Although the Star Tribune editorial board praised state representative's Jamie Becker's leadership in the March 29 editorial U's new effort will help broaden, better coordinate fight to contain chronic wasting disease, a development in the Minnesota House's Ag and Food Finance and Policy Division on Thursday suggests that the Roseville DFLer's work may be sabotaged by the state's captive deer industry and agribusiness interests.
The Strib's editorial board writes:
Thanks to strong leadership by Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL-Roseville, the Minnesota Legislature is currently weighing pragmatic, nation-leading efforts to protect hunters and their families. . . .
State lawmakers should continue to push forward with CWD measures while Congress comes up to speed. Becker-Finn has a commendable slate of bills that merit support, but Minnesota can’t go it alone. The U’s new program will broaden and better coordinate the fight against this emerging health threat. This effort builds on the state’s long tradition of health care leadership and burnishes it. . . .
That link to the commendable slate (see the infographic at the top of this post for bill numbers and topics) goes to Associated Press reporter Steve Karnowski's article in the Star Tribune, Minnesota lawmaker seeks tougher action against deer disease. Karnowski reports:
. . . Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn is sponsoring several bills that target deer farms to try to stop the disease from spreading from captive to wild deer. Another would give the University of Minnesota $1.8 million to develop faster and more sensitive diagnostic tests that farms and regulators could use on live deer and hunters could use to make sure their venison is safe to eat.
"We have known about CWD for over a decade, almost two decades, and it is now more prevalent in Minnesota than ever," the Roseville Democrat and lifelong deer hunter said at a news conference, flanked by fellow lawmakers and hunters. . . .
Becker-Finn's other bills include one to require deer and elk farms to have 10-feet-high double fences, a moratorium on new deer farms with voluntary buyouts for existing operations, switching regulatory oversight from the Board of Animal Health to the Department of Natural Resources, and $1.5 million for control and prevention. She said they stand a good chance in the Democratic-controlled House, but acknowledged that getting support will be harder in the GOP-controlled Senate, where there's resistance to more regulation, interference with property rights and more spending.
Tim Spreck, a lobbyist for the Minnesota Deer Farmers Association, said it's "preposterous" to blame deer and elk farmers for the entire problem when most are doing an excellent job of keeping their herds healthy. He said the double-fencing requirement alone could bankrupt most farmers, and while he said some farmers might be interested in buyouts, they could be "prohibitively expensive" for the state.
CWD Reform stalls in Ag & Food Division, mutates into an amendment
In fact, some of the bills have stalled in the House Agriculture and Food Finance and Policy Division since March 7, where the committee chair Austin Democrat Jeanne Poppe was nothing short of dismissive of the bills. Since then, some of the language has jumped the policy and author barrier to become a discussed part of the bill funding the Board of Animal Health (so much for separate policy bills).
Bluestem posted about the March 7 hearing, where the delaying strategy began, in VIDEO: Ag & Food Division hears CWD bills:
On Thursday, the Minnesota House Agriculture and Food Finance and Policy Division took up four bills related to Chronic Wasting Disease:
- HF229 (Becker-Finn) - Farmed Cervidae additional fencing requirements established.
- HF305 (Becker-Finn) - White-tailed deer possession moratorium provided, buyout program created, and money appropriated.
- HF553 (Becker-Finn) - Farmed Cervidae regulatory duties and powers transferred from Board of Animal Health to Department of Natural Resources.
- HF1362 (Her) - Farmed Cervidae herd depopulation required when an animal is infected with chronic wasting disease.
The hearing was about what one could expect--including demands that no one talk about the potential jump of CWD across the species barrier, attempts by Rod Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake, to blend Roseville DFLer and outdoors woman Jamie Becker-Finn's walk through into a paste of prion disorders bovine, cervidae and human, an anti-government outburst by New Republican Tim Miller and much, much more. . . .
Last week, Division chair, Austin Democrat Jeanne Poppe, initiated a "discussion" of a CWD amendment (H2200A1.pdf) to HF2200, the bill that establishes the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Board of Animal Health, and Agricultural Utilization Research Institute budget.
No action was taken on Thursday, but the according to the committee's current agendas for the April 2 and April 4, HF2200 will be considered both dates. From the committee's page:
A delete everything amendment will be posted late afternoon April 1. Walk through of the amendment, public testimony, and member questions/discussion will be occur on April 2nd. Amendments to the DE are due 9:45 AM April 3. Consideration of amendments and the final vote on HF 2200 as amended will occur on Thursday, April 4.
Thus, the CWD legislation related to CWD and cervid farming policy is being rolled into a bill that funds--among other things--the Board of Animal Health. That likely eliminates the sought-after move of CWD surveillance from the BAH to the Department of Natural Resources, despite the scathing review of its handling of deer farms that the board received from the Office of the Legislative Auditor in 2018.
Here's the amendment (click on the box on the upper left hand corner of the document to hide the index):
In Thursday hearing, it was clear from testimony by lobbyists for the farmed elk and deer industries that much of anything other than subsidies for their clients will probably vanish after this week--or a bit of time in conference committee with the Senate. After all, in the end--who is going to deny funding to the the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Board of Animal Health, and Agricultural Utilization Research Institute at such a terrible time in the state's agricultural economic cycle?
Don't take our word for it. Here's the video of Poppe walking through the amendment--pointing out which parts are controversial for the division's clients--and testimony by the cervad industry's lobbyists. Due to a scheduling problem caused by the division hearing going long, not all the lobbyist testimony is caught on video. For the entire ask by MN Deer Farmers Assn lobbyist Tim Sprecht, readers will have to pick up the rest on the audio archive beginning at the 1:34:24 mark.
Nonetheless, viewers will get a chance to watch Sprecht talk about how he thinks he sees a faint halo on Poppe's head. It's rhetoric like that tips us off that the industry is confident it will be getting what it wants from Poppe. Never mind the state's deerhunters.
Here's the video archive of the walk through and "discussion" of the amendment (no official action was taken on the amendment, as HF2200 itself has not been moved forward for the division's consideration):
Let's hope that more Minnesotans are watching this dung show in the coming week.
Infographic: What the Star Tribune editorial board was praising.
If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.
Comments