July 25, 2012
www.gfb.org
Vol. 30 No. 30
AG ISSUES SUMMIT COVERS TAXES, TRANSPORTATION, LABOR AND WATER The joint Agriculture Chairmen Ag Issues Summit provided updates on sales tax exemptions, the upcoming transportation referendums, the importance of a viable workforce and state water planning. The summit, held July 18 at the Georgia National Fairgrounds & Agricenter, was hosted by Georgia House Agriculture Committee Chair Tom McCall (RDistrict 30) and Georgia Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Bulloch (R-District 11), and it was sponsored by Georgia Farm Bureau, the Georgia Agribusiness Council, the Georgia Poultry Federation and the Georgia Urban Ag Council. The meeting was attended by more than 100 farmers and leaders from agribusiness and agricultural organizations. Sydne Smith of the Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) and Mitchell Robins of the Georgia Department of Revenue (DOR) gave a review of the sales tax exemptions for agriculture that were McCall part of the state tax reform bill passed in the 2012 session of the Georgia General Assembly. Smith said farmers would be able to apply for the exemptions online or by mail. Smith anticipated the GDA would begin accepting the applications for exemption cards by Oct. 1 in preparation for the exemptions going into effect Jan. 1, 2013. Georgia Farm Bureau has committed its assistance in facilitating the process. The DOR has to go through the rulemaking process required by state law, which includes a 30day comment period. Robins said the department is currently working on the regulations related to the ag exemptions. Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) Director Jud Turner spoke about the state’s water planning. Turner discussed efforts to redesign the Flint River Drought Protection Act. Though flows were at record-low levels, the EPD didn’t declare drought on the Flint earlier this year because state funding wasn’t available to support the declaration in ways prescribed by the law and because the declaration wasn’t likely to improve stream flows. “We’ve got to redesign the Flint River Drought Protection Act in a way that works and provides us some management tools because if we don’t, somebody else is going to do it for us. Whenever you’ve got an endangered species on any stretch of the river, you’ve got to be thinking about that potential,” Turner said. Georgia Transportation Alliance Executive Director Doug Callaway presented information about the proposed transportation plan, known as T-SPLOST, on which Georgians will cast ballots in July 31 referendums. Former state senator Sam Zamarripa, who is now executive director of the Essential Economy, talked about the organization’s studies into Georgia’s workforce to quantify workers who lack formal education or skilled-trade credentials.