ISSUE 1090
Senator Mel Martinez
and Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart introduced legislation Tuesday that would provide
assistance to fruit and vegetable growers, nursery operations, sugar producers
and other sectors of Florida agriculture that suffered damage from the 2005 hurricane
season. The Agriculture Hurricane Recovery Act
of 2005, which was crafted with input from FFVA, would allow producers to apply
for disaster assistance according to specific eligibility criteria. The legislation
also includes provisions for emergency grants to help restore housing and services
to farm workers. The legislation seeks to make
changes to many of the crop disaster assistance programs to ensure that growers
impacted by hurricanes in a federally declared disaster area will have an avenue
for recovery. In short, it removes stumbling blocks and dead ends producers now
face when seeking such aid. FFVA faxed letters
Thursday (November 17) to congressional delegation members who had not yet signed
on to the bill asking them to do so. As of Rap-Up deadline, Diaz-Balart was joined
by 15 co-signers. Senator Bill Nelson is an original co-sponsor. The
text of the bill as well as an outline describing its main points are posted in
the Resource
Library section at www.ffva.com. ALSO IN THIS WEEK'S RAP-UP (Members-Only articles are indicated in bold.) | |
