Committee forwards amended H.F. 1704 (DE3) to Ways and Means after debate over priorities and federal cuts; roll calls 7-6

The Committee on Agriculture Finance and Policy on Wednesday, March 12, 2025 voted to re-refer House File 1704, DE3, as amended, to the Committee on Ways and Means after adopting several amendments and an extended member discussion about funding priorities, federal cuts and program trade-offs. Chair Anderson moved the bill and led the amendment discussion.

Committee members adopted amendments to the DE3 package in sequence. Representative Anderson described the A1 amendment as technical and said it "reinserts a language that goes back to last year's bill that gives priority to those that have annual sales under 100,000 and produce certain specialty crops." He described the A4 amendment as a technical cleanup related to the Forever Green initiative and said the A5 amendment "adds an eligible use to the AGRI grant program" to allow incentives for production of a PFAS alternative derived from agricultural pulp; he said there was no spending in that amendment. The A2 amendment reinstated the word "advanced"…