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
Feral hogs continue to run wild in Oklahoma:
Oklahoma’s governor has vetoed a bill that would have lifted all restrictions on removing feral hogs. The governor says the bill presented public safety issues, such as allowing hunting on public lands at night. [RFD-TV]
Oklahoma governor signs bills to limit tax credits, enhance revenues:
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed 14 bills into law Tuesday, including several designed to limit tax credits or enhance revenues. [NewsOK]
Lawmakers OK new fund to soften blows from revenue failure:
A bill to establish a new fund to ease the impact of future mid-year revenue failures is heading to the governor. The bill passed the Senate Tuesday on a 42-2 vote and would direct excess oil-and-gas production taxes and corporate income taxes to a new Revenue Stabilization Fund. [KOCO]
Proposal to end wind energy tax credit early fails:
A proposal to end a wind energy tax credit early has now died twice in the Oklahoma Legislature. The zero-emission tax credit is used primarily by wind energy companies and is the last one on the books for the industry. [Journal Record]
Washington’s chicken retreat:
Victories against the Obama regulatory juggernaut are rare, and thus all the more worthy of note. Congratulations, then, to Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and Republicans in Congress over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision on May 10 to drop its quest to list the lesser prairie chicken as an endangered species. [Wall Street Journal]
EPA, Army Corps of Engineers violate law, oppress farmers in California and elsewhere, Farm Bureau tells Congress:
The Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers have violated their own regulations and effectively invented new ones in enforcing the Clean Water Act, the American Farm Bureau Federation said today. [American Farm Bureau Federation]
Time to end the fight over GMO labeling:
It is time to end America’s long food fight over labeling genetically modified foods. This battle has played out at local, state and federal levels, costing much and benefiting no one. Let the market rule. [The Hill]
‘Welcome to California water wars’: State’s congressional delegation debates water plans on the House floor:
House Republicans are making another push for a bill addressing California’s drought, adding the text of a measure by Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) to two pieces of legislation headed to the Senate. [LA Times]
Why the USDA is putting a new warning label on beef, starting this week:
Here’s the newest reason to read the label when buying beef at the local grocery store: mechanically tenderized beef. A new USDA-mandated label will start appearing on cuts of beef this week, noting whether the meat was run through a machine that uses blades or needles to pierce and break down the muscle fibers and make it easier to chew. [Charlotte Observer]
