Farm Bill Setback Could Impact SEPA Legislation

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Subject:  Farm Bill Setback Could Impact SEPA Legislation
 Date:     Tue, 12 Mar 2002 09:23:32 -0500
From:      Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

cc:    Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov

Farm Bill Setback Could Impact SEPA Legislation

By Brad Harbison 3/11/2002 URL: http://www.pctonline.com/news/news.asp?ID=1140/

WASHINGTON , D.C. — Efforts to get Congress to pass the Farm Bill — which includes the School Environment Protection Act, or SEPA (To read more about SEPA, CLICK HERE.) — were complicated with the announcement Friday by congressional budget analysts that the Farm Bill is $6.1 billion over the spending limit set by a congressional budget committee.

“It could certainly have an impact on SEPA,” said Gene Harrington, manager of government affairs, National Pest Management Association. “It increases the already existing difficulties surrounding the development of a final version of the Farm Bill.”

Had the error been discovered before the Senate voted on the bill, its Democratic authors likely would have been forced to scale back on the legislation, according to a report from the Associated Press (To read more about the Farm Bill budgeting error, CLICK HERE. ) Otherwise, minority Republicans could have potentially blocked the bill on procedural grounds, the article stated.

The Farm Bill is currently in conference committee. The budgeting error could help Republicans in their efforts to scale down the Farm Bill, according to Harrington. Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean SEPA will be impacted. The congressional budget office has always indicated that SEPA will not be costly, Harrington said. “Technically, it is a voluntarily program. States don’t have to run their own pesticide programs — they run their programs by choice,” he said. “EPA is really the governing pesticide body and states, with EPA’s blessing, have decided to establish their own programs.”

Harrington added that although the latest budgeting problems have created another obstacle for the Farm Bill, he thinks it will ultimately be passed. “I don’t think the funding decision has any direct impact on SEPA, but it signals that these will be difficult negotiations,” he said. “The house ag committee has a long-standing tradition of working well together and working out differences and I see no reason why they can't do it this time.”

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