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Michigan Farm Bureau establishes new animal care, government policy

By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — During their annual meeting last week, Michigan Farm Bureau members set policy to guide the state’s largest farm organization through the next year.

MFB members spent three days discussing and debating policies that set forth guidelines for animal care, streamlining state government and reforming the state’s election process, supporting the dairy industry and more. The delegates approved 147 resolutions consolidated from nearly 900 resolutions first approved by county farm bureaus.

Two policies address the issues of streamlining state government and reforming the state’s election process.

The elections reform policy calls for reforming Michigan’s term limits. The adopted MFB state elections policy recommends “extending the number of terms for state representatives up to six two-year terms and state senators up to three four-year terms,” and proposes that MFB “initiate a petition drive to accomplish this.”

The 2010 election will mark the first year that Michigan will have completely new leadership for the state. The governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, speaker of the House and Senate majority leader will all be new. In addition, with term limits, there will be 29 new senators, and at least 34 new House members. Combined, this represents a 72-percent changeover in the legislature in the last two years.

In presenting the resolution to the organization’s membership, policy development committee member and District 11 representative Warren Suchovsky of Menominee County said the reform is necessary to ensure strong state leadership in the future.

“These folks aren’t there long enough to understand the process,” Suchovsky said of Michigan’s legislature.

The policy also says MFB would “consider supporting a part-time legislature, provided other legislative reforms are implemented to maintain a balance of power.”

Delegates also passed a policy that calls for streamlining Michigan government.

“While a proposal to reduce the number of state government departments from 19 to 8 is being discussed, the number of departments is not a driver of Michigan’s economic condition.
Instead, we believe the following are: spending 86 percent of general funds on human services, corrections and education; spending that is based on income from a manufacturing economy that no longer exists; and term limits for legislators,” the policy states.

Operating under those assumptions, the new policy recommends that the state “must provide service to those in need while applying appropriate resources to policing programs like Medicaid that are open to abuse.”

Added is a provision that recommends the state impose “a lifetime ban from all assistance programs for any person convicted of any form of welfare fraud,” and that “all Michigan ID cards, driver’s licenses or any other identification need to have fingerprints.”

Noting that Michigan spends $1.19 on corrections for every dollar spent on education, the policy recommends that Michigan review and potentially change sentencing guidelines for non-violent crimes in order to reduce prison populations and scale back on staffing needs.

The policy also reflects a long-time frustration of farmers and other businesses that “Michigan’s regulatory structure must change as it is not conducive to growing business in Michigan.”

The policy reads, “(lawmakers) should have a clear understanding of the impact of regulations on business before voting to support new or more stringent regulations of any type.”

To help promote that clear understanding, the policy recommends a change in legislative term limits.

“Constant turnover of the legislature erodes the knowledge base of both the legislature and legislative staff, including historical support for agriculture,” the policy reads. “Michigan needs legislators who can provide a balanced budget based on long-term priorities and make other timely and difficult decisions that are in the best interest of Michigan.”

A policy on animal care supports the establishment of a state animal care advisory board to oversee animal care guidelines and regulations in Michigan. The board would be comprised of representatives from the livestock and food industries and scientific community.

The policy also encourages livestock farmers to be in compliance with Michigan Right to Farm laws and Generally Accepted Agricultural and Management Practices; “educate and have guidelines for employees on proper animal care”; and “be proactive in educating the controlling authorities and local humane societies about current animal care and production practices, so as to build a partnership between farm bureau and local animal care organizations.”

Visit www.michiganfarmbureau.com for a complete listing of the approved policies.

12/9/2009