February 4, 2014

       Volume 6, Issue III

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   

Today the Senate approved the Agricultural Act of 2014 by a vote of 68 to 32. The conference report now will be transmitted to the President for his signature. His spokesman has indicated he will sign it. After nearly 3 years of effort, we finally will have a new farm bill!  Once the President signs the bill action will shift to the Department of Agriculture as it begins to implement it.

Get more information on the various components of the Farm Bill from Stephen Frerich's January 31, 2014 Farm Bill Update after the House approved the farm bill last week.

Last week the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its official scoring of the Agricultural Act of 2014.  Overall the Agricultural Act of 2014 is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to spend $956 billion over 10 years. Of that amount, 79% or $756 billion is for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), 9% (90 billion) is for the crop insurance program, 6% ($58 billion) for conservation and 5% ($45 billion) for commodity title programs.  Compared to the 2008 farm bill, the commodity title programs took the biggest cut at $14 billion over 10 years (estimated by the Congressional Budget Office); the SNAP cut is $8 billion while crop insurance spending would increase by nearly $6 billion.   If you'd like to read the CBO report, you can find it here: http://cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/hr2642LucasLtr.pdf   

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has extended the deadline for new enrollments in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) for fiscal year 2014. Producers interested in participating in the program can submit applications to NRCS through Feb. 7, 2014.

The program emphasizes conservation performance - producers earn higher payments for higher performance. In CSP, producers install conservation enhancements to make positive changes in soil quality, soil erosion, water quality, water quantity, air quality, plant resources, animal resources and energy use.

Eligible landowners and operators in all states and territories can enroll in CSP through Feb. 7 to be eligible during fiscal 2014. While local NRCS offices accept CSP applications year round, NRCS evaluates applications during announced ranking periods. To be eligible for this year's enrollment, producers must have their applications submitted to NRCS by the closing date.

By Scott DiBiasio, Appraisal Institute

Legislation in New Jersey (S. 3058), that would have significantly expanded the ability of real estate brokers and salespersons to offer broker price opinion (BPO) services, did not become law as a result of a "pocket veto" by Governor Chris Christie on January 21, 2014.

The legislation was passed by both houses of the New Jersey legislature on January 6, 2014, and was presented to Governor Christie for his consideration.  However, because the bill was passed by the legislature during the last ten days of the 2012-2013 legislative session (which ended on January 14, 2014), Governor Christie had only seven days in which to sign or veto the bill, or it did not become law.  Governor Christie did not sign the bill, nor return it to the legislature with an absolute or conditional veto.  Therefore, the legislation did not become law when the seven-day period for his consideration expired on January 21, 2014. Read more.

From FBNews

Proprietary data collected from individual farms is valuable and should remain the property of the farmer, according to American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman. As innovation and technology using this data expands to provide farmers new management tools, protecting the privacy of this data is paramount.   

See more at: http://fbnews.fb.org/Templates/Article.aspx?id=38422#sthash.f3u3lxtW.dpuf

Fannie Mae launched a website Jan. 6 focused on its new Appraiser Quality Monitoring process, which evaluates appraisals for data accuracy and consistency. The site gives lenders access to a list of appraisers whose reports will be subject to 100 percent review or no longer accepted by Fannie. Visit the site here:

https://www.fanniemae.com/singlefamily/appraiser-quality-monitoring

Sellers and servicers approved by the government-sponsored enterprise can access the review list of appraisers through the website's Technology Manager. The list is protected content and will be updated monthly. 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