Aloha all;
FYI guys, Rep Tsuji and Speaker Say are at it again. This is Monsanto's "pre-emption" bill language and it's raised its ugly head again. They tried this three years ago in the taro gmo ban bill. This time it's time hidden again in what was once a good bill HB2703 (see below) but is now horribly compromised.
Conference Committee Meeting will reconvene on Friday 04-27-12 11:30AM in conference room 224. http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2012/hearingnotices/CONF_AGR_04-27-12_RECONVENE_.HTM
The switched language isn't even posted.
The language will take away the authority to protect Hawaii's residents at the county or state level from gmo food or agricultural crops. The "catch phrase" is that the states can rely on the federal laws. This is not true - federal law will hand the bag to Monsanto and the rest of the biotech industry. We will lose our right to protect our families, farms and communities and the food we grow and eat if this language passes. They are assuming that as a last minute bait and switch, that no one will be able to stop it.
From experience - calls to Tsuji and Say will have little impact. They've been bought. Do it anyway. AND call every legislator you can and match callers to their reps and senators. We need to make this public really fast.
Is it illegal what Tsuji did - no. Is it reprehensible - absolutely! Has Monsanto paid everyone off - likely. They have the highest paid lobbyists in Hawaii and the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association working for them behind the scenes and the Hawaii Farm Bureau working in the front.
At the very least press for a deferral until that has time to be posted and reviewed. Be aware if it misses the deadline it will be alive next year. If it is killed in committee, it's dead (unless it's snuck into another bill).
As hard as everyone has worked on this bill, you will need to be ready to kill it if there is any indication that it might pass with the pre-emption language intact. Taro farmers were forced to do that with the gmo kalo ban bill three years ago. Brit Bailey helped us on this last time - she had experience in killing the language in California (and they barely were able to make it). Brit, if you are out there - hope you can help!
Here's a summary of Monsanto tactics http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_16844.cfm Number 3 has a link to the map on states succumbed to the pre-emption law which Monsanto and Vilsack crafted.
Here's background and resources on the seed pre-emption laws http://www.environmentalcommons.org/seedlawbackgrounder.html
FYI, just last month, Monsanto announced the buy out of an independent bee research laboratory that had strong evidence that chemicals such as RoundUp were a source of bee colony collapse disorder. Nifty way to put a stop to undesirable findings or "inconvenient truths." So much for the protection of good science.
We have been working hard to pass HB 2703, a bill that would establish a priority to double the amount of food we grow in Hawaii – setting the stage for a raft of measures that would ignite a food farming revolution.
But oh no… At the very last minute the Chair of the House Agriculture Committee, Mr. Clifton Tsuji, took it upon himself to hijack months of work and replace our bill with language not seen or discussed before - some of which is not even within his committee’s remit and has no relation to the title of the bill.
It’s Undemocratic
In other words, what Tsuji did was not just a dirty political trick that flouts the wishes of the hundreds of people who have lobbied for this bill, it’s probably unconstitutional.
So now we need you to call and email Rep. Tsuji at:
808-586-8480 reptsuji@capitol.hawaii.gov
and tell him to go back to the original Senate version SD2
And call and email Senator Nishihara at:
808-586-6970 sennishihara@capitol.hawaii.gov
and ask him to either defend his SD2 version or kill the whole darned thing. Yes, its’ that bad.
What does Tsuji want to do?
To start with, he wants it explicitly stated in the bill that the food self-sufficiency goal shall be non-binding – of course! And if the Department of Ag doesn’t like the goal they should be allowed to cut it nearly in half – naturally!
Then, as if these aren’t bad enough, he wants our food and farming bill to be tied to “other goals of equal priority.”
Like what? Well like:
§ Building as many new homes as the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation deems necessary by 2020. (What’s a housing issue doing in an ag bill?)
§ Meeting our renewable energy portfolio standard in 2020 “partly with biofuels and biomass crops at the volume estimated by the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism.”
§ Requiring that “the community growth boundary of a county's long-term general, development, or community plan shall be respected,” which appears to be an effort to kill the Honolulu City Council’s recent decision to consider designating as Important Agricultural Lands the farmlands of billionaire developer Donald Horton and billionaire developer David Murdock at Ho‘opili and Koa Ridge (which between them grow 40% of the food currently grown in the state).
What else? Let's Protect GMOs!
Yep: he wants to legislate that there shall be ”no state or county prohibition on the growing, raising, possession, or consumption by people of genetically engineered agricultural products within the state if the products are grown or raised in compliance with federal law.”
That’s because this brave representative of the people probably receives more money from GMO corporations than any other member of the Hawaii state legislature, indeed he may be one of the top recipients of GMO funding in the nation.
Let’s Steal Your Water
Oh and then he inserts language that contradicts and nullifies public trust protections of water resources, by making commercial agricultural diversions a “public trust purpose” – something that big monied interests have tried and failed to promulgate for years.
It stinks
It seems there is nothing too skanky for this gentleman to insert in a bill that was supposed to be about boosting food farming, creating an agricultural renaissance and stimulating our economy.
No One’s Responsible
And here's one last beauty: “No person may bring an action against the state or any state officer or employee for an act or omission alleged to be contrary to attainment of the food sustainability benchmark.”
He wants to stink-up this bill so badly that we’ll be forced to lobby against our own measure.
OK so you get the idea.
The Legislature has received literally thousands of pieces of written testimony and phone calls from supporters of this bill. Dozens of people have come to the Capitol to testify in person. Just today a group of farmers published an editorial in the Star-Advertiser calling for passage of this bill.
Yet this one little man has chosen to subvert the democratic will.
Call Rep Tsuji NOW!
I urge you to call and email Clifton Tsuji’s office and tell him what you think of his shenanigans. Ask him to drop his giveaway to the rich and powerful landowners, developers, and GMO corporations. Urge him to pass the Senate version of the bill known as SD2
Mr Tsuji’s phone number is: 808-586-8480, Email him at reptsuji@capitol.hawaii.gov
And please call or email Senator Nishihara at 808-586-6970 Email him at sennishihara@capitol.hawaii.gov
and ask him to defend his original SD2 version of the bill or to kill Tsuji’s poisonous mess. Yes, it’s that bad.
Let’s flood their phone lines and mailboxes
Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyQGn6E3Lcg
Mahalo Pono! sent the following to many ---including the names posted above:
Ko Hawaii Pae Aina No. 2012-0013; 2012-0012;. 2012-0011 Permanent U.S. Treaty In Place - State of Hawaii Needs to be Under the American Embassy/Consulate from Amelia Gora, Acting Liaison of Foreign Affairs
mahalo for staying on top of this issue which is very important to our longevity!