Protecting Rural Missourians

The Missouri House passed legislation this week sending a strong message about our support of your right to farm here in Missouri. We are fully committed to standing in defense of the traditions, values and rights we Missourians have held dear for generations. HCS HJR 11 & 7, sponsored by Rep. Bill Reiboldt (R-160), would approve a constitutional amendment giving voters the opportunity to make their voices heard on this important issue in the next statewide election. It will allow all of us who value our agrarian traditions to stand in opposition to the radical animal rights groups like PETA and HSUS when they assault our freedoms with measures like Prop B.

 

HCS HJR 11 & 7 is a common-sense measure protecting Missourians from the encroachment of out-of-state special interest groups. As the national animal rights lobby continues to partner with the entrenched bureaucrats in President Obama’s Department of Agriculture, it is important to remember we can take actions at the state level to protect ourselves. I am proud to join with my colleagues to defend the traditions passed down from generation to generation in Missouri’s fields, backyard gardens, and thick stands of timber for more than 190 years.

 

As we engage in this effort to protect the rights of farmers, it is important to understand one of the most powerful weapons in the war on rural Missouri has been the authority of federal and state agencies to put new ‘rules’ in place. These ‘rules’ are not enacted by the legislature, but have the force and effect of law. For example, the Missouri Department of Agriculture could pass a ‘rule’ limiting the number of cattle a farmer could own, or a ‘rule’ limiting how many acres of corn a farmer could plant.

 

It is so important to protect the right to farm in the Missouri Constitution. While state ‘rule-making’ authorities may be able to skirt the law, they cannot infringe on the rights granted in the Constitution.

 

State and federal agencies will continue to expand their powers to legislate through the ‘rule-making’ process until we push back. In the Missouri House we are proactively working to safeguard the rights of all Missourians whose life and love is farming.