This week, the Legislature will meet virtually for quarterly “Legislative Days.” The November edition of legislative days is typically a preview to what we might see in the 2022 February legislative session. Additionally, the Senate will vote on a wide slate of Governor appointees to boards and commissions.
Broadly, we expect a few things of interest to the ag and natural resource sectors, particularly in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire Recovery, including a panel on organic agriculture, updates on the recently signed Forest Accord, and the ever evolving discussion on wildfire. For the organic agriculture panel, OFS is working with legislators to understand the purpose of the presentation and ask questions about this focus. On the House side, the work and leadership of the Agriculture and Land Use Committee is unclear as Brian Clem is on the edge of his retirement from the legislature, but they will take up natural disaster impacts to Oregon agriculture, risks to agriculture from land use policies, and succession planning through the Oregon Ag Heritage Program. In House Business and Labor, we expect a brief update on Rep. Andrea Salinas’ continued efforts to roll back the exemption from overtime pay for agricultural workers. Finally, several of our partners have been working to express ethics and conflict of interest concerns with at least one nominee to the Environmental Quality Commission.
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