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House Agriculture Committee approves rule rewrite removing oilseed refund provision
Summary
The House Agriculture Affairs Committee recommended approval of an Idaho Oilseed Commission administrative rule rewrite that removes a refund/escrow provision, citing a statute and a past referendum; the committee also heard a presentation on the commission’s work, funding and research priorities.
The House Agriculture Affairs Committee voted to recommend approval of an administrative rule rewrite for the Idaho Oilseed Commission that removes a refund-application provision tied to the commission’s escrow account.
Paci LaRoche Phillips, administrator of the Idaho Oilseed Commission, told the committee the proposed changes are part of a broader chapter rewrite to remove duplicative language and clarify first-purchaser rules and the oilseed tax invoice. “Before you, you have a number of documents… IDAPA 04/2001, the rules governing the Idaho Oilseed Commission,” Phillips said while introducing the docket and the packet submitted to the committee.
The committee’s recommendation follows Phillips’s explanation that Idaho Code Title 22, Chapter 47 contains a provision tying the refund/escrow account to the outcome of a growers’ referendum. Phillips said an affidavit from Doug Scoville, a past commission chairman, states a referendum was held and passed after the commission’s 1996 creation, and that the refund provisions should therefore be removed from the administrative rule. “We kind of found that they were conflicting,” Phillips said of the overlapping statute and rule language.
Why it matters: Removing the refund-application language would align the administrative rule with statutory language about the commission’s referendum and escrow account. The Idaho Oilseed Commission administers a producer assessment; statute sets a 10¢ per hundredweight assessment on oilseeds sold or contracted through commercial channels, and the commission uses assessment revenue to fund research, education and marketing.
In committee discussion, Representative David Ehlers asked about the affidavit’s age; the document appears to be dated February 2007. Phillips said she could not explain why the matter was not resolved earlier, noting turnover in administrators and that she was hired in October 2022. “I don’t know, but in the last 2 years we’re trying to delve in and clean up what we can,” Phillips said.
Phillips also gave a broader presentation on the commission’s work, budget and priorities. She said the commission’s operating budget is about $175,000, funded by the producer assessment, and that the commission prioritizes research followed by administration and marketing. Phillips provided reported crop acre figures used by the commission’s planning: canola about 93,652 acres, safflower about 17,000 acres, mustard about 8,200 acres, flax about 520 acres and camelina about 915 acres (figures reported to the Farm Service Agency and compiled by county).
The commission funds a University of Idaho plant-breeder position focused on canola and on developing winter-hardy mustard varieties, and it participates in Specialty Crop Block Grant (SCBG) work administered by the Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) as a pass-through entity for certain mustard research. Phillips described private and university research partners including Crop Matters LLC and researchers connected with Utah State and the University of Idaho; she also said a substantial portion of Idaho canola that is crushed for oil is shipped to a processor in Warden, Washington, operated by Viterra.
Formal actions at the meeting included approval of committee minutes and the docket recommendation. Both were decided by voice vote and recorded as approved. The committee did not take a roll-call vote on the docket; the motion to recommend approval moved forward to the full committee.
The Idaho Oilseed Commission was established by statute in 1996 to promote research, education and markets for oilseed crops such as canola, safflower and mustard. Phillips said the commission is governed by three grower commissioners who must have grown oilseeds for at least three years prior to appointment, and it includes industry and ex officio representatives from ISDA and the University of Idaho.
The committee chair and members thanked Phillips for the presentation and approved the docket on a voice vote, forwarding the rule rewrite to the full committee for final consideration.
