Committee flags fix to farm & forestry special fund language; notes proposed fee eliminations in governor’s budget

During the same session, committee leadership raised concerns about statutory language in the farm and forestry special fund carried in SB60 and described steps to ensure the language will not impede signature.

Speaker 1 reported that the governor's office had flagged a sentence in the fund language as legally problematic. "The governor said he would sign it, but he asked us to change his sentence if somewhere in a future bill," the speaker said, and the committee has already added corrected language in a miscellaneous bill in the Senate to provide a second level of certainty.

Committee members also discussed the governor's budget proposal to eliminate certain fees for medium and large environmental operations. Speaker 1 said the proposal appeared in the governor's, House and Senate budget versions but that explicit statutory language to implement the fee eliminations was not yet located; House Appropriations indicated it would add the necessary language.

Members said they would seek more clarity in Appropriations and on the floor; the committee did not take a formal vote on either the fund-language fix or the fee-elimination language during the meeting.