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Minutes for HB2559 - Committee on Agriculture
Short Title
Creating the Kansas cotton boll weevil program and requiring the program to levy an assessment upon Kansas produced cotton and monitor and mitigate the risk of boll weevils.
Minutes Content for Thu, Feb 3, 2022
Chairperson Rahjes opened the hearing on HB2559 at 3:38pm.
Kyle Hamilton, Office of the Revisor of Statutes, provided information on the bill and stood for questions.
PROPONENTS
Dr. Rex Friesen, Southern Kansas Cotton Growers Cooperative, Inc., provided a brief history of cotton growing in the traditional Cotton Belt and in Kansas since the early1980's. He also provided history and information about the boll weevil, the agricultural devastation it caused and the successful mitigation of the insect in the US except for a small area of southernTexas, and the potential unintentional introduction of the insect to Kansas. He explained how the Kansas cotton growers have voluntarily paid fees for trapping and testing but with the increase in planted acres, Kansas now needs an independent, self-funded organization to perform these tasks plus mitigation if needed. To date, no boll weevils have been detected in Kansas. He stood for questions.(Attachment 1)
Riley H. Akin, National Cotton Council of America, provided additional information about the history and impact of the boll weevil and provided supporting testimony for the creation of the Kansas cotton boll weevil program. He stood for questions.(Attachment 2)
Gary Feist, Southern Kansas Cotton Growers Cooperative, Inc., provided additional information about how the voluntary fees program has worked and provided supporting testimony for the creation of the program outlined in the bill. He stood for questions.(Attachment 3)
Brandi Miller, Kansas Cooperative Council, provided supporting testimony for the bill and stood for questions.(Attachment 4)
Claudia Hissong, Kansas Farm Bureau, provided supporting testimony for the bill and stood for questions.(Attachment 5)
WRITTEN TESTIMONY
Kenneth Titus, Chief Counsel, Kansas Department of Agriculture(Attachment 6)
OPPONENTS - None
NEUTRAL - None
With no further testimony, the Chair closed the hearing at 4:08 pm with the statement that the bill may be worked with possible final action next week.
