JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Leaders of the dairy industry in Missouri joined together this morning to discuss the efforts to override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of the two omnibus agriculture bills in the veto session September 10. House Bill 1326 and Senate Bill 506 contained the Missouri Dairy Revitalization Act and several agriculture provisions.
Sen. Mike Kehoe (R-Jefferson City) and Reps. Casey Guernsey (R-Bethany) and Bill Reiboldt (R-Nevada) were present and spoke to a crowd of reporters and supporters, including representatives from the Missouri Dairy Processors, the Missouri Cattlemen Association, and the Missouri Dairy Farmers.
“The number one industry in this state is agriculture,” Kehoe said. “For some reason, the governor likes to throw these hand grenades into pretentious issues after they are already passed through the legislature.”
Kehoe said that a past example of this is when Nixon got education groups worked up last year over the tax cut bill.
“He pitted public education against Missourians who needed a tax cut,” Kehoe said. “This year, he is pitting agriculture against conservation. There is no reason why the two groups cannot coexist the way that they are coexisting right now. This [bill] is not pitting one group against the other.”
Kehoe shared that not only are other states enacting similar laws with success, but Nixon’s staff testified in favor of the legislation in its early form.
“The governor has decided to throw a bomb in the middle of a needed bill. It doesn’t have to be either/or. It can be both things,” Kehoe told The Missouri Times.
“For the second year in a row, Governor Nixon has chosen to turn his back on Agriculture by vetoing priority legislation affecting nearly every group involved in farming, food production and land ownership. I am pleased to join the Speaker in working to over-ride the Governor’s veto in September. These issues are far too important to kill a bill that has been carefully crafted over the last two years,” Guernsey said following a press conference. “I recall Governor Nixon working over-time to create less jobs than that with Boeing. I can’t see how he can turn his back on the jobs in jeopardy due to the dire straits we see the Dairy Industry facing.”
“Unlike Governor Nixon, I continue to steadfastly support Missouri’s largest industry,” said Speaker Tim Jones in a statement. “Agriculture plays a vital role in Missouri’s economy, employing tens of thousands of citizens across our state in both rural and urban communities. As Speaker of the Missouri House, I look forward to joining our agricultural legislative leaders in doing all we can to override the Governor’s disappointing veto of the ‘Missouri Dairy Revitalization Act.’”
A broad coalition of over 20 Agriculture and Business groups signed a letter today urging the General Assembly to override their priority legislation. Supporters say provisions of the bill would prevent drastic problems from occurring with sales of farmland to Missourians and allowing credit to continue to flow from lending institutions in addition to 9 other provisions.
“Dairy Farmers cannot wait until next year to hope that the General Assembly can pass this Insurance provision for them” Guernsey said. “It would be an additional year beyond that before we could attempt to appropriate, effectively making it three years before they could buy the insurance. We all know milk prices will fall by then and we will lose hundreds more dairies in that time. This is not acceptable and I’m committed to making my privileged motion to bring this bill up for an over-ride. We did it last year and we can do it again this year.”
Guernsey told The Missouri Times that the votes are there for an override.
The conference was called by the Dairy Industry, Dairy Farmers and Milk Processors in Missouri representing over 15,000 jobs in the state.
Rachael Herndon was the editor at The Missouri Times and also produced This Week in Missouri Politics, published Missouri Times Magazine, and co-hosted the #MoLeg podcast. She joined The Missouri Times in 2014, returning to political reporting after working as a campaign and legislative staffer.
Rachael studied at the University of Missouri – Columbia. She lives in Jefferson City with her husband, Brandon, and their two children.
