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Committee approves bill updating state soybean checkoff language to match federal rate
Summary
The Senate Agriculture Committee reported House Bill 304 favorably, proposing language to set a state soybean checkoff rate at a half-cent per dollar (0.5%) to match federal checkoff levels in the event a federal program ends, sponsors said.
House Bill 304, sponsored in the House by Representative Ryan Bivens, was reported favorably by the Kentucky Senate Committee on Agriculture after testimony from Bivens and Jonathan Reynolds, president of the Kentucky Soybean Association.
Bivens said the change is “park language” to align state checkoff law with the current federal checkoff rate so that, if the federal program is ever discontinued, the state checkoff would provide continuity. "It's an investment made by farmers when you sell a commodity," Bivens said, describing how checkoff funds are used "for promotion, research, or education." He said the proposal changes the state rate from one-quarter percent to one-half percent so that the same funds will be available if the federal checkoff ends.
Jonathan Reynolds told the committee the Kentucky Soybean Association’s board and their 800 members support the change so the state board could continue investments that have produced returns for farmers. Bivens and Reynolds cited a return-on-investment example from federal checkoff programs: "For every $1 invested in federal checkoff programs from soybean farmers, there's been a return in the last 5 years of $12.30." The committee had a motion and second on the bill and the secretary called the roll; multiple senators requested to explain their yes votes, and the committee chair recorded the bill as passing out of committee with favorable expression.
No fiscal note or detailed implementation timeline was discussed in the committee transcript provided to the committee; sponsors said the change is intended as a contingency to maintain current program funding levels in the event federal authority changes.
