EXTRACTS: Democratic Rep. Betsy Hands, the bill's sponsor, blasted the private meeting, saying "the cards were stacked" by the time the committee met for the bill's actual hearing.

Committee dinners are not illegal in Montana, but veteran lawmakers and lobbyists both said hosting such an event prior to a bill hearing is highly unusual.

"After the death penalty and horse slaughter bills, this is the largest number of communications I've had, and these are from farmers," said Sen. Cliff Larsen, D-Missoula, before voting in favor of the measure.
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Biotech seed bill tabled by Montana senators
By KAHRIN DEINES
Associated Press, 26 March 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gE61B6LHmZRyYsT3HtZKRbJqoa0gD975IP981

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - A Montana Senate committee has sidelined a bill that sought standards for how biotech companies test crops for patent infringement, burying the measure after members attended a private dinner also attended by biotech giant Monsanto Co. representatives.

The Senate Agriculture Committee's action on Tuesday provoked charges of unfairness after news emerged of the dinner, which was attended by most of the committee at a private club in Helena.

The bill would have required Monsanto and other companies to get permission from a farmer before taking a sample from their crops. If the farmer denied permission, the company could seek a court order. Under the measure, either the farmer or the company could also ask the state Department of Agriculture to oversee the sampling.

The bill was tabled on a 6-3 vote.

The St. Louis-based Monsanto did not offer public testimony about the bill but did express its opposition in private at the dinner, according to committee chairman state Sen. Donald Steinbeisser, R-Sidney. Five of nine committee members attended the dinner, paid for by another bill opponent.

"The lobbyists wanted to inform the committee of their concerns, and that's all it was about," Steinbeisser said.

A nonprofit North Dakota-based group known as Growers for Biotechnology said it picked up the tab and sent out the invitations.

Democratic Rep. Betsy Hands, the bill's sponsor, blasted the private meeting, saying "the cards were stacked" by the time the committee met for the bill's actual hearing.

Committee dinners are not illegal in Montana, but veteran lawmakers and lobbyists both said hosting such an event prior to a bill hearing is highly unusual.

The controversial measure discussed at the dinner split the state's farm lobby. It would have set rules for how companies such as Monsanto can test farmers' fields for what is known as seed piracy.

When farmers buy genetically engineered seeds, they must agree not to harvest and reuse them from year to year. Some farmers, however, argue that pollen can drift with wind and water, exposing small growers to expensive legal tussles with big biotech companies even when they are innocent.

"After the death penalty and horse slaughter bills, this is the largest number of communications I've had, and these are from farmers," said Sen. Cliff Larsen, D-Missoula, before voting in favor of the measure.

Opponents of the bill, which included both the Montana Farm Bureau and the Montana Agribusiness Association, told lawmakers it would discourage the development and sale of biotech products in the state.

"I don't want to lose any kind of research, whether it's the big boys like Monsanto or anyone else, because we have serious, serious problems out there," committee member Ken Hansen, D-Harlem, said in voting against the bill.

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) ˜ Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma and eight other Republicans on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee have asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reconsider a plan that would make farmers release their tax records.

Lucas, the committee's ranking GOP member, and the others made the request in a letter sent to Vilsack on Wednesday, calling the plan an "invasion of privacy" that "is clearly against Congressional intent."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said last week that farmers who request federal subsidies will be required to sign forms allowing the IRS to provide their tax records to the USDA. The program is expected to begin with subsidies for this year's corn crop.

Vilsack said the new policy was being implemented in response to the discovery of nearly $50 million in payments to farmers ineligible for the subsidies. Farmers are ineligible for some subsidies if they have more than $500,000 in nonfarm income or $750,000 in farm earnings.