Washington State Senate Preparing to Hear SB 5753 No NAIS

Olympia-A productive meeting with Senate Agricultural Chairwoman Rasmussen was held today. Senator Rasmussen brought up some important issues regarding SB 5753 that needed to be addressed. The issues discussed with the Senator included documentation of existing laws on the books addressing animal disease, clarification that NAIS is not just for cattle (Cooperative Agreement between USDA/WSDA was shared); information on the collection of data involuntarily from residents of Washington, with followup correspondence from the WSDA refusing purging of collected data; a briefing on local small farmers being pro-active in disease management practices, ongoing agricultural education, and environmental concerns. Senator Rasmussen, herself, said that she did not want to identify her animals.

I will be soon be posting the Senate Agricultural Committee members so that you can respectfully and politely share your concerns about the NAIS scheme.

From the trenches,

Celeste