipment Dealers Association
Sylvania Peanut Co. Inc.
Swainsboro Stockyard
The J.L. Morgan Co, Inc.
We are less than two weeks away from the   GAC Membership Supper & Annual Meeting and the GAC State Legislative Breakfast . With 2016 marking GAC’s 50th anniversary, we look forward to taking the time to commemorate fifty wonderful years of leading the state’s strongest industry-agriculture.

The Council is excited to announce we are near capacity for our membership supper & annual meeting - only a few seats remain. It is shaping up to be a record-breaking crowd for the legislative breakfast with an anticipated attendance of just under 500 guests with 40 table sponsors and over 90 lawmakers pre-registered to attend. Please call us at 706-336-6830 if you would like to be a co-sponsor or purchase tickets to attend. We are looking forward to co-hosting the legislative breakfast with the following table sponsors:
Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College
AgSouth Farm Credit
AGSouth Genetics LLC
Columbia Farms of Georgia Inc.
Crop Science, A Division of Bayer
Destiny Organics, LLC
UGA Extension*
ExTEND
Georgia 4-H Foundation
Georgia Blueberry Growers Association
Georgia Chamber of Commerce
Georgia Cotton Commission
Georgia Crop Production Alliance
Georgia Electric Membership Corporation
Georgia Feed & Grain Association Inc.
Georgia FFA-FCCLA Center
Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association
Georgia Green Industry Association
Georgia Peanut Commission
Georgia Plant Food Educational Society, Inc.
Georgia Pork Producers Association
Georgia Poultry Federation
Georgia Urban Ag Council
Georgia Veterinary Medical Association
Georgia Young Farmers Association
McLendon Acres, Inc.
Newton Crouch Inc.
North Georgia Turf, Inc.
Triangle Chemical Co.
UGA CAES Advisory Council
UGA College of Veterinary Medicine
USA Poultry & Egg Export Council
Vidalia Onion Business Council*
GAC 50TH ANNIVERSARY

ANNUAL MEETING & STATE LEGISLATIVE BREAKFAST:
FEB 2 & 3, 2016

The  GAC Membership Supper & Annual Meeting will be held the evening of Tuesday, February 2, 2016, at the Georgia Aquarium . The reception will begin at 5:00 p.m. with the annual meeting taking place at 6:00 p.m. Supper will be served at 7:00 p.m. and our keynote address at 7:45.p.m. We are pleased to have Georgia's Commissioner of Agriculture Gary W. Black provide the keynote address at this special 50th Anniversary event. 
. Individual tickets to this event are $125.00 and includes free parking at the aquarium.

The  GAC State Legislative Breakfast is set for Wednesday, February 3rd at the Georgia Freight Depot in Atlanta . Food lines will open at 7:15 and we will conclude by 8:30. Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, Attorney General Sam Olens, Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, House Speaker David Ralston, Senate Ag Chairman John Wilkinson and House Ag Chairman Tom McCall have agreed to speak. This is a great event to attend with your elected House and Senate members - please reach out to them and request that they attend. Table sponsorships are available for $400.00 (reserved table of eight) or individual tickets are available for $50.00 each.
GRAPEVINE
* Please make plans to attend t he University of Georgia College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences 2016 Ag Forecast.  The 2016 keynote topic will be a discussion of sales tax distribution patterns and how Georgia counties have been affected in light of recent legislative tax changes such as the Georgia Agriculture Tax Exemption (GATE) and the Title Ad Valorem Tax (TAVT).
Remaining AgForecast dates include: Monday, January 25: Cloud Livestock Facility, Bainbridge; Tuesday, January 26: Tifton Campus Conference Center, Tifton; Wednesday, January 27: Blueberry Warehouse, Alma; Friday, January 29: Georgia Farm Bureau Building, Macon.  Click here to register online.
* The Georgia Cotton Commission’s Annual Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 27 , at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center. The annual meeting is held in conjunction with the UGA Cotton Production Workshop conducted by the Research & Extension Cotton Team. The meeting, production workshop, and lunch are open to not only cotton growers, but anyone interested in the cotton industry. More information and a detailed agenda is available on the Commission’s website at www.georgiacottoncommission.org .

* The Georgia Green Industry Association's Wintergreen annual conference will be held January 27 - 29 in Gwinnett County. For more information visit www.ggia.org or call GGIA at 888-GET-GGIA.

* The 4th Annual Unmanned Systems in Precision Agriculture Conference will be held February 3-4 at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center. It is being coordinated by the Coastal Plain and Atlanta chapters of the AUVSI (Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International).  For more information, click here.

* The Georgia Forestry Association will be hosting their annual Forestry Day at the Capitol February 3-4.  This will give forestry professionals the chance to network and talk with lawmakers and other elected officials.  For more information on Georgia Forestry Day at the Capitol click here.

* 4-H Day at the Capitol will be February 3. We always look forward to seeing the Capitol halls filled with 4-H leaders from all over the state! 

* The  2016 Soybean/Small Grain Expo will be held February 4, 2016 in Perry . Contact Billy Skaggs at [email protected] for details.

* The  2016 Georgia Agritourism Association’s Annual Conference will be held February 23 - 24  at Berry College in Rome, Georgia creates an opportunity for people to tour Georgia Agritourism operations, network, and learn about the latest in effective marketing strategies, on-farm activities that work, and hear first-hand testimonials from agritourism operators about their success. Contact  Jessica Carter  at 706-845-9085  or  [email protected]  for more info.  Register online today !

* Registration for the 2016  Flavor of Georgia  is open!  Flavor of Georgia showcases delicious, innovative, market-ready prototypes or commercially available food products. Deadline to register is February 5.  The Contest has succeeded in helping increase exposure, publicity, business contacts and sales for finalists. More than 1,000 products have entered since the Contest began in 2007.  The contest will be held  March 14-15, 2016 in Atlanta, GA at the Freight Depot.   For registration information  click here.

* Congratulations to long time GAC friend, Abit Massey on receiving one of UGA's highest honors, the UGA President's Medal.The President's Medal recognizes extraordinary contributions of individuals who are not current employees of UGA who have supported students and academic programs, advanced research and inspired community leaders to enhance Georgians' quality of life. For more information on the award and ceremony click here.

* Congratulations to former GAC board member and longtime friend Mr. Paul Wood on his recent retirement as President and CEO of Georgia EMC. He was honored this week in the Senate with SR 711 recognizing his many career achievements. Thank you for your service and friendship, Paul!

* Congratulations to Gerald Long of Bainbridge, the new president of Georgia Farm Bureau.  Long, who has served as GFB 1st vice president since 2008, succeeds Duvall who resigned after being elected AFBF president. 

We look forward to seeing President Long and GFB friends on Feb. 4 at Georgia Farm Bureau Day at the Capitol. For more information contact the GFB Legislative Department at 1-800-342-1192 or your local county Farm Bureau office. 

This information is intended for members of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, Inc. No part of this document shall be copied, edited, or redistributed in any form without express written consent from the Georgia Agribusiness Council, Inc.

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