Butch Calhoun, FFVA director of government relations, is tracking a large number of bills of interest, but several stand out as priorities.

Members of FFVA's executive committee shared industry concerns with Sen. President Mike Haridopolos during the 2011 session.

“We have an ag industry bill, Senate Bill 1184/House Bill 1021, which expands the stormwater utility fee pre-emption that was passed earlier,” said Calhoun. “That bill said that counties would not charge stormwater utility fees on agriculture operations that were implementing Best Management Practices. We now have cities charging stormwater utility fees. So we need to change the wording to ‘local governments’ in order to cover cities, counties and any other entity.”

The general ag bill also would prohibit the taking of photos on farms if the photographer does not have permission to do so, and it includes provisions that would affect those hauling citrus.

“In addition, we have a bill that would offer a sales tax exemption for electricity used in packinghouses that are not on the farm,” said Calhoun. Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, sponsored the Senate version of that bill, SB 592,  and Rep. Ben Albritton, R-Bartow, introduced the House version, HB 821.

SB 592 passed its first stop, the Senate Agriculture Committee, in November. Siplin said at the time, “The committee heard testimony earlier this year from citrus packers who stated how this exemption would increase their productivity and their ability to hire more employees. It seemed appropriate to renew this legislative effort that was started by former Senate President and current Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater in 2008.”

Two bills related to private property also are in the works. SB 132/HB 77 allows a landowner to simply paint a purple band around a tree rather than put up no-trespassing signs, a practice used in other states. “They use purple or blue paint and put a six-inch band around a post or a tree," Calhoun said. "It’s more or less a universal sign that means no trespassing.”  Rep. Daniel Davis (R-Jacksonville) and Sen. John Thrasher (R-Jacksonville) are sponsoring the trespass bill.

A liability bill, SB 802/HB 313, sponsored by Rep. Leonard Bembry, D-Madison, and Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, provides “that an owner or lessee who makes an area available to another person for hunting, fishing, or wildlife viewing is entitled to certain limitations on liability if notice is provided to a person upon entry to the area.”

From left: FFVA President Mike Stuart, Director of Government Relations Butch Calhoun, FFVA Chairman Drew Duda and Gov. Rick Scott in 2011.

Calhoun explained that “if you give someone permission to be on your property, they can’t sue you. If someone asks to take a group on a field trip and someone breaks a leg, they can’t sue you.”

Calhoun says he is tracking several water-related bills and watching others on issues such as ethanol, beekeeping and regulation of fertilizers used on urban lawns. The deadline to offer bills is noon, Jan. 10, so more may still be in the works.

The 2012 legislative session opens on Jan. 10. FFVA producer members will receive the weekly legislative bulletin, Capitol Voice, via email starting Jan. 6. The bulletin will track all bills of interest to our producer members.

Be sure that FFVA has the current email addresses of everyone in your organization who would like to receive all publications.