Brief ⁽¹⁾

SB 664 would permit an amount not to exceed $35,000 to be used to fund plant pest activities in the Kansas Department of Agriculture from both the Feeding Stuffs Fee Fund and the Fertilizer Fee Fund. The bill also would permit an amount not to exceed $5,000 to be used for plant pest activities from the Agricultural Liming Materials Fee Fund. The aggregate limit of transfer would be $75,000. These transfers could occur only between July 1, 2000 and June 30, 2002.

In addition, language which permitted $100,000 of Fertilizer Fee Fund money to be used on a pesticide use survey was stricken from the bill since the survey will be nearly completed by the time the bill goes into effect.

Background

The bill was introduced by the House Appropriations Committee. At the hearing on the bill, the Secretary of Agriculture testified that the bill was necessary in order to offset State General Fund expenditures in the Department of Agriculture.

The Senate Committee on Agriculture amended the bill to:

• limit the transfer from the Feeding Stuffs Fee Fund and the Fertilizer Fee Fund to $35,000 from each;



• limit the transfer from the Agricultural Liming Materials Fee Fund to $5,000;



• limit the transfer to only during the period of FY 2001; and



• eliminate language that had allowed the use of $100,000 of Fertilizer Fee Fund money for conducting a pesticide use survey.

The House Agriculture Committee amended the bill to allow the transfers to occur both in FY 2001 and FY 2002.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html