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January 4, 2013
Volume 13
Issue 5
LEGISLATIVE KICKOFF SET FOR TUESDAY Farm Bureau’s 2013 Legislative Kickoff is set for Tuesday, January 8, in Indianapolis. The meeting will begin with opening remarks by Lt. Governor-elect Sue Ellspermann and features a luncheon to which all legislators have been invited. The Weather Channel is predicting good weather for Indy that day, so we look forward to seeing a good turnout of Farm Bureau members at the kickoff. If you have received an invitation and not yet registered, please contact your county Farm Bureau president.
CHANGES ANNOUNCED IN FARM BUREAU PUBLIC POLICY TEAM Kent Yeager, team leader of Farm Bureau’s Public Policy Team, plans to retire from Indiana Farm Bureau in 2013. While he has not yet set an exact retirement date, Kent has given notice of his plans to allow ample time for a successful transition. He intends to remain on staff working part-time at least through the end of the legislative session to assist as needed with national policy, ELECT, and other public policy activities.
With a new General Assembly session and Congress beginning in January, this is a very busy and critical time for Farm Bureau’s Public Policy Team. In order to ensure that we can continue to address all the issues that are on the team’s agenda, the organization’s leaders moved quickly to appoint a new team leader. Effective January 2, 2013, Megan Ritter became the new Public Policy Team Leader. Megan’s experience and knowledge gained in the area of public policy while working for two other state Farm Bureaus (Michigan and Iowa), along with her experience with Indiana Farm Bureau, makes her well prepared to take on additional responsibilities and provide the leadership for the team.
The entire Public Policy Team congratulates Kent on his plans for retirement and Megan for her new role as the team’s leader. Both Megan and Kent will be registered lobbyists for Farm Bureau during the 2013 state legislative session. They will join Katrina Hall, Wayne Dillman and Bob Kraft, who will spend most of their time at the Statehouse, and Pete Hanebutt, Justin Schneider, Mark Thornburg and IFB President Don Villwock who will occasionally lobby as well. Pete will continue to coordinate Statehouse visits by county Farm Bureaus.
FISCAL CLIFF AVOIDED (for now); FARM BILL EXTENDED THROUGH SEPTEMBER In a late session on New Year’s Day, the U.S. House of Representatives passed on a 257-167 vote the Senate legislation that prevents tax rates from rising on households making under $450,000 and delays for two months scheduled budget cuts that would have kicked in Wednesday. The U.S. Senate passed the legislation early Tuesday with strong bipartisan support, 89-8. President Obama signed it into law.
Under the legislation:
- Estate tax rises to 40 percent from its current 35 percent level, with the first $5 million in assets exempted.
- Capital gains tax rate has been permanently set at 20 percent for those above the $400,000/$450,000 level, higher than the previous 15 percent.
- Income tax rates will rise on individuals making more than $400,000 and families making more than $450,000.
- Alternative minimum tax is permanently indexed for inflation.
- Child tax credit and earned income tax credit are extended for five years.
- 50 percent bonus depreciation is extended.
- Wind production tax credit for renewable energy extended a year.
- Biodiesel tax incentives will be retroactively reinstated from January 1, 2012, through the end of 2013.
The legislation also prevents more than a trillion dollars in scheduled budget cuts from occurring until the end of February.
Part of the comprehensive measure is an extension of the current farm bill through September, including a continuation of the current Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program for dairy farmers. The dairy program would have seen significant reform had the extension incorporated language from the Senate and House committee bills, but these reforms were not included. The bill also does not include disaster assistance.
Farm Bureau supported efforts to reform the farm bill through normal order with a five-year bill and not as a temporary extension. As information becomes available and we have a chance to analyze the language more thoroughly, IFB will send updates detailing the impacts on Indiana agriculture.
DANIELS APPOINTS ENVIRONMENTAL RULES BOARD MEMBERS, DESIGNATES GARD AS CHAIR Outgoing Gov. Mitch Daniels has appointed all the members of the newly established Environmental Rules Board. The new board, which was created by the General Assembly in 2012, consolidates functions previously vested in three separate boards: the Air Pollution Control Board, the Water Pollution Control Board, and the Solid Waste Management Board. The law required that the 11 gubernatorial appointments be made by the end by 2012. Also serving as ex officio members of the new board will be the lieutenant governor, the commissioners of IDEM and the Department of Health, the director of DNR and the secretary of commerce.
Among the individuals appointed to the new board are Ken Rulon of Arcadia, who will represent agriculture, and former state Sen. Beverly Gard of Greenfield, who will chair it. Sen. Gard, who was first elected to the Senate in 1988, retired from the Senate in 2012. For the past several sessions, she served as chair of the Energy and Environmental Affairs Committee. As chair she gained the respect of individuals on both sides of environmental debates for willingness to listen to their concerns. She was always supportive of the state’s environmentally responsible animal agriculture operations.
GRUBB TO JOIN ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO COMMISSION Gov. Mitch Daniels has appointed former state representative Dale Grubb to the state’s Alcohol and Tobacco Commission. Grubb, a farmer from Covington, retired from the General Assembly in 2012 after a 24-year career where he was a strong supporter of agriculture and Farm Bureau’s legislative initiatives.
PENCE APPOINTS VINCENT TO HEAD DLGF Incoming Governor Mike Pence has named Micah Vincent to be the Commissioner of the Department of Local Government Finance in his administration. Vincent, who is currently an attorney in Gov. Daniel’s office, has served as general counsel for DLGF. While he was in law school, Vincent served internships with Farm Bureau’s legal and the public policy teams.
2012 WALKOUT FINES SUBJECT OF COURT BATTLE The walk-outs by House Democrats in 2011 and 2012 were back in the news this week as the Indiana Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit that protested the manner in which fines imposed by the Republican majority were collected. The lawsuit filed by retired Rep. Bill Crawford (D-Indianapolis) and 29 of his caucus colleagues does not challenge the fines themselves but alleges that without a court order authorizing a wage garnishment it was illegal for House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) to collect the fines by withholding them from legislators’ paychecks. A lower court agreed with the Democrats and that ruling was appealed by the Republicans who argued that a judicial decision would constitute an unconstitutional interference of the legislative process by the judicial branch. At the end of the hearing, Chief Justice Brent Dixon suggested that the two parties try to negotiate a resolution of the issue.
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