Text: SCR00103 Text: SCR00105 Text: SCR00100 - SCR00199 Text: SCR Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
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1 1 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. ___
1 2 BY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
1 3 (SUCCESSOR TO SSB 3082)
1 4 A Senate Concurrent Resolution urging that the Iowa
1 5 Agricultural Industry Finance Corporation
1 6 immediately begin implementing the Iowa
1 7 Agricultural Industry Finance Act in a manner that
1 8 encourages local agricultural producer-led ventures
1 9 to expand production and processing of high value
1 10 agricultural products, including agricultural
1 11 processed products.
1 12 WHEREAS, agriculture is undergoing rapid
1 13 transformation that poses a clear and immediate threat
1 14 to the economic viability of traditional farm
1 15 families, including a crisis caused by disastrously
1 16 low agricultural commodity prices and by the
1 17 development of large scale integrated systems for
1 18 producing and processing agricultural commodities, and
1 19 for marketing these agricultural processed products,
1 20 and that increasingly removes autonomy and control
1 21 from the hands of farm families; and
1 22 WHEREAS, in 1998, the General Assembly enacted
1 23 Senate File 2415 (1998 Iowa Acts, chapter 1207)
1 24 establishing the Iowa Agricultural Industry Finance
1 25 Act in order to allow farm families to control their
1 26 own destinies; and
1 27 WHEREAS, the fundamental purpose of the Act is to
1 28 assist persons actively engaged in farming, and
1 29 specifically individual farmers and family farm
1 30 businesses, to acquire capital in order to expand
2 1 production, processing, and marketing of high value
2 2 agricultural products, to organize new business
2 3 structures within the state to carry out these
2 4 ventures, and to market and deliver increasingly high
2 5 value agricultural products to consumers around the
2 6 world; and
2 7 WHEREAS, in order to ensure that farm families are
2 8 provided a stake in their own future, the Act created
2 9 the Iowa Agricultural Industry Finance Corporation,
2 10 requiring that 51 percent of the corporation's common
2 11 stock and voting stock be held by farmers; and
2 12 WHEREAS, the General Assembly expects that as long
2 13 as the corporation carries out a public purpose and is
2 14 supported with public moneys, it will conduct business
2 15 in an open manner and that its board of directors,
2 16 officers, and employees will be available to the
2 17 committees and members of the General Assembly, as
2 18 well as to any inquiry by legislative agencies and
2 19 staff; and
2 20 WHEREAS, since the success of any private
2 21 corporation depends upon initiative and responsibility
2 22 to its shareholders when acting in compliance with its
2 23 purpose, and since the transition period for the Iowa
2 24 Agricultural Industry Finance Corporation should be
2 25 concluding, the General Assembly fully expects the
2 26 corporation to immediately provide for the ownership
2 27 of the corporation by agricultural producers, greater
2 28 representation on the board of directors by
2 29 agricultural producers, and the relocation of the
2 30 corporation to permanent headquarters; and
3 1 WHEREAS, the purpose of the Act is to create new
3 2 wealth in this state beginning on the farm, by
3 3 capitalizing new ventures that provide for the
3 4 processing of value-added agricultural products and
3 5 that provide fundamental opportunities for farm
3 6 families to participate and financially benefit; and
3 7 WHEREAS, the purpose of the Act is not to create a
3 8 corporation for the purpose of investing public moneys
3 9 in order to enrich agribusiness corporations or
3 10 entities associated with the initial board of
3 11 directors to the exclusion of farm families; NOW
3 12 THEREFORE,
3 13 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, THE HOUSE OF
3 14 REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING, That the General Assembly
3 15 insists that the Iowa Agricultural Industry Finance
3 16 Corporation and its initial board of directors comply
3 17 with the purpose of the Act, and urges the board to
3 18 begin immediately implementing the provisions of the
3 19 Iowa Agricultural Industry Finance Act in a manner
3 20 that is consistent with the Act and this resolution;
3 21 and
3 22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Secretary of the
3 23 Senate mail a copy of this resolution to the President
3 24 of the Iowa Agricultural Industry Finance Corporation
3 25 for presentation to its board of directors.
3 26 LSB 6600SV 78
3 27 da/as/5
Text: SCR00103 Text: SCR00105 Text: SCR00100 - SCR00199 Text: SCR Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
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