WASHINGTON FARM BUREAU NEWSWATCH

December 1, 2005 No. 71
AT LEAST 28 LEGISLATORS FAVOR A STATE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
requiring a two-thirds vote to attach an emergency clause to legislation,
according to a survey by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. Of the 35
legislators who responded to the EFF survey, 28 said they supported reforming
the way lawmakers use the emergency clause by a constitutional
amendment, four said they were undecided and three chose not to answer. During
the 2005 session, legislators passed 98 bills with emergency clauses.
Bills adopted with an emergency clause take effect immediately and
cannot be challenged by voters through a referendum. The Washington Farm
Bureau this summer challenged the Legislature's use of an emergency clause
on a bill to suspend the spend-and-tax limits of Initiative 601, but
the state Supreme Court upheld the Legislature's action.

U.S. COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN HARVEST 4 MILLION TONS OF FISH EVERY YEAR,
but they also throw away more than 1.1 million tons, according to a
report released this week by the environmental group Oceana. (Greenwire,
Dec. 1) "Basically, for every four pounds of fish we land, we're
discarding one," said Andrew Rosenburg, a member of the Bush administration's
Commission on Ocean Policy and co-author of the study. (Seattle Times,
Dec. 1) Most of the wasted fish is "bycatch" - unwanted species caught up
in commercial nets and tossed overboard.

A FEDERAL DISTRICT JUDGE IN SEATTLE WEDNESDAY REFUSED TO DISMISS A
lawsuit filed by environmental groups challenging the government's policy
of considering both hatchery and naturally spawning salmon and steelhead
when deciding which runs to protect under the Endangered Species Act.
(AP/Spokane Spokesman-Review, Dec. 1) The National Marine Fisheries
Service changed its policy to consider hatchery fish after a federal judge
in Oregon ruled in 2001 that the agency couldn't include both hatchery
and naturally spawning fish in the same "evolutionarily significant
unit," and then only list the naturally spawning fish for protection. A
coalition of environmental groups led by Virginia-based Trout Unlimited,
worried that the new policy would lead to some ESUs being removed from
ESA protection, filed suit, arguing that only "wild" fish should be
counted. The judge's decision this week allows that suit to continue.

FORMER REPUBLICAN SEN. SLADE GORTON IS CHAIRING A POLITICAL ACTION
committee formed to help elect candidates to the state Supreme Court and
Court of Appeals. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Nov. 25) Also on the new
Constitutional Law PAC are two former GOP candidates for governor, Dale
Foreman and Ken Eikenberry.

A CALIFORNIA FARM AND A COMMERCIAL PESTICIDE APPLICATOR WILL PAY
$775,000 to settle a lawsuit filed after a cloud of the pesticide metam
sodium drifted over the town of Arvin three years ago. (AP/Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, Nov. 25) The settlement, announced last week, will be split
among 84 residents.

THE EUROPEAN UNION SAID THIS WEEK IT IS NOT WILLING TO MAKE ANY MORE
concessions on farm trade, leading some to predict little chance that
progress will be made at the World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong
later this month. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Nov. 30) The EU has
offered to cut 70 percent on trade-distorting farm subsidies and reduce its
average agricultural tariff from the current 23 percent to 12 percent.
But EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson told the European Parliament
that is as far as the EU is willing to go.
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2005 Washington Farm Bureau. Washington Farm Bureau NewsWatch is a
periodic update on news of interest to agriculture. Contact Dean Boyer,
director of public relations, 1-800-331-3276 or, send e-mail to
dboyer@wsfb.com to receive NewsWatch by fax or e-mail.