Dye: 2020 Legislative Session Could Be Concerning For Washington Farm Country

Less than nine weeks remain in 2019, which means it’s time to start thinking about the 2020 legislative sessions for both Washington and Oregon.  Washington state representative Mary Dye said when looking back at this year’s session, there were several “interesting” pieces of legislation that unfairly targeted the farming industry.  The Pomeroy Republican said several new senators came to Olympia with different views on what farming is and is not.

“We need to work really hard with our Department of Ecology and Water Resources to try and make sure that we’re not getting regulatory actions that are going to hurt some of our growers on certain watersheds.  I think that’s concerning.”

And that concern, she noted, will continue into 2020.  She said looking ahead to January, she anticipates Republican legislation will struggle, so it’s important the farm community focuses on keeping lines of communication open ensuring balance and perspective.

“We had passed some regulatory relief for oil trains transporting vegetable oil.  We have an oil crush facility in Warden and we also have food processing that imports oil for processing, and we want to make sure that those rules that were suppose to be removed from the statute and apparently they’re writing new ones.  So, that’s going against legislative intent.”

Dye added in the session ahead, she wants to work with federal agencies to make needed infrastructure improvements across the Inland Northwest.

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