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14 Feb

Posted at 09:47h in Industry News
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Kansas Grain and Feed Association is proud to welcome Clay Fagan and Trisha Fassnacht to its team, while announcing the promotion of Sidney Storey to director of event planning to begin 2022. Fagan joins the association as its director of member investment and training; Fassnacht as administrative assistant; while Storey steps into the event planning role vacated by the retirement of longtime KGFA employee Shari Bennett. "We are thrilled to welcome Clay and Trisha to our team," KGFA President and CEO Ron Seeber said. "In the short time they've spent with us we've been pleased with their...

14 Feb

Posted at 08:45h in Advocacy
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2022 Legislative Session, Week 5 This week saw the override of Governor Laura Kelly’s veto of a Republican-friendly map (Sub Senate Bill 355) that will draw new lines for the state’s four Congressional districts. It is assumed that legal challenges to the bill will follow. Following much consternation over the congressional map veto override vote, Senate President Ty Masterson removed two Republican senators from their committee leadership positions. Masterson also removed Senator Mark Steffen of Hutchinson from his vice chairmanship of the senate commerce committee and from his seat on the senate tax committee. In addition, the House...

07 Feb

Posted at 08:14h in Advocacy
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2022 Legislative Session, Week 4 This week, the legislature took a day of hiatus when winter storms were predicted to bring heavy snow to the capitol city. On Thursday, as predicted, Governor Laura Kelly vetoed a Republican-friendly map that would have drawn new lines for the state’s four Congressional districts. The House got bogged down in deliberation over the Kelly Administration’s economic development bill aimed at bringing a large national corporate headquarters to the state with a specified capital investment of at least $1,000,000,000. Next week, a legislative committee will consider a bill that would transfer $1 billion from the...

31 Jan

Posted at 07:11h in Advocacy
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2022 Legislative Session, Week 3 This week, the Legislature passed a map drawing new lines for the state’s four Congressional districts, held hearings on various bills proposing to exempt “food” from states sales tax, and advanced an economic development bill that would provide for incentives for specified industries to establish their national corporate headquarters in the state with specified capital investment of at least $1,000,000,000. In addition, the Committees on Agriculture received annual reports from the state commodity commissions, and the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing on a bill making it unlawful to capture or possess an ornate box...

24 Jan

Posted at 08:32h in Advocacy
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2022 Legislative Session, Week 2 This week, the Legislature worked through bills and hearings, even while many legislators were absent due to positive COVID tests. The Senate passed a few bills of high importance, as the House also began initial committee work. Here are some of the highlights of the week. KDA Grain Warehouse Program Budget Enhancement In 2021, as part of an agreement with KDA to allow for increased fees on Kansas licensed commercial grain warehouses, KGFA requested, and received, an additional $60k in SGF for KDA’s grain warehouse program to pay for an additional...

17 Jan

Posted at 08:55h in Advocacy
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2022 Legislative Session Commences The Kansas legislature gaveled in on Monday, January 10, 2022, and your Association’s government affairs staff was at the capitol monitoring and weighing in on bills affecting our industry. It was a busy week in Topeka which saw hearings on various tax issues related to wildfires in the state and Governor Laura Kelly’s State of the State address. Key issues this session will include reapportionment and redistricting following the 2020 census, a Senate vote on the “Value Them Both” constitutional amendment question on abortion, possible legalization of medical marijuana, and deliberation of how to most appropriately spend the...

19 Dec

Posted at 13:58h in Industry News, Regulatory
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Late on Friday, December 17, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a split decision removing the stay on OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for large employers. The ETS requires covered employees to be vaccinated or wear a protective face covering and test weekly. The ETS was published in the Federal Register on November 5, 2021, and then immediately challenged in federal court by dozens of states and other plaintiffs. The very next day, a stay was issued on the emergency standard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. OSHA...

16 Dec

Posted at 08:47h in Industry News
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The selection committee for the Tomorrow’s Agribusiness Leaders (TAL) program met in early-December to review applications and select five members of the Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association and five members of the Kansas Grain and Feed Association to comprise the 24th class of agribusiness’ premier leadership development course. The selection committee, comprised of former TAL graduates chose: Michelle Busch (Syngenta); Garrett Buschjost (Koch Agronomic Services); Adam Butler (MKC); Douglas Graber (Producers Cooperative Association); Brandon Legg (Concordia Terminal LLC); Jacob Leis (CoMark Equity Alliance); Stacy Letourneau (Cloud County Cooperative Elevator); Adam Niehues (Jackson Farmers Inc.); Scotty Yerges (Team Marketing Alliance); and Mike Zacharias (MKC) to...

23 Nov

Posted at 09:12h in Advocacy
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In a one-day historic Special Session yesterday brought by legislative petition, the Kansas legislature passed House Bill 2001. The Special Session was called following legislative hearings where over a hundred people testified to a special committee on the negative affects the COVID-19 mandate would have on their employment status. The bill was championed by both House and Senate leadership and was the sole purpose for the Special Session. The Senate passed the bill 24-11 and the House passed it by a vote of 77-34. Your association joined others in the business community in lobbying against specific portions of the bill that...

22 Nov

Posted at 09:21h in Advocacy, Industry News
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The Kansas Grain and Feed Association board of directors have approved the association's 2022 legislative and regulatory policy guide in advance of the state's legislative session in January. The KGFA Policy Guide contains the policy and position statements of the Kansas Grain and Feed Association relating to state and federal legislative and regulatory issues. It is intended to serve as a general reference for Association members, legislators, and other state officials. The policy guide is reviewed and updated annually by the KGFA Legislative Committee and approved by the KGFA Board of Directors....

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