January 21, 2014

       Volume 6, Issue II

ASFMRA Lobbyist, Stephen owns and operates his own consulting and lobbying firm, AgVantage, LLC in Alexandria,VA.

Bill Garber

ASFMRA/AI Lobbyist, Bill is the Director of Government and External Relations at the Appraisal Institute (AI) in Washington, DC.

American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers
950 South Cherry Street, Suite 508 Denver, CO 80246

TEL: (303) 758-3513
FAX: (303) 758-0190

www.asfmra.org   

Both the House and Senate are in recess this week. As widely reported, House Speaker Boehner informed House Agriculture Committee Chairman Lucas and Ranking Member Peterson that he would not allow a vote on a farm bill conference report that included a dairy program with supply management features. A feature the Speaker had previously referred to as Soviet style agricultural policy. During House floor consideration of the farm bill last July an amendment stripped out the supply management provisions. However, those provisions remain in the Senate bill and appeared to be headed towards the final bill. Read more about the farm bill.  

Before heading into recess, both the House and Senate passed a $1 trillion plus omnibus appropriations bill by wide bipartisan margins. The bill was made possible by the budget agreement reached between the House and Senate last December. It is a significant step towards return to regular order by shifting away from repeated continuing resolutions and sequestration of discretionary accounts. Read more.  

Central Valley Business Times

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated 27 of California's 58 counties as natural disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by extreme drought.

The designated counties in the Central Valley are Fresno; Merced; Kern; San Joaquin; Kings; Sacramento; Madera; Tulare; and Stanislaus.

Other counties designated are Alameda; Mariposa; San Benito; Alpine; Inyo; San Bernardino; Amador; Mono; Calaveras; Monterey; San Luis Obispo; Contra Costa; Los Angeles; Santa Barbara; El Dorado; Santa Clara; Tuolumne and Ventura. Read more. 

By Bill Garber 

The Appraisal Institute anticipates that in the coming weeks a coalition of Senators primarily from rural states will introduce legislation that addresses the concerns that many community banks and credit unions (mostly in rural states) have expressed about a "shortage of appraisers."

The concern has been raised in several meetings AI has had with Congressional staff, and it mirrors comments advanced by trade groups for community banking and credit unions during recent Congressional hearings. The common complaint is that the alleged appraiser shortage has forced banks to use appraisers from too great a distance and therefore aren't familiar with the area or the property. Read more. 

Are there topics that you would like to see covered in the ASFMRA Legislative Action News? Do you have news sources that you think would be interesting to other ASFMRA Members?  Please let us know.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Gruba
American Society of Farm Managers & Rural Appraisers
The Most Trusted Rural Property Professionals

sgruba@asfmra.org  or reply to this email.

303-692-1210