Oklahoma Farm Bureau - Priority Issues

2008 Oklahoma Farm Bureau Priority Issues

Private Property Rights

• We strongly oppose the use of eminent domain for private purposes and support needed changes to Oklahoma law to protect property owners such as excluding agricultural land from the term “blighted.”

• We support the creation of a Death Warranty Deed to allow the transfer of real property upon an owner’s death.

• We support limitations on liability for agri-tourism businesses.

• We support increased penalties for trespassing and hunting without permission.

Taxes & Finance

• We strongly support the current 10 percent cap on school bond indebtedness, and the retention of the 60 percent constitutional requirement for passage of capital improvement bonds.

• We support tax incentives to encourage the production and use of renewable fuels.

• We support continued funding for the maintenance and construction of rural roads and bridges.

Agriculture & Natural Resources

• We support strict adherence to the law in requiring the majority of the nine member Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College to be farmers and ranchers.

• We oppose any litigation or regulation to classify animal manure as hazardous waste under state and federal laws.

• We support irrigation, agriculture and domestic water users’ interests being represented in the statewide water study.

• We support funding for a statewide conservation cost share program that funds traditional conservation practices at the district level.

• We support legislative appropriations for OSU Cooperative Extension and Research be allocated by the State Board of Regents for Higher Education as directed by the Legislature.

• We support funding for equipment for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture Food and Forestry’s Diagnostic Laboratory.

• We urge Oklahoma to adopt a 25 x 25 initiative, similar to the resolution introduced in Congress, that by 2025 at least 25 percent of the State of Oklahoma’s energy supply should come from renewable sources including wind, solar and biofuel.

Governmental Reform

• The State Administrative Procedure Act should require actual notice to those people who will be affected by proposed rule changes when a fiscal impact is involved.

• We support the Legislature examining the issue of why Oklahoma is one of only two states that requires an abstract be brought up-to-date at the sale of real property.