By Diana Carlen Lobbyist, Washington Association of Wheat Growers The Legislature adjourned on the 105th day of the 2025 Legislative Session on April 27 at 6:30 p.m. In the final week of the legislative session, the Legislature adopted the 2025-2027 operating, capital, and transportation budgets. However, it is unknown if Gov. Ferguson will sign the operating budget, veto it, or ... Read More »
By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyst With less than a week remaining in the regularly scheduled session, the Legislature is in a frenzy to finish on time. April 16 marked the Opposite House Floor Cutoff, meaning that it was the last day for the House and Senate to vote on bills from the other chamber. Bills that are considered necessary to ... Read More »
By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist With just two weeks remaining in the 2025 Legislative Session, the countdown to the end of the session is in sight. Tuesday, April 8, marked the final fiscal cutoff deadline where bills from the opposite chamber with fiscal impact had to pass out of fiscal committees. This means there are no more committee hearings from ... Read More »
By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist Week 12 brought another key deadline as the opposite house policy committee cutoff arrived Wednesday, April 2. House bills that weren’t voted out of policy committees by adjournment that day can no longer be considered during the 2025 session. The next deadline is April 8 when bills must be voted out of the opposite chamber’s ... Read More »
On March 31, Michelle Hennings, executive director of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, testified in front of the Washington State Senate Ways and Means Committee opposing SB 5794, which would eliminate tax preferences for transporting agricultural commodities. Hennings told the committee that the elimination of these provisions threatens the viability of the state’s wheat industry by imposing a new ... Read More »
By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist Legislators have completed the 11th week of the legislative session, and there is less than a month left until the session is scheduled to end. The next deadline is April 2, which is the deadline for bills from the opposite chamber to be passed out of policy committees. Legislators have been busy voting bills out ... Read More »
The Washington State Department of Licensing (DOL) has announced that they are expanding the Agriculture Support Program to producers and transporters who purchased fuel for agricultural purposes between Jan. 1, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2024. The process for submitting applications for 2024 fuel purchases will closely mirror that of the 2023 process, making it as simple and user friendly as possible. ... Read More »
The Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) welcomed two new board members since the first of the year representing Franklin and Spokane counties. Andrew Schafer, Franklin County Schafer, along with his wife, Jessica, and their three children, is the fourth generation to farm on his family’s farm near Kahlotus where they grow soft white wheat for seed. He graduated in ... Read More »
On March 25, Grant County wheat grower Ryan Poe testified before the Washington State Senate Committee on Environment, Energy & Technology in support of HB1912 concerning the exemption for fuels used for agricultural purposes in the Climate Commitment Act. Poe told the committee most wheat farmers are now able to get carbon fee-free fuel and acknowledged the work the Washington State Department ... Read More »
By Diana Carlen Lobbyist, Washington Association of Wheat Growers We have wrapped up the 10th week of the session on March 22. This past week, committees focused on hearing bills passed by the opposite chamber. The next deadline is April 2 when all bills must pass out of their policy committee. Legislators have shifted to budget mode. Earlier this week, ... Read More »
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