NACIA Washington Update
November 12, 2009

This week, we finally saw substantive action on what has been consuming all of the attention in the House and most of the attention in the Senate. On Saturday, the House narrowly passed H.R. 3962, the “Affordable Health Care for America Act.” The 220-215 vote occurred late Saturday evening, with one Republican voting for the bill and 39 Democrats voting against it. On the Senate side, health care negotiations continue between Leadership and the Democrats from the Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees as they try to combine the bills from each Committee.  

The House health care bill was rather controversial, and while the Agriculture Committee held no jurisdiction over the legislation, Ranking Member Lucas (R-OK) wasted no time in asserting that H.R. 3962 “does not reform health care or improve access for rural Americans.” Ranking Member Lucas invited Representative Roe (R-TN), a Member of the Agriculture Committee and doctor, to discuss the bill in his “Ag Minute.” Details. Chairman Peterson (D-MN) also issued a statement regarding the passage of the health care bill, but focused more on the need to control health care costs and the unfortunate lack of bipartisanship in the process. Details. All three Members of Congress mentioned above voted against the bill. If you would like to see how your Member of Congress voted, the recorded vote is listed here. 

Regarding the SRA renegotiation, we are quickly approaching the time which we expect RMA to release to the companies their first draft. We expect this by early December, if not slightly sooner. After the first draft is released, there will be a meeting with the industry and RMA, and then a month for the industry to submit its comments on the first draft. Currently we expect RMA to take those comments and issue a second draft in mid-January, closely aligned with the annual industry meetings in San Diego. It has been mentioned that RMA will view the second draft as relatively close to final, and they expect to not make many changes other than tweaks around the edges. The intention is to have the whole SRA renegotiation process completed by April. 

As preciously mentioned, RMA is focused on finding savings to the government in the program. We are not sure of the amount, but believe it could be approximately $5 billion, or $500 million over 10 years. Other aspects of the proposal may include provisions to address under-served areas, alignment of A&O with commodity prices, a rebalancing of A&O, simplification of risk, enhancement of program integrity, examining the rate of return, removal or lessening the volatility in the program, and focusing on outputs rather than inputs. Of course it is important to note that all of this is speculation, and it is impossible to know for sure what it will contain until the proposal is released. 

NACIA is working with other crop insurance groups to closely track the process and assist in determining the proper industry-wide response to the RMA drafts. To ensure that the interests of crop insurance agents are protected during this process, it is vitally important for agents to weigh in with the companies and with RMA. Please stay tuned to NACIA for notification of the appropriate time and method for your participation. 

In USDA news, the following items may be of interest:

• RMA has issued a reminder that November and December LGM sales closing dates are approaching. Due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, the sales closing date for November LGM sales will be Nov 20, 2009. For December, the sales closing date for LGM sales will be Dec 18, 2009. LGM Information.
• The FCIC has made a determination regarding an August 2009 request for the 2006 crop year regarding clarification on good farming practices and the interpretation of section 20(d) of the Common Crop Insurance Policy Basic Provisions. In short, the FCIC “agrees with the second requestor’s interpretation of section 20(d) of the Basic Provisions. A good farming practice determination which rules in favor of the insured does not imply the insured will automatically qualify for an indemnity. A good farming practice determination only applies to whether or not the production methods in question utilized to produce the insured crop will be considered to be ‘good farming practices.’” Complete Determination.  According to statute, this determination is binding for all participants during the 2006 crop year, but appeals may be made. 
• The FCIC Board of Directors next meeting will be held on Thursday, November 19, 2009, in Washington, D.C.  For this meeting’s agenda, please click here.
• The 2009 FSA county committee elections began on November 6. USDA is in the process of mailing ballots to eligible voters. The deadline to return the ballots to local FSA offices is December 7, 2009. Details.
• More money for rural and small businesses –Secretary Vilsack announced $56.2 million in loan guarantees to assist 12 rural businesses though stimulus funding.  Details.
• And last but not least, USDA is concerned for your safety over the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. FSIS Food Safety Education Staff has released a timeline for food safety and menu planning for consumers, stating, “Preparing Thanksgiving dinner can be a wonderful experience, yet daunting for those planning it. The goal is to have a safe and delicious turkey dinner, and if planned one day at a time, it can be a fun and memorable experience….” Details.

NACIA is working very hard to ensure that the crop insurance agent’s voice is heard here in Washington, by both the Congress and the Administration. This continued presence can be mitigated only through your participation. Please pay your 2009 dues.  This can be done either online by visiting our secure website or mailing in a check.

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

Brent W. Gattis
NACIA Washington Representative

to the top