Tag: legislation

If the Farm Bill, which passed out of a congressional committee late last month, were signed into law in its current form, farmers would likely see few substantive changes in how they do business, at least at first.

A new federal bill will make historic investments in voluntary, long underfunded conservation programs. The Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Congress Aug. 12, will invest another $20 billion in voluntary conservation programs for farmers over the next decade.

The U.S. legislature is considering historic investments in broadband expansion. Broadband advocates say that funding needs to come with accountability and transparency, and to be targeted to the areas that need it the most.

The U.S. Senate recently passed the Growing Climate Solutions Act. Several farm groups applauded the Senate’s decision in recent statements.

The Senate unanimously passed a bill to create Ohio’s first ever statewide broadband grant program April 28. House Bill 2 is a reintroduction of House Bill 13, which lost momentum and never came up for a final vote in 2020 after receiving support from legislators, rural groups and more.

The West Virginia legislature passed the state’s first-ever farm bill April 6. The bill, which will renew annually, sets the stage for easier updates and revisions to state code related to agriculture.

A recently introduced bill in the Ohio House aims to deregulate ephemeral waters, following changes at a federal level last year. The bill covers “ephemeral features”: streams, wetlands, ponds and other waters that don’t have water year round and mainly exist after precipitation, like rain or snow.

The U.S. House passed a bill that would reform farm labor and create pathways to legal status for farm workers without legal status.

After receiving support from various legislators, rural groups and others, a bill that would have created a statewide broadband grant program in Ohio lost momentum at the end of 2020. House Bill 13 passed the Ohio House in June of 2020 and went through three hearings in a Senate committee. But as the legislature neared the end of the 133rd General Assembly, it never came up for a vote in the Senate. It never even made it out of the committee.

With a pandemic still in full swing, Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed a bill that would have reopened county fairs. Senate Bill 375, which would have voided a July public health order to restrict Ohio fairs to junior fairs only, passed the Ohio legislature in December with largely partisan votes and discussions.