For
immediate release: January 18, 2006
For more information, contact:
Vern Tigges at 712-792-2701
Iowa CCI at 515-282-0484
Des Moines – The
House Agriculture committee voted 16 to 5 to pass HF 701, the “Chronic
Agricultural Complainer” bill, out of committee today. Iowa
Citizens for Community Improvement, a statewide citizens’
group, denounced the legislation, calling it ‘reprehensible’,
and vowed to work to defeat it.
“It’s deplorable that 16 members
of the House Ag committee voted for it. It’s anti-democratic
and anti-environment,” said CCI member Vern Tigges from Carroll.
“It seems to me that they are just pandering to the factory
farm special-interest groups.”
HF 701 would designate any citizen as a
‘Chronic Agriculture Complainer’ if they file a complaint
against a factory farm three or more times within two years that
was did not result in a violation of Iowa Code. Any designated ‘complainer’
could then be held liable for any costs and damages if the ‘complainer’
filed a fourth complaint, within two years, that did not result
in a violation of Iowa Code.
“Citizens are reporting environmental
complaints to the DNR because factory farms are causing environmental
problems,” Tigges added. “This bill does not get at
the real issue – that factory farms are creating environmental
problems in our state.”
The legislation will now move before the
full House for consideration. In 2005, HF 701 passed the House Agriculture
committee 15-5 in 2005 but was never voted on by the full House.
Iowa CCI helped lead the efforts to defeat the legislation last
session and plan to lead a similar charge this year.
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
is a 30 year old organization with thousands of members across the
state from all walks of life who talk, act and get things done on
critical issues affecting everyday Iowans. For more information,
visit www.iowacci.org.
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