Edler

This week was the thirteenth week of session, and it was busy with debate. The bills we debated covered issues including agriculture, appropriate teacher student relations and THC levels of products sold in Iowa. This week we also confirmed several of the governor’s appointees. We also started to get subcommittees going on the budget bills, which means the end of session is getting near.

This week we debated SF 2401, which modernized the Grain Indemnity Fund in Iowa. The Grain Indemnity Fund was created in 1986 to provide a type of coverage like an insurance policy. The GIF was set up to cover grain that was sold to, or warehoused with a grain dealer but was not paid upon in the event the grain dealer went bankrupt. Currently, all grain dealers, sellers and warehouse operators are required to participate in the Grain Indemnity Fund and pay fees on purchased or stored grain. If at the end of a fiscal year the fund exceeds $8 million, the fees are waived, but if the balance of the fund falls below $3 million, the Grain Indemnity Fund Board reinstates these fees. Senate File 2401 adjusts those amounts to $12 million and $5 million and extends coverage to credit sale contracts.

Another agricultural related bill passed this week was SF 2412, which I managed in the Senate. This bill was passed to help control costs and access to some of the most widely used herbicides on the market today. In 2015, trial lawyers set their sights on RoundUp, claiming the product label didn’t adequately warn users of the risks of using the product. Ironically, while the bulk of these chemicals are used in the Midwest, these lawsuits started in California, and they were bringing verdicts from hundreds of millions to even billions of dollars.

The fact of the matter is that the label used on RoundUp is determined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. If the company does not use the label approved by the EPA, it cannot sell the product in the United States. The EPA has determined the label on RoundUp is correct and appropriate given the risk of the product, which is minimal. This conclusion has been arrived at through several long-term studies by multiple regulatory bodies. One of these was the Agricultural Health Study, which included more than 50,000 applicators and has spanned over many decades.

RoundUp is one of the cheapest, most effective and safest chemicals we use in agriculture today. This product has enabled the use of conservation focused practices and has been a tool to help protect our soils and water from the more toxic chemicals of the past.

SF 2412 simply states manufacturers cannot be sued for the required EPA label they put on their agricultural products. It is a common-sense proposal, but during debate in the Senate, many wild claims were made about not allowing farmers to sue if they get sick. Despite the false rhetoric of Democrats, this bill does not prevent them from suing if a product is found to actually “cause” cancer. It just states a manufacturer cannot be sued if they label their product as required under federal law and regulated by the EPA.

Next week we will continue to pass budget bills and the final policy bills to bring this session to a close in the near future.

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Contact Senator Jeff Edler at jeff.edler@legis.iowa.gov.