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SARL Members and Alumni News

KY sends bill on cultured "meat" labeling to the Governor

Ky Legislature | Posted on March 13, 2019

Amend KRS 217.035 to include any food product that purports to be or is represented as meat or a meat product that contains any cultured animal tissue produced from in vitro animal cell cultures outside of the organism from which it is derived.


NH House passes death penalty repeal by a veto-proof margin

Union Leader | Posted on March 12, 2019

he New Hampshire Legislature took a big step toward repeal of the death penalty on Thursday, with a veto-proof vote of 279-88 in support of House Bill 455.The bill revokes the existing capital punishment statute and replaces it with a penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole for murder of a police officer or other capital offenses.New Hampshire currently has one person on death row — Michael Addison. Addison was sentenced to death for the 2006 killing of Manchester police officer Michael Briggs.Opponents of death penalty repeal argued that Addison will never be executed if capital punishment is repealed, while supporters of the repeal said the law would not be applied retroactively.No one has been executed in New Hampshire since 1939.


Bill defining meat in North Dakota goes to the governor

Grand Forks Herald | Posted on March 11, 2019

The North Dakota Legislature wants to make sure that when consumers buy meat, they know they’re buying “the edible flesh of an animal born and harvested for the purpose of human consumption,” and not something developed in a lab.The Senate on March 4 also passed a companion to the bill, House Concurrent Resolution 3024, which urges Congress to take similar actions to differentiate meat from lab-produced, meat-like products.


SD passes bill in support of truthful meat labeling

Tri State Livestock News | Posted on March 11, 2019

South Dakota State Legislature passed Senate Bill 68 which bill prohibits labeling cell-cultured protein as meat in South Dakota.


Georgia Senate approves state takeover of Atlanta airport

Atlanta Journal Constitution | Posted on March 11, 2019

The Georgia Senate voted to approve a measure that would give the state control of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a move that Atlanta’s mayor said is tantamount to declaring war on the city.The bill’s Republican supporters say the switch is needed to protect the state’s economic engine from corruption and mismanagement, and the indictment Wednesday of a longtime Atlanta contractor on bribery charges added fuel to the fire.Democrats say the state has no legal right to take control of the airport that the city still controls. One opponent after another described how the airport has become one of the leading economic engines for the state under city oversight — and that state oversight won’t necessarily prevent corruption.


Amid tears, bowed heads, Maryland House of Delegates approves legalizing medically assisted suicide

The Baltimore Sun | Posted on March 11, 2019

Following an intense and emotional debate that brought some lawmakers to tears, the Maryland House of Delegates approved a bill that would allow terminally ill adults to obtain prescription drugs they could take to end their lives.


Iowa's Boulton: Don't kill voluntary programs that encourage land conservation

Des Moines Register | Posted on March 10, 2019

Iowans understand the mounting issues we have in water and conservation in our state. They can see that we need to address water quality and manage recurrent flooding with sustainable solutions, like expanding wetland areas that can help naturally filter our water and provide areas to take on rising flood waters that can help mitigate the devastation seen in many of our communities the past few years.Incentives and low-interest loan programs have successfully encouraged landowners to voluntarily donate or sell their land for nonprofit and public conservation efforts. The State Revolving Fund has provided a win-win approach for conservation in Iowa. It allows farmers to choose to be part of the solution in conservation and does so in a way that is the most beneficial to them and our state.This year, however, those programs have come under attack. Two bills, Senate Study Bill 1221 and House Study Bill 542 threatened these successful programs and actually sought to take us a step backwards in water quality and conservation.


outh Dakota's KLUMB: Hemp bringing an exciting time for agriculture in SD

The Daily Republic | Posted on March 10, 2019

HB 1191 sailed through the House with very little opposition. I think it only received two no votes on the House floor. This past week in committee we heard HB 1191. Since the time it was in the House, opposition from the governor's office has increased dramatically. Her concerns are primarily that this is going to make law enforcement's job more difficult when it comes to detection of marijuana. As farmers continue to see depressed grain markets, they eventually will look for alternative crops that may help them make ends meet.Hemp may be that product, however it may not. I would caution farmers that should this bill become law, you're going to want to take a good, long look at every aspect of the product and have it all penciled out. There are no safety nets with this crop, there are minimal, if any markets for it in South Dakota at this time and all the risk is on the producer. My reason for voting for this bill was to tell those markets that may want to move here that South Dakota is for business. Now that the Feds have delisted it, other states are making a move and I want to encourage industry that may want to move to South Dakota to know that we're willing to work with them so we don't lose out on the market.


Public health insurance option gets early Colorado House approval

Colorado Politics | Posted on March 7, 2019

The House voted Friday to require two state agencies to study and develop a proposal for the Legislature by Nov. 15. The bill goes to the Senate after another House vote.Fourteen rural counties have just one health insurer. Their residents face some of the nation's highest premiums.Republican Rep. Marc Catlin, a bill co-sponsor, says it's smart to study what a public option might look like before introducing formal legislation in 2020.


Michigan awards grants for rural development, infrastructure projects

Iron Mountain Daily News | Posted on March 7, 2019

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has awarded 16 Rural Development Fund Grants. Eligible counties include those with a population no greater than 60,000 residents or micropolitan statistical areas.The department received 66 proposals with requests totaling nearly $5.1 million. Of those, MDARD awarded 16 projects totaling $1,245,500, leveraging a match of more than $1.5 million.The grant funds, Public Act 411 of 2012, are aimed to promote the sustainability of land-based industries — food and agriculture; forestry; mining, oil and gas production; and tourism — and support workforce training, rural capacity building, business development and infrastructure that benefits rural communities.


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