House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources

The House Agricultural Culture, Water and Natural Resources Committee will come to order. Ms. Kelly, please call the roll. Representatives Garcia, Sander. Present. Goldstein. Here. Johnson. Here. Lindsey. Excused. Lukens. Excused. Martinez. Here. Smith. Here. Stewart. Here. Don't Story. Excuse. Sukla. Here. Winter. Here. McCormick. Here. Here. Madam Chair. Here. And we will let the record reflect that Representative Lukens has joined us. We will now HEAR House Bill 261067 and our bill sponsors are here and ready. So I will turn that over to you, Representative McCormick. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes. House Bill 1067 is the disease Livestock Indemnity Fund bill. This fund was originally set up to help reimburse producers for financial losses when there is a need to depopulate their herd or their flock in order to protect animal health and public safety. So but generally speaking, when these events happen, the USDA steps in when there are significant losses to producers from these disease impacts to reimburse them. And currently our state fund is limited only to be used for indemnity or these reimbursement purposes. So this bill will give more flexibility to our animal health division and the state veterinarian to utilize the fund…