OKAgPolicy Today is a morning email containing the day’s top agriculture and policy headlines. The inclusion of a particular story does not equal an endorsement. Subscribe to the email here.
TOP HEADLINES
Good reasons to support State Question 777:
Protecting the rights of farmers and ranchers at a higher level by including their right to farm in our state constitution ensures that family farmers, who know their business better than anyone else, can continue to produce affordably and responsibly. This will ensure that Oklahoma families will have plenty of reasonably priced choices in healthy, locally grown food [NewsOK].
Inside the landmark state and tribal agreement that ends standoff over water in southeast Oklahoma:
The deal, announced Thursday, clears a path for Oklahoma City to pump water out of Sardis Lake, and also establishes rules over how much water can be taken from the lake without disrupting tourism [StateImpact Oklahoma].
STATE
Mutual respect apparent in water rights agreement:
The agreement also provides a mechanism to allow the tribes and the state to receive and evaluate proposals for the sale of Oklahoma water. No one is in any hurry to do that, and indeed a legislative moratorium is in place banning any such sales, but this settlement keeps the door ajar in case opinions change someday [The Oklahoman].
Poll shows growing dissatisfaction with state lawmakers:
Oklahomans are more dissatisfied with their own Legislature than they are President Barack Obama, and are only slightly happier with Gov. Mary Fallin, according to a poll released late Friday [Tulsa World].
Oklahoma finance chief is developing options for possible special legislative session:
The state’s top budget negotiator is developing alternative proposals for a special legislative session that contemplate using all, some or none of the extra $140.8 million the state has available for teacher pay raises [The Oklahoman].
FEDERAL
Once skeptical of executive power, Obama has come to embrace it:
In nearly eight years in office, President Obama has sought to reshape the nation with a sweeping assertion of executive authority and a canon of regulations that have inserted the United States government more deeply into American life [New York Times].
Obama to roll out new climate change measures:
President Obama’s administration has unfinished business fighting climate change, which the president called “one of the most urgent challenges for our time” [The Hill].
MISCELLANEOUS
Challenges, changes, future of H-2A program:
Every year, migrant farm laborers make the trek from their homes in Mexico to the United States border crossing, where they’re interviewed by customs officials and loaded onto buses that transport them to farms across California. They come to the country to complete some of the most back-breaking labor in the state — hand-harvesting the fields [Santa Maria Times].
At war with the weeds, and the products we use to kill them:
The most commonly used herbicide, glyphosate – a major ingredient in many products, perhaps most notably Monsanto’s RoundUp – has been the subject of debate for years [Philadelphia Inquirer].
