Bob Ferguson

Last week, when Governor Bob Ferguson signed Washington’s $77.9 billion two-year operating budget, eastern Washington irrigators celebrated.  That massive budget includes $44 million for the Odessa Groundwater Replacement Project .  Supporters of this proj...

Last week, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed legislation to give the agricultural community the farm fuel exemptions they were promised when the Climate Commitment Act was passed a few years ago.    House Bill 1912, sponsored by Moses Lake Republican Tom Dent, will make it easier for farmers to use the fuel exemption by establishing a public directory to find sellers who offer exempt fuel. 

On Tuesday, Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed House Bill 1141 into law, extending collective bargaining rights to agricultural cannabis workers in the state.  Representative Lillian Ortiz-Self, sponsor for the bill says the legislation “corrects a historical exclusion by granting these workers the right to unionize—an important step toward equity in one of the state’s fastest-growing industr

Washington Republican senators are warning that the budget recently proposed by the majority party goes above and beyond what the state needs and will hurt rural Washingtonians.  State senator Ron Muzzall said the $17 billion tax increase in the Democrats budget is beyond belief.  ...

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 goo...

Legislation ensuring fuels used for agricultural purposes are exempt from the Climate Commitment Act has been introduced in the Washington House.  Moses Lake Representative Tom Dent, sponsor of House Bill 1912, said the legislation will fix the mistakes made when CCA passed four years ago.   “That is t...

A group of state attorneys general recently asked Congress to pass expansive Right-to-Repair legislation targeted at cars, farm equipment, and digital electronics.  In a letter to the House and Senate Commerce Committee, the group says, "The Right-to-Repair is a bipartisan issue that impacts every consumer, household, and farm in a time of increasing inflation.”   ...

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced this week the largest chicken producer in the nation will pay $10.5 million because of a lawsuit over price-fixing on chicken products.  The announcement is the third and largest resolution in Ferguson’s lawsuit against 19 broiler chicken producers.  The claims ag...

Earlier this month, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a civil rights lawsuit against Sunnyside-based Ostrom Mushroom Farm, claiming discrimination against female workers.  Ferguson claimed that Ostrom fired 79% of their female pickers, replacing them with H2-A male pickers.  The AG’...

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit Tuesday against 19 chicken producers, accusing them of conspiracy to inflate prices to maximize profits. The suit, filed in King County, also accuses those companies of rigging bids and coordinating supply reductions ...