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HB 2121, An act concerning swine facilities and dairy product labeling, was considered on final action April 2, 2009ROLL CALL : KS SENATE HB 2121. On roll call, the vote was: Yeas 22, Nays 15, Present and Passing 1, Absent or Not Voting 2. Yeas: Abrams, Apple, Barnett, Brownlee, Brungardt, Colyer, Donovan, Emler, Huelskamp, Kelsey, Lee, Lynn, Marshall, Masterson, McGinn, Morris, Ostmeyer, Petersen, Pyle, Schmidt D, Taddiken, Umbarger. Nays: Bruce, Faust-Goudeau, Francisco, Haley, Hensley, Holland, Kelly, Kultala, Owens, Pilcher-Cook, Reitz, Schmidt V, Schodorf, Teichman, Vratil. Present and Passing: Wagle. Absent or Not Voting: Steineger, Wysong. The Conference Committee report was adopted. EXPLANATION OF VOTE MR. PRESIDENT: I vote NO on the conference committee report for HB 2121. I have no objections to the provisions that were originally within HB 2121 however I do object to some of the provisions of HB 2295 that were added to the conference committee report on this bill. It is sensible to require the owner or operator of a dairy manufacturing plant to verify that their claims are accurate. It is not sensible for the legislature to pass measures that may restrict information for consumers who want to know that the cows producing milk for a specific product have not been injected with rbST. The Federal Food and Drug Administration gives guidance on labeling regarding rbST that is working for farmers, processors, marketers and consumers; they also require that the statements be truthful. To go beyond those guidelines and establish our own state requirements for labeling is not friendly to Kansas, national, and international businesses. Because the ambiguous word "similar" is used in the requirements the state will be collecting fee funds from Kansas dairies that will have to be spent giving out of state businesses direction that we could have easily provided more straightforwardly in the statute. —MARCI FRANCISCO Senators Haley and Kelly request the record to show they concur with the "Explanation of Vote" offered by Senator Francisco on HB 2121. |
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