How Is Agriculture Faring In The Washington Legislative Session?

Thursday, March 6th, was the halfway point of the Washington legislative session.  How has the farming community fared this go around in Olympia?

“We've not seen a lot of the bad stuff that we had expected," noted Colfax Representative Joe Schmick.  "But so far so good. But we got to get this fuel tax settled and get the farmers their money back, period. They were exempt from the law, we've got to make that happen. Period.”

Schmick talking about the agriculture exemption to the Climate Commitment Act.  While Republicans in both the House and Senate have pushed for an exemption, and Governor Bob Ferguson says this is a priority for him, nothing has changed.

Schmick added another issue the farming community needs to watch closely is Senate Bill 5726, which would create a Road Usage Charge (RUC) based on vehicle mileage.  While that proposal looks to be stalled out this session, Schmick and other say this is an issue that could have a detrimental impact on Washington rural community.

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