NACIA Washington Update
October 22, 2009

Well, health care continues to dominate the focus of both the House and the Senate. On the House side the focus is on what type of public option Speaker Pelosi will include in the bill that ends up coming to a vote on the Floor. On the Senate side, the Leadership and the Democrats from the Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees are trying to meld the two versions passed by each Committee.

Outside of those involved in the health care debate, the cap-and-trade/climate change issue has been receiving a considerable amount of attention. Senator Bingaman’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee yesterday started a series of hearings on the issue, and conversations are ongoing regarding whether or not the bill introduced by Senators Boxer (D-CA) and Kerry (D-MA), or any other Senate climate change bill for that matter, will receive any consideration past the Committee level. Most people agree that the House-passed legislation sponsored by Representatives Waxman (D-CA) and Markey (D-MA) will not be taken up in the Senate in its current form. While that may be the case, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Lucas (R-OK) continues to proclaim the negative impacts of a cap and trade system on rural economies and small communities. Details.

In crop insurance, the focus remains on the SRA renegotiations. We expect that by this time or shortly thereafter, the companies will have finished submitting comments to RMA. RMA should now be evaluating the comments and drafting their proposal for the agreement, which is expected to be made available to the companies in early November. We are not yet sure how this will be done. In the past it has been made available in the form of a Manager’s Bulletin, but since then there has been a change in Administration and in those people leading the negotiations for RMA.

Other activities that may be of interest include the following:

• Yesterday RMA has posted here the Oct 13, 2009 Indemnity Map and County-Level Table for the 2009 crop year.
• Secretary Vilsack has announced that approximately 255 million base acres on about 1.7 million farms were enrolled in the Direct and Counter-cyclical Program and in the ACRE programs. If you wish, remind your producers that 2010 sign up for DCP and ACRE has already started and the deadline is June 1, 2010. Details.
• Secretary Vilsack also announced that the USDA has awarded more than $11 million through the National Integrated Water Quality Program to address critical water resource issues including water quality protection and water conservation. Details.
• And for those of you who work with specialty crop clients, you may want to alert them about the possible availability of specialty crop block grants in their states. USDA has announced “… the award of 55 grants totaling approximately $49 million for 745 projects to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops, which are defined as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture.” Details.

While agents are not technically a part of the SRA renegotiation, NACIA is working hard to ensure that when opportunities to weigh in are available, the agents’ voice is heard. As the only organization that represents only crop insurance agents, and represents crop insurance agents from all companies, it is important that NACIA has a strong Washington presence to ensure that agents’ interests are heard.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions.

Brent W. Gattis
NACIA Washington Representative
www.nacia.org

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