A recent announcement from Governor Rhoden marked the end of a long road for Senate Bill 14, an act to revise and repeal provisions related to agricultural production facilities and to provide a penalty therefor.
The measure was designed to protect information from being released to those who would do ag producers harm, including eco-terrorists and foreign adversaries, and was supported by most of the ag establishment including SD Farm Bureau, Coops, Dairy Producers, Pork Producers, the Cattleman’s Association, etcetera. It also included provisions to criminalize using deception to “access an ag facility that is not open to the public, with the intent to cause physical or economic harm or other injury to the agricultural production facility.“
The measure had sailed through the Senate with only token opposition from 2 of the Democrats in that chamber.. but then ran into a buzzsaw in House Ag where the bill codifying what the Depatment of Ag was already doing – protecting family agriculture producers – found itself killed as several hard-right Republicans as led by Julie Auch linked arms with the hard-left, represented by the lone Democrat on the panel, Dakota Rural Action and former Democrat Senator Frank Kloucek. And they killed the measure.
Rep. Auch and Jana Hunt teamed up to kill the bill protecting information on ag producers and was joined by Travis Ismay, Kaylee Nolz, Kathy Rice, Spencer Gosch and Democrat Kadyn Wittman.
The bill was changed later to remove the protections that would have been put in place where the Department of Ag & Natural Resources would be barred from releasing aggregated lists to groups who would target animal operations. One can only assume PETA sent the naysayers thank you notes.
After the protective language against releasing aggregate lists was stripped, the bill eventually passed. But it was another example where the hard right joined the liberal left to fight agriculture in South Dakota.
Democrat Kadyn Wittman is hard left?
DRA and Frank Kloucek are hard left. They were the only opposition to the bill
Why is that Nolz girl so anti Ag?
Representative Auch lacked understanding of most bills presented to the committee this session. However, that didn’t stop her from speaking up and offering entirely incorrect comments.
This is a dang head scratcher. So, the bill toughened penalties against nut jobs that terrorize ag facilities. Seems pretty South Dakota-like to me. But, the Dakota rural action folks and the environmental working group types banned together with House ag “republicans” to kill and then strip the bill. Er, ok.
You can’t make this up.
What does the bill actually do? What are the specifics?
Makes it a crime to gain access or employment to an ag facility with intent to cause physical and economic harm, or other injury. Makes it a crime to record an ag facility too. Both class 2 misdemeanors.
Why would it be a crime to record an ag facility? And what is defined as an ag facility?