SARL Members and Alumni

In 2016, a Washington Supreme Court ruling put the brakes on rural homebuilding in several areas across the state. The so-called Hirst decision required counties to prove that new household wells wouldn’t drain needed water from nearby streams before they issued building permits. But last month, state legislators, under pressure from landowners and building and realtors’ associations, passed a bill that, with some caveats, allows new wells. The challenge of balancing rural growth with the needs of other water users and the environment extends far beyond Washington state. [node:read-more:link]

A state congressional delegation from Montana has sent a second request to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service asking for an investigation into the actions of federal inspectors overseeing meat plants in that state.   The lawmakers first sent a letter in December to the agency’s Inspector General Phyllis K. [node:read-more:link]

But this isn’t a column about rural neglect and decay. It’s about the new — the surprisingly vibrant business community in this tiny town of 230 people whose downtown anchor is a 154-year-old retail store. [node:read-more:link]

A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought against Wisconsin officials last year by an Ohio dairy no longer allowed to sell its butter in Wisconsin unless it complies with a state law requiring it to be graded.U.S. District Judge James Peterson wrote Monday that a state law requiring that butter sold in Wisconsin be state or federally graded does not violate the constitutional rights of Minerva Dairy, of Minerva, Ohio. [node:read-more:link]

State regulators are ordering Massachusetts utilities to lower their rates to reflect the reduction in the federal corporate tax rate approved by Congress. The Department of Public Utilities on Friday instructed the utilities to account for any revenues associated with the difference between the previous and current federal corporate tax rates. [node:read-more:link]

Bills introduced last week in the Kansas House and Senate would require countywide public votes on large-scale poultry project proposals like the one Tyson Foods abandoned amid public opposition in Tonganoxie. Rep. Jim Karleskint, R-Tonganoxie, and Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, said the bills would expand to poultry operations existing state law allowing public scrutiny of hog and dairy facilities. [node:read-more:link]

Ohio is eliminating two state panels created to help regulate ownership of dangerous wild animals after a suicidal man released lions, tigers and other creatures at his farm in 2011. The Dangerous and Restricted Animals Advisory Board and the Dangerous Wild Animals State Emergency Response Commission will be discontinued Feb. 20. The panels were implemented as part of the state’s Dangerous Wild Animal Act passed in 2012. [node:read-more:link]

Bill sponsor State Rep. Kevin Hensley said he wants food stamp benefits to be used only on healthy food. Under the proposal, the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services would create a list of what food would be allowed. Hensley said SNAP recipients could still use their own money to purchase food not covered by the food stamp program. [node:read-more:link]

State lawmakers got their first glimpse at Gov. Jim Justice’s legislation to combat the opioid epidemic in West Virginia Tuesday, giving the bill high marks but cautioning that it could penalize honest doctors. The bill, which aims to reduce the number of pain pills prescribed, would allow medical licensing boards to more quickly suspend doctors if their prescriptions appear “abnormal or unusual.” The state Board of Pharmacy would flag the suspect prescriptions. [node:read-more:link]

House Bill (H.B.) 2671, which he introduced last week. Its aim? [node:read-more:link]