03/30/06

UPDATEas of 2/10/06:

CALL YOUR SENATOR TODAY!

We are down to the wire for the Biologically Intensive Agriculture & Organic Farming Program (BIOAg) at WSU! Only 30 days remain. The Senate will come out first with their budget recommendations around Valentines Day. It is critical that you voice your support before February 14th for BIOAg. THIS IS NOT A BILL - IT'S A BUDGET REQUEST. 

Call today, email or write your legislator or one of the key Senators listed below to ask for their support of the $800,000 for the BIOAg program at WSU. Calls to Senators are most important in the next week until February 14th. 

BIOAg is designed to:

Enhance the economic and environmental health of Washington agriculture through research, education and outreach on organic and other biologically-based methods
Assist producers in meeting environmental regulations, accessing higher-value markets and developing value-added products, thereby increasing farm profitability
Respond to the rapidly growing public demand for locally-grown, organic and natural foods
Investigate links between improved human health, food quality and biologically-based farming methods

Producer voices are especially needed! Producers and groups from Eastern Washington are needed, especially with Senator Lisa Brown from Spokane! 

We may not have a chance like this again. Please engage your voice today!

Below is contact information for key Senators. If you live in one of their districts, your call is especially important! (To determine your Senator, go to www.wsffn.org/TakeAction/Contact Legislators.) If you are a constituent from their district, you can call the legislative hotline (800-562-6000) toll free and leave messages. THIS IS NOT A BILL - IT'S A BUDGET REQUEST. 

Sen. Margarita Prentice - Chair of Senate Ways & Means Committee: 
Senator Margarita Prentice
(D)  11th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT
Olympia Office:
113 Modular Building 1
PO Box 40411
Olympia, WA 98504-0411
(360) 786-7616
Fax: (360) 786-1999
Web E-mail
mailto:prentice_ma@leg.wa.gov

Sen. Mark Doumit - Vice Chair of Senate Ways & Means Committee:
Senator Mark Doumit
(D)  19th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT
Olympia Office:
104 Modular Building 1
PO Box 40419
Olympia, WA 98504-0419
(360) 786-7636
Fax: (360) 786-1999
Web E-mail
mailto:doumit_ma@leg.wa.gov

Sen. Marilyn Rasmussen- Chair of Senate Agriculture Committee:
Senator Marilyn Rasmussen
(D)  2nd LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT
Olympia Office:
409 Legislative Building
PO Box 40402
Olympia, WA 98504-0402
(360) 786-7602
Fax: (360) 786-1999
E-mail
mailto:rasmussen.marilyn@leg.wa.gov

Sen. Lisa Brown - Senate Majority Leader (Senator Brown is from Spokane): 
Senator Lisa Brown
Majority Leader
(D)  3rd LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT
Olympia Office:
307 Legislative Building
PO Box 40403
Olympia, WA 98504-0403
(360) 786-7604
Fax: (360) 786-1999
Web E-mail
mailto:brown.lisa@leg.wa.gov

THANKS!

Gale Sterrett, Program Assistant
Washington Sustainable Food & Farming Network
Mail:  P.O. Box 762, Mount Vernon, WA  98273-0762
Street:  419 S. First Street, Suite 201, Mount Vernon
Phone:  (360) 336-9694     Fax:  (360) 336-1579
gsterrett@wsffn.org       www.wsffn.org    

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Biologically Intensive Agriculture and Organic Farming Program at WSU

Campaign Update for WSFFN Members

As of this week, we have made tremendous progress in reaching our to the members of the WA State Senate with information about the Biologically Intensive Agriculture and Organic Farming(BIO Ag) program. This is the half-way mark of the short Supplemental Session. The Network’s members, friends and allies have been instrumental in this effort by calling, writing, and meeting with virtually every Senate target and many House members as well. The overall feedback from different legislators has largely been positive, with many commenting on the wide support they’ve seen for this funding issue from various constituents, not just The Network’s members.

To date, a BIOAg information package, along with some personalized letters of support from members have been hand-delivered to all members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, five of the seven Senate Ag Committee members, and the President and Vice President of the Senate. Twelve meetings with senators have shown that these members are largely supportive of the funding request, although few seem to be champions.

The Senate will finalize their budget recommendations between the 14^th and 19^th of February. Before this time, Senators Prentice, Doumit, and Brown will be the primary targets of the BioAg committee for further meetings and lobbying efforts. Additionally, Senators Regala and Eide will be targeted by a constituent in the coming days. Personalized letters and phone calls from constituents have been, and will remain an effective way of supporting this funding measure; from conversations with aids we have discovered that regular citizens, not paid lobbyists, are most effective methods for getting support.

In the House, six formal meetings have been held with representatives and informal conversations with representative’s aids have shown both the Agricultural Committee and Appropriations Committee to be supportive of the program, though there are still many members of these committees that have not been formally reached. All members of the House Appropriations committee and 20 of the 23 Ag Committee members received hand delivered BioAg information packets and letters from at least one WSFFN member.

In the coming days and weeks, additional effort will be put into outreach through the media. WSFFN members are encouraged to write letters to the editor of their local newspaper to increase public awareness of the importance of supporting the BioAg program.

Sustainable Farming Practices/BIOAg Committee

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