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Senate Bill 1413 Defeated!
Protection for Local Control Over Factory Farms and Sludge
Update
- Bill Successfully Stopped
Senate Bill 1413 Background
Senate Bill 1413 Now Awaiting
Action by the House of Representatives
Senate Bill 1413 Began
as the Infamous Senate Bill 826
Technical Analysis of Senate
Bill 1413
Guts of Senate Bill 1413
Steps
You Can Take
Sample
Letter and Talking Points
Click here to read the full text of Senate Bill 1413
The agribusiness industry is pushing SB1413, which passed the Pennsylvania State Senate. This bill is purported to help family farmers, when in fact, it would reduce local communities ability to ban or regulate massive animal factory-farming operations. So towns would be stuck with polluting, smelly factory farms, whether they want them or not.
Currently, state government rules regulation large hog farms and other animal factory operations are weak, loophole-laden, and poorly enforced, leaving local government as the only defense in protecting public health and the environment. SB 1413 would further emasculate government in protecting communities. It would also require that local governments sued by corporate factory farms pay legal fees for the farm owners. This would create a "chilling effect" on local governments whose budgets are tight, and who may not be able to afford $200/hour legal fees of agribusiness interests. Many local governments will simply decide they cannot afford the financial risks to protect their community.
Update - Bill 1413 Successfuly Defeated in Lame Duck Session of Legslature
December 10, 2002 - One of our toughest battles was the fight against Senate Bill 1413, which would have taken away what little authority local governments have to regulate factory farms and the spreading of sewage sludge. It's abundantly clear that we could not have stopped the bill without a huge effort from strong, community-based grassroots organizations across the state, including PennFuture, League of Conservation Voters and others.
By far the bravest person we worked with is Larry Breech of the Pennsylvania Farmers Union. Larry laid his personal reputation on the line, took blistering criticism in stride, and held firm in his support of family farmers. He conducted a monumental education effort with his own members and squared off against corporate agribusiness to help us fight SB 1413. Russell and Antoinette Pennock, who turned the tragedy of losing their son to sludge exposure into a campaign to make sure it doesn't happen to another family, were also profiles in courage. And the victory would have been impossible without the grassroots work of Tom Linzey and the support of the AFL-CIO. (This information is courtesy Grist Magazine at http://www.grist.com )
Senate Bill 1413 Background
When
several massive factory farms set up shop in rural Pennsylvania, they
brought with them the usual problems for local people: foul odors, contamination
of groundwater, and dirty, noisy truck traffic. Nine Pennsylvania townships,
fearing they'd be the next to be targeted, passed local laws to protect
their communities from these factory farms. Sounds reasonable, right?
Not
to the agribusiness industry. They're pushing new legislation in Harrisburg,
SB 1413. This bill is purported to help family farmers, when in fact,
it would prevent communities from banning factory-farming operations.
So towns would be stuck with polluting, smelly factory farms, whether
they want them or not. Local protections against factory farms are described
by agribusiness as "frivolous". But this bill would threaten
the democratic right of communities everywhere to determine their own
future, rather than having it forced upon them by corporations.
What
this bill does is directly attack local government ability to enact reasonable
ordinances to address new threats to public health, water supplies, property
values and quality of life posed by industrial-scale livestock operations.
SB 1413 is an expansion of the discredited SB 826, which sought
to prevent elected township officials from protecting family farmers and
the public from destructive corporate factory farming practices.
The redrafted version, SB 1413 removes legal protection against the spreading
of toxic sludge as well.
Rural
communities understand and support agriculture, but they also know the
difference between traditional family farming and factory farms. 61 rural
townships in 23 counties have enacted or are considering ordinances to
protect their residents and family farmers from the economic and environmental
problems caused by new and expanding factory farms.
Nothing is more damaging to family farmers, food security and the very fabric of our nation's proud agricultural traditions than factory farming operations controlled by large, usually absentee, corporate polluters. Factory farming operations not only bankrupt family farmers, but they also threaten food security, public health and safety, and the environment on an unprecedented scale. SB 1413 extends the damage to protection of environmentally destructive and health threatening toxic sludge spreading practices.
Senate Bill 1413 Is Now Awaiting Action by the House of Representatives
SB 1413 passed the Senate quickly, and almost passed the House just as quickly. Thanks to a strong outcry by the public and opposition from township supervisors, family farmers, community leaders, and sludge activists, the Republican leadership in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives was forced to pull Senate Bill 1413 from the floor of the House. The Bill had passed through second consideration and was rapidly headed for third consideration and a vote by the full House of Representatives.
A new coalition has now formed to prevent SB 1413 from passing between now and the end of the two-year General Assembly (scheduled to adjourn at Thanskgiving). The coalition, which includes labor, environment, family farm, and other citizens groups, are particularly concerned about a possible "lame duck" session vote.
Senate Bill 1413 threatens the ability of all municipal governments in Pennsylvania to adopt local ordinances dealing with factory farms and the application of sewage sludge to land. To date, over sixty local governments in over twenty counties have adopted local legislation to deal with these issues. The bill is a corporate response to the work of those township governments and communities working to control factory farm and sludge corporations.
Groups opposed to the bill include the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), the Pennsylvania Farmers Union (PFU), Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, and the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). In addition, over three hundred and fifty township governments have announced their opposition to the Bill, and the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) has adopted a position statement in opposition to the principles of the Bill.
The Bill currently sits in the Appropriations Committee, where it can be referred to the full floor of the House as early as June 3rd - the next in-session day for the House of Representatives.
The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau - the prime supporter and advocate for the legislation - sent out an emergency action alert to their members on Thursday, May 30th. That alert is intended to put additional pressure on legislators to vote for the bill.
The time
to kill this bill is now! Building upon the work of the coalition that
has arisen to oppose the bill, citizens from across Pennsylvania need
to contact their Representative and their township governments to urge
opposition to this dangerous piece of legislation.
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Senate Bill 1413 Began as the Infamous Senate Bill 826
In a legislative sleight of hand, Senator Roger Madigan (R-Bradford) and other state Senators supported by the agribusiness industry transformed Senate Bill 826 into a renumbered Senate Bill 1413. The infamous Senate Bill 826 drew the ire of township supervisors, family farmers, and community leaders because the bill sought to remove local control over ordinances aimed at controlling corporate factory farms across the state.
Instead of amending Senate Bill 826, Madigan and others introduced SB 1413 on April 17th. The bill was promptly voted out of the Senate Ag Committee and was adopted by the full Senate within days - before anyone knew that the bill was moving. It was then referred to the House for action, where it passed the House Agriculture Committee, and received second consideration in the House in early May.
To gain the support of other Senators, Madigan generalized the original language of SB 826 when he rewrote the bill into SB 1413. That generalization now threatens to remove not only local, township control over corporate factory farms, but also threatens township governments which have adopted - or which plan to adopt - local ordinances dealing with the application of sewage sludge to land.
The Text
of Senate Bill 1413 can be found at http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/LI/BI/ALL/2001/0/SB1413.HTM
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Technical Analysis of Senate Bill 1413
Senate Bill 1413 is an amendment to Pennsylvania's Right to Farm Law. The Right to Farm Law currently protects farmers from nuisance lawsuits brought by suburban residents unaccustomed to farm smells or farm activity. Over the past several years, however, factory farm proponents and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau have amended the law to provide umbrella protections to factory farms and the corporations that control them.
Precisely because of the special protections afforded by the law to one set of property owners over another, the Right to Farm Law has been declared unconstitutional by at least one state Supreme Court. See Bormann v. Board of Supervisors in and for Kossuth County, 584 N.W. 2d 309 (Iowa 1998).
Senate Bill
1413, which was introduced as Senate Bill 826, seeks to further expand
the Right to Farm Law to prohibit township governments from adopting ordinances
which exercise local control over factory farms and the application of
sewage sludge to farmland.
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The Guts of Senate Bill 1413
I. Adds language under ©(1) reading that "No municipality shall
adopt any ordinance or implement any policy that is contrary to this act
and its purposes or any other laws of this Commonwealth. Local regulation
shall be consistent with this act and shall not unfairly discriminate
against agricultural operations."
Analysis: This section adds three new components to the Right to Farm Law. First, it inserts a vague legal standard ("contrary to this act and its purposes") which could be used by any court to invalidate an ordinance at its discretion. The phrase "and its purposes" could be read by a court of law to strike down any ordinance which infringes not upon the letter of the law, but upon the "purpose" behind the law. That could include zoning ordinance provisions as well as stand-alone ordinances dealing with sewage sludge or factory farms.
The next sentence also adds a vague standard of judicial review to the law ("consistent with this Act"). Again, it allows ordinances to be struck that do not technically violate the law, but which are "inconsistent" with the language of the law, thus granting the courts the ultimate latitude to determine whether to overturn an ordinance.
Finally, the last phrase adds a completely new component to the tests used under the Right to Farm Law. The phrase "unfairly discriminate against agricultural operations" also strips power away from local elected governments and shifts it to the county court, which could substitute its own discretion to determine whether an ordinance "unfairly discriminates" against the challenged operation.
II. Adds language under ©(2): "Any person aggrieved by a violation
of this subsection may institute an action in a court of proper jurisdiction
to invalidate any ordinance or policy in violation of this subsection."
Analysis: This section grants automatic legal standing to any individual, person, or corporation to challenge an ordinance alleged to have been adopted by a township in violation of the Right to Farm Law. In addition, this section not only specifically focuses on ordinances, but also on "policy" adopted by the township government. It thus places township supervisors in a position to be sued by any entity affected by the ordinance or township policy.
III. Adds language under ©(3): "If the court determines that a municipality
willfully or with wanton disregard violated a provision of this act,
in whole or in part, the court may award the prevailing party reasonable
attorney fees and costs of litigation or an appropriate portion of the
fees and costs. If the court finds that the legal action was of a frivolous
nature or was brought with no substantial justification, the court may
award the prevailing party reasonable attorney fees and costs of litigation
or an appropriate portion of the fees and costs."
Analysis: This section authorizes the punishment of township governments via the payment of attorneys' fees to factory farm and sewage sludge corporation. It specifically authorizes a court of law to levy attorneys' fees against the township adopting the ordinance and thus, chills the willingness of townships to respond to citizens by adopting ordinances to regulate and control factory farm and sludge corporations. Corporations bringing suit will, of course, invest the time and energy to provide the township government with a list of alleged grievances against an ordinance, and then proceed to use that advance notice to make the argument that the township government willfully adopted the ordinance in violation of the law.
While the
second part punishes corporations who bring suit against the township
without justification, it is difficult to construct a scenario in which
a challenge would be frivolous, precisely because the Right to Farm law
establishes the legal framework for bringing a challenge by a plaintiff.
There is thus a substantially greater likelihood that it will be the township,
not a plaintiff-corporation, that pays for attorneys' fees incurred by
the other party.
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What Steps Can We Take to Defeat This Legislation?
SB 1413 is headed for a full vote of the House as early as June 3rd. It is imperative that House members hear from family farmers, factory farm opponents, community leaders, sewage sludge activists, and township supervisors opposed to the bill.
Those legislators need to be informed that the bill strips away local control to deal with these issues, and is purely an effort by special interests to further shield their activities from the assertion of local, democratic control.
First,
contact your State Representative and let him/her know that you are
opposed to the legislation. Get friends, neighbors, family farmers, and
other folks to let their House member know of their opposition to the
bill. An easy way to contact House members is through the website of Citizens
for Pennsylvania's Future at http://www.pennfuture.org.
Call, email,
and fax your state representative in both his or her Harrisburg office
and district office and ask them to vote NO on SB 1413.
Second, contact your township government and other township governments in your county. Ask the supervisors to call their representative, especially if your township has enacted ordinances or has in place zoning that addresses factory farming. According to CELDF - at least 61 townships in 23 counties have passed or are considering some kind of ordinance that addresses factory farms. If we can get these folks to weigh in and counter the fiction that the agribusiness lobby is spreading that PSATS is OK with this bill, it might help turn the tide.
A full listing of township contact information can be found on the webpage of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS). Their webpage is located at http://www.psats.org. Once on their page, click on "Townships Search" and then enter the appropriate information to locate a phone and fax number for township supervisors.
Sample
Letter and Talking Points
Dear
Representative:
Please
oppose SB 1413. This bill is being mischaracterized by its proponents
who claim that it protects family farmers from the over-sensitive noses
of suburbanites who move into agricultural communities. That is untrue.
What this bill does is directly attack local government ability to enact
reasonable ordinances to address new threats to public health, water supplies,
property values and quality of life posed by industrial-scale livestock
operations. Rural communities understand and support agriculture, but
they also know the difference between traditional family farming and factory
farms. 61 rural townships in 23 counties have enacted or are considering
ordinances to protect their residents and family farmers from the economic
and environmental problems caused by new and expanding factory farms.
Agribusiness
corporations building factory farms concede that they are vastly different
from traditional agriculture. SB 1413 is another attempt by agribusiness
to ensure that their effort to monopolize the swine market proceeds despite
the concerns of rural communities and without having to meet reasonable
local safeguards on the siting and operation of factory farms.
Proponents
of this bill also claim that it does not erode local government control,
but simply affirms provisions of current state law. Again, this claim
is untrue. For the first time, local governments would be exposed to the
expense of paying attorney’s fees for agri-business legal challenges
to properly enacted local ordinances. This is a clear attempt to intimidate
local governments and prevent them from carrying out their duties to protect
the health and property of their citizens.
Proponents
of this bill also claim that the Pennsylvania State Associations of Township
Supervisors agree to the provisions of SB 1413. Again, this claim is untrue.
The membership of PSATS voted no when asked to support SB 1413.
While the PSATS staff may be neutral, the membership opposes SB 1413.
Industrial-scale
livestock operations pose significant challenges to local communities.
Please do not be fooled that SB 1413 protects family farmers and does
not weaken local governments. Vote no on SB 1413 and protect rural
communities and family farmers from this aggressive attempt by agribusiness
to eviscerate reasonable local government oversight of industrial livestock
operations.
Click
here to read to full text of Senate Bill 1413
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