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House panel advances S.60 framework to create farm and forestry emergency assistance fund
Summary
The House Appropriations Committee reviewed S.60, a bill to create a review board and special fund to provide rapid payments to farmers and forestry operations after eligible weather events. Members debated eligibility, documentation, administration costs and an amendment requiring disclosure of prior state grants.
The House Appropriations Committee on Dec. 13 discussed S.60, a Senate-origin bill that the House Agriculture committee amended to add forestry operations and to replace grants with faster payments. David Durfee, chair of the House Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forestry Committee, told the committee the measure grew from proposals by farmers affected by heavy precipitation in 2023–24 and is intended to ‘‘turn around as quickly as possible requests that came in for funding in a weather related emergency.’’
Legislative counsel Michael Grady told members the bill would create a permanent special fund administered by the Agency of Agriculture and a separate review board to evaluate applications. Grady said payments would reimburse ‘‘up to 50% of uninsured,…
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