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Missouri News
- 05/09/08 - Old-Fashioned Fun with a Heapin’ Helpin’ of Purpose
- 05/06/08 - Supreme Court Upholds Indiana Photo ID Law, Undermines Voting Rights
- 05/02/08 - Popular Radio Announcer Ousted After Ripping Monsanto's Goon Squads
- 04/29/08 - Hog Farm Puts Soldier at War on Two Fronts
- 04/22/08 - Debate Continues to Simmer over Monsanto's Bovine Growth Hormone
- 04/17/08 - Kansas City and the Climate Protection Agreement
- 04/11/08 - Eureka: Alderman Target of Complaints by City Officials
- 04/04/08 - Monsanto's Patchwork Plan to Deny Consumer Choice
- 04/02/08 - Wal-Mart Stores Gets Violation Notice From Missouri Agency
- 04/01/08 - Flooding Revives Debate Over Levees
- 03/29/08 - Labels Should Tell the Truth About Hormones
- 03/26/08 - Lawmakers Consider Banning Dairies from Calling Milk Hormone-Free
- 03/26/08 - MO: Take Action on rBGH!
- 03/24/08 - So THIS Is What It Takes to Win?
- 03/07/08 - Wave-Power Proposals Alarm Locals
- 03/06/08 - Pesticide Atrazine Found in Missouri Groundwater Far Above Harmful Levels
- 03/01/08 - Update on the Battle Against Monsanto's Bovine Growth Hormone
- 02/28/08 - Energy Crops to Cover Missouri Landscape
- 02/16/08 - Is Site Safe? Doubts Persist in Wildwood
- 02/16/08 - Survey Asks Missourians to Place Dollar Value on Wetlands
- 02/16/08 - Kansas City Faces $3.6 Billion Sewer, Stormwater Upgrade
- 01/08/08 - Missouri Promotes Organic Industry Farmers
- 01/06/08 - Missouri Landfills Hold Recyclables Worth Millions
- 01/03/08 - What's that Smell? A CAFO Near You
- 12/20/07 - Three River Cities Reimagine Their Waterfronts, and Themselves
- 12/13/07 - In Midwest Duck Blinds, Visions of Global Warming
- 12/11/07 - High Weedkiller Levels Found in River Checks
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Alert: Call Your Legislators About SB 1279 and HR 2283 Now!
Monsanto is using the state legislature to bully dairies that won't use Posilac, its genetically modified bovine growth hormone, also known as rBGH and rBST.
Last updated 4/17/08
Family Farm Bills of Interest
From: Missouri Rural Crisis Center
OPPOSE
CAFO Subsidy--HB 1590 (Rep. Munzlinger):
A portion of HB 1590 would give tax credits to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) to subsidize their compliance with Managed Environmental Livestock Operation (MELO) standards and odor abatement practices. This is a $1.5 million dollar tax break for CAFOs! Corporate Welfare at the Expense of Family Farmers and Tax-Payers is Just Plain Wrong!
rBGH/BST Labeling Bill--SB 1279 (Sen. Clemens) & HB 2283 (Rep. Cunningham-145):
These bills would ban any type of labeling that enables consumers to
know if their dairy products contain rBGH, a genetically engineered
hormone that induces cows to produce more milk. This bill is being
pushed by Monsanto (the producer of rBGH) in many states, and Missouri
is the next target.
This Bill is Anti-Farmer, Anti-Consumer and Anti-Business!
This is
not only an issue of free speech for farmers, but also a corporate and
government intrusion into the business relationship between farmer and
consumer.
SUPPORT
Local Control Bill --
HB 1931 (Rep. Harris-23)
HB 1931 provides greater power to rural communities to protect their interests from the negative impacts of CAFOs. This bill gives local residents the power to decide where CAFOs are going to be allowed.
It only makes sense to give family farmers and rural property owners a say in matters that affect their property rights and the health of their families and communities.
Raw Milk Bill--HB 1901 (Rep. Harris-110):
HB 1901 clarifies Missouri Statutes to ensure that farmers can continue to market raw milk to consumers.
Preserve the Right of Farmers to Sell and Consumers to Buy Raw Milk.
National Animal Identification Bill--SB 931 (Sen. Purgason):
Senate Bill 931 would limit Missouri's participation in NAIS. SB 931 has passed the Senate and is currently in the House. Missouri's Family Farmers believe it is extremely important to ensure consumer confidence in the safety and health of the U.S. food supply while at the same time ensuring the economic viability of independent livestock producers. But NAIS does not meet the needs of producers or consumers. The majority of family farmers in Missouri are opposed to NAIS.
For more information, go to: Missouri Rural Crisis Center
Missouri Legislative Roundup
(From Progressive States Network)
Not much good - and a few quite bad bits of legislation - came out of the right-wing-dominated Missouri legislature working with the state's Governor Matt Blunt.
A "new" reconfigured state Medicaid system, now called HealthNet, was approved, yet the bill failed to restore health care to most of the 100,000 low-income families kicked out of Medicaid two years ago. Despite a few reforms and passage of HB818, which included a few health care tax credits and expanded access to high-risk health insurance, Missouri did little to help the state's 700,000 uninsured.
The other signature bill of the session was a financial raid on the state student loan agency, the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA), to sell-off $355 million in loan assets to pay for campus construction funds, yet even there right-wing forces blocked a new health sciences center at the University of Missouri-Columbia in the name of preventing stem cell research.
...On the tax front, some Missourians over age 62 will now be able to deduct Social Security and other public pension income from state income taxes, a $154 million tax cut benefiting mostly wealthier seniors since most seniors already pay no taxes on such benefits.
The state also allowed telephone companies to bypass state franchising authorities to offer video services in competition with cable companies, but included very weak build-out requirements to ensure universal access. The best that can be said about the session was that the legislators defeated some other terrible bills, including blocking a school voucher plan, defeating a proposal to gut the state's prevailing wage law, and failing to pass a bill that would have ended cost-of-living inflation adjustments overall and cut wages for tipped workers under the state minimum wage law approved by voters last fall.
Take Action. Support Green Jobs!
The Green Jobs Act of 2007 authorized $125 million per year to create an Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Worker Training Program as an amendment to the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). The Green Jobs Act (GJA) is an initial pilot program to identify needed skills, develop training programs, and train workers for jobs in a range of industries - including energy efficient building, construction and retrofits, renewable electric power, energy efficient vehicles, biofuels, and manufacturing that produces sustainable products and uses sustainable processes and materials. It targets a broad range of populations for eligibility, but has a special focus on creating "green pathways out of poverty."
Congress has not yet appropriated money for the Green Jobs Act. Please contact your Senator today and urge them to fund the Green Jobs Act of 2007!
Read more at Green for All's web site.
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