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PAG LIN
1 1 SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. ___
1 2 BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
1 3 RESOLUTION BY CHAIRPERSON McLAREN)
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 transformation
1 13 that poses a clear and immediate threat to the economic
1 14 viability of traditional farm families, including a crisis
1 15 caused by disastrously low agricultural commodity prices and
1 16 by the development of large scale integrated systems for
1 17 producing and processing agricultural commodities, and for
1 18 marketing these agricultural processed products, and that
1 19 increasingly removes autonomy and control from the hands of
1 20 farm families; and
1 21 WHEREAS, in 1998, the General Assembly enacted Senate File
1 22 2415 (1998 Iowa Acts, chapter 1207) establishing the Iowa
1 23 Agricultural Industry Finance Act in order to allow farm
1 24 families to control their own destinies; and
1 25 WHEREAS, the fundamental purpose of the Act is to assist
1 26 persons actively engaged in farming, and specifically
1 27 individual farmers and family farm businesses, to acquire
1 28 capital in order to expand production, processing, and
1 29 marketing of high value agricultural products, to organize new
1 30 business structures within the state to carry out these
1 31 ventures, and to market and deliver increasingly high value
1 32 agricultural products to consumers around the world; and
1 33 WHEREAS, in order to ensure that farm families are provided
1 34 a stake in their own future, the Act created the Iowa
1 35 Agricultural Industry Finance Corporation, requiring that 51
2 1 percent of the corporation's common stock and voting stock be
2 2 held by farmers; and
2 3 WHEREAS, the General Assembly expects that as long as the
2 4 corporation carries out a public purpose and is supported with
2 5 public moneys, it will conduct business in an open manner and
2 6 that its board of directors, officers, and employees will be
2 7 available to the committees and members of the General
2 8 Assembly, as well as to any inquiry by legislative agencies
2 9 and staff; and
2 10 WHEREAS, since the success of any private corporation
2 11 depends upon initiative and responsibility to its shareholders
2 12 when acting in compliance with its purpose, and since the
2 13 transition period for the Iowa Agricultural Industry Finance
2 14 Corporation should be concluding, the General Assembly fully
2 15 expects the corporation to immediately provide for the
2 16 ownership of the corporation by agricultural producers,
2 17 greater representation on the board of directors by
2 18 agricultural producers, and the relocation of the corporation
2 19 to permanent headquarters; and
2 20 WHEREAS, the purpose of the Act is to create new wealth in
2 21 this state beginning on the farm, by capitalizing new ventures
2 22 that provide for the processing of value-added agricultural
2 23 products and that provide fundamental opportunities for farm
2 24 families to participate and financially benefit; and
2 25 WHEREAS, the purpose of the Act is not to create a
2 26 corporation for the purpose of investing public moneys in
2 27 order to enrich agribusiness corporations or entities
2 28 associated with the initial board of directors to the
2 29 exclusion of farm families; NOW THEREFORE,
2 30 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2 31 CONCURRING, That the General Assembly insists that the Iowa
2 32 Agricultural Industry Finance Corporation and its initial
2 33 board of directors comply with the purpose of the Act, and
2 34 urges the board to begin immediately implementing the
2 35 provisions of the Iowa Agricultural Industry Finance Act in a
3 1 manner that is consistent with the Act and this resolution;
3 2 and
3 3 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Secretary of the Senate
3 4 mail a copy of this resolution to the President of the Iowa
3 5 Agricultural Industry Finance Corporation for presentation to
3 6 its board of directors.
3 7 LSB 6600SC 78
3 8 da/as/5
Text: SSB03081 Text: SSB03083 Text: SSB03000 - SSB03099 Text: SSB Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
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