House Status:
Senate Status:
Senate Status:
Minutes for HB2001 - Committee on Agriculture
Short Title
Amending the sunset and assessment rates for the remediation reimbursement program.
Minutes Content for Wed, Jan 23, 2019
Chair Highland opened the hearing on HB2001 at 3:31pm.
Kyle Hamilton, Assistant Revisor, Office of The Revisor of Statutes, provided an overview of HB2001 and the statutes that it affects. (Attachment 1) There is a Fiscal Note for HB2001.
PROPONENTS
Randy Stookey, General Counsel, Kansas Grain & Feed Association and Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association, appeared before the Committee in support of HB2001. (Attachment 2) Kansas Grain and Feed Association (KGFA) and the Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association (KARA) appear in support of this bill which seeks to amend the agricultural and specialty chemical remediation act. Passed into law in 2000, the act created the remediation reimbursement program, and remediation fund, to allow for financial reimbursement to eligible persons for expenses incurred during the performance of agricultural chemical remediation, as directed by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. KGFA and KARA strongly support the purpose of this fund which serves as a form of self-insurance for the agribusiness industry for otherwise non-insurable expenses for remediation activities.
Initially, this program equally reimbursed agricultural chemical sites and fertilizer remediation sites. In recent years, however, the majority of remediation sites seeking program reimbursement are for fertilizer remediation. The changes set forth in this bill are intended to realign the funding stream for the program with that reality. In addition, the bill extends the sunset on the program from July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2030, and reduces the maximum fund balance to $3 million in order to right-size the program to its current need.
Mr Stookey stood for questions from the Committee.
Shahira Stafford, Kansas Cooperative Council, appeared before the Committee in support of HB2001. (Attachment 3) The Kansas Cooperative Council (KCC) represents all types of cooperatively structured businesses including agriculture marketing and supply, utility, financial co-ops and consumer cooperatives. Co-ops differ from other businesses because they are member-owned and operate for the mutual benefit their members.
Cooperatives are multifaceted businesses that serve a number of roles for their members. Agriculture cooperatives often have grain, agronomy, precision ag, seed, fuels, feed and financing operations. Specifically, our grain elevator and pesticide dealer coop members pay annual fees into the Kansas agricultural remediation fund within the Kansas Department of Agriculture as a self-insurance measure to help recoup remediation clean-up expenses if and when they are incurred by our members. As other conferees have testified, this program receives no state general fund dollars and is 100% self-funded by the agribusinesses industry in Kansas.
HB2001 does three things. First, it extends the sunset on the remediation program from July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2030. It reduces the maximum fund balance from $5 million to $3 million, which better aligns with the applications submitted and reimbursements paid out in recent years. Last, it adjusts the fee schedule to correctly assess the segments of the industry receiving the benefits of the program.
Ms Stafford stood for questions from the Committee.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment submitted written only testimony in support of HB2001. (Attachment 4)
There were no neutrals/opponents of HB2001.
The hearing on HB2001 was closed at 3:58pm.
Chair Highland adjourned the meeting at 4:00pm.
