A newly-drafted bill on the fast track in the Iowa House would provide new liability protection to Iowa farmers. It’s in response to a February Iowa Supreme Court ruling that said a woman injured during a northeast Iowa farm tour had the right to sue the farm host. Representative Kevin Koester, a Republican from Ankeny, says farmers are now reluctant to allow anyone on their property for any activity.  “Something should happen in the legislature this month on that so that we relieve the concern that many folks who hunt, fish and do other recreational purposes have access to private land without it being a liability headache for the landowner,” Koester says. A state law passed in 1967 granted private property owners liability protection if they allowed recreational activities like hunting and fishing.

“There’s concern about whether or not it’s safe regarding the liability of allowing people to do what they’ve always done,” Koester says. The bill will be considered in the House Government Oversight Committee next week and is the result of discussions among legislative leaders. Koester is co-chair of that committee. A bid to address this farmer liability issue was rejected by Senate Democrats in late April. Senator Rob Hogg, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids who is a lawyer, told his colleagues not to “buy into the hysteria” about the recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling.

(Radio Iowa)

Work is set to begin on a new farm bill in both chambers of Congress next week. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, who serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee, says they’ll take up the legislation on Tuesday. Harkin got his first copy of the committee bill last night (Wednesday) and has looked it over. “It’s basically the same kind of bill that we passed in the Senate last year,” Harkin says. “We passed it with a strong bipartisan vote, so it’s basically the same bill that we had last fall.” Farm and food bills have typically been renewed by Congress every five years and the last one passed in 2008.

“I’m very happy about the conservation provisions in it, the conservation compliance provisions, the fresh fruit and vegetable program that we have in there, so I think our bill looks pretty good,” Harkin says. “I hope we can get it through.” The full Senate passed its version of the farm bill last year and another version passed the House Ag Committee, but it never went before the full House. Congress chose to extend the current farm bill into September of this year. Harkin, a Democrat, is not highly optimistic about a resolution, given Republican Paul Ryan is still chair of the House Budget Committee.

“The Ryan budget in the House that’s going to be controlling over (their version of the farm bill),” Harkin says, chuckling, “It would just be abysmal for agriculture. I’ll have more to say about that later.” One sticking point last year was the House version of the farm bill cut the food stamp program by billions more dollars than the Senate version.

(Radio Iowa)