12 minute read

The PolicyOutlook

How the Decisions of 2022 Set the Course for 2023 in State and National Policy

The elections of 2022 are behind us, and in the wake of the general election last November we now have a slate of state and national leaders in place for policymaking in this new year. IBA’s Executive Vice President sat down to answer some questions and talk through a recap of the election results and what they mean for beef producers across the state.

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Let’s start with national issues. What were the most significant outcomes of the November election for farmers and ranchers on the federal portion of the ballot?

JS: It depends if you are looking at the results for local and statewide races, or if you are looking at the results for federal level seats.

The national landscape obviously changed with the GOP winning back the House of Representatives. Republican control of Congress will swing some agriculture issues right of center this year, and it will be a critical year for work in the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. 2023 is a Farm Bill year, so we will see Congressmen and women get to work on that important piece of legislation right away. With republican control of Congress, we know that G.T. Thompson of Pennsylvania is the Chair of the House Ag Committee. IBA worked with NCBA and other state farm groups back in 2021 to host Thompson during a trip to Illinois; he has family in the Chicago suburbs, and we took the opportunity to bring him out to a DeKalb County farm and spend the afternoon with him talking farm issues. He’s kept in touch since that visit, and I have confidence that he’s going to lead the Farm Bill process in a way that will leave room for farmer input from Midwestern states. IBA is working with other farm groups in Illinois to make sure we are in lockstep on the priority needs in this bill. Cattle don’t have too many direct provisions in the Farm Bill, but there are a lot of titles in the bill that have trickle-down effects on our markets and our inputs. With so many of our members also being row crop farmers, we want to make sure Farm Bill changes or updates reflect positive outcomes for the Illinois farm economy.

Illinois did lose a seat in Congress this election cycle, and that directly correlates to less representation. Republicans Adam Kinzinger and Rodney Davis did not return to Washington this year. The same is true for Democrat Cheri Bustos. All three had worked with farm groups at some juncture on ag and rural issues. Bustos and Davis had seats on the Ag Committee. While we have fewer Congressional districts in Illinois now, we do have more districts with rural areas in them – so we must spend the time reaching out and educating our Congressional delegation about beef industry issues. There are new faces in that group for downstate, including Democrats Nikki Budzinski in east-central Illinois and Eric Sorenson in northwestern Illinois. Republican Mary Miller, a cattlewoman and IBA member, won re-election but her district has shifted to encompass more than 20 counties through central and western Illinois. Miller is back serving on the agriculture committee, and being a farmer, she will bring a critically important voice in preserving programs and resources that empower our producers.

U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth was re-elected, and while she hasn’t served in an Ag Committee role directly legislating bills in our industry, she has been willing to sit down with our leadership and talk about cattle issues. She’s made it a priority to meet with us at the last two Illinois State Fairs, coming to sit down and Ribeye Corral for lunch meetings that cover a wide range of rural and farm topics, and her staff has always been responsive to our requests.

Let's look at the state level. What are the implications of the election outcome in Illinois government?

JS: This is where we see a lot of change because of the ballot box. Republicans lost all the statewide races – from Governor all the way down the ticket, and Democrats also sealed control in both the State Senate and the House of Representatives. With supermajority control growing in Springfield, the democratic party holds all the leverage on the legislative agenda. It means that leaders of the republican party must fight to be part of the governing process and may not always have a seat at the table on the writing and legislating of bills.

The fallout of this circumstance has been a total shakeup of leaders in the minority party; republican legislators have ousted former leaders and selected a new Minority Leader for the Senate and the House. Senator John Curran is the new republican leader in that chamber. He’s an attorney by trade, from the western suburbs, and he’s worked with ag issues previously on appropriations committee. The new House Republican Minority Leader is well-known to IBA members in northwestern Illinois, and she’s making history in her new role. Representative Tony McCombie is from Carroll County, and she becomes the first women to be House Republican leader in Illinois. She has been a great friend of IBA and agriculture, showing up at our events and always making time for our members. Tony is very down-to-earth and gets things done at a pace that’s rare in state government. She’s a true mover and shaker, and I think we’ll see her be a strong advocate in her leadership role. She’s also noted for working well with most everyone in Springfield, regardless of party affiliation, and that’s important in this General Assembly.

We’re still awaiting committee assignments, but I think we will see good leadership for agriculture in both chambers. On the Senate side, ag committee will bring new leadership in both parties. In the House we don’t quite know yet, but I’m certain that Speaker Welch will make sure the committee has a good makeup. He knows the critical importance agriculture plays in our state’s economy, and in his first term as Speaker he was very receptive to our farmer concerns. While he’s a Chicago legislator, he has a long-standing relationship with Whiteside County farmers through Illinois Farm Bureau’s Adopt-ALegislator program, and IBA executive board member Scott Wetzell is one of those farmers who has had the chance to get to know the Representative. He even invited Wetzell to his inaugural ceremony and reception down in Springfield. I think Speaker Welch is a great example of an elected official who may not come from a background where he knew our issues firsthand, but he’s put in the time and energy to learn about agriculture and farming and keeps an open door for our outreach when we have input or questions about legislative matters in his chamber.

You have written about the number of new members that were elected in the last General Assembly, and it sounds like there are more new faces in 2023, correct? What does that mean for Illinois Beef Association members?

JS: Yes, indeed. Census data gets published every ten years, and that gets pulled into a political process of redrawing legislative districts across the state. This current General Assembly is the first group of legislators serving in the most recent “redrawn” districts. It meant that some people didn’t seek re-election last year, or in some cases, former members lost to new people. For staffers like me, it means getting to know the new officials. Few of them have any connection to agriculture and farming, so it becomes a significant task to start reaching out and talking about livestock issues – advocating that they, too, put in the time to learn about one of Illinois’ biggest and most critical industries. The new state representative from Dixon is a young farmer. And a couple of the new faces come from farming communities or rural counties where they have close ties to agriculture, but many of them are from Chicago and the suburban counties, and they have much less contact with farm issues.

What about the statewide races in Illinois, and the implications of those executive offices on Illinois agriculture?

JS: We saw several people re-elected in the Illinois executive branch, starting with Governor Pritzker and Lieutenant Governor Julianna Stratton. These folks work directly overseeing state agencies that regulate our industry, and I don’t think we will see many big changes here. Illinois Department of Agriculture continues to be led by Director Jerry Costello, and he has been a strong advocate for our organization. His leadership team continues in this re-elected administration, and they all fall under the guidance of Deputy Governor Andy Manar, who is a former Senator from Macoupin County. Being from a small farming community like Bunker Hill, Manar knows agriculture and rural issues very well and works closely with our farmer leaders.

We are seeing a change in leadership at Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Beef producer and former farm broadcaster Colleen Callahan was the leader of that state department from most of the first Pritzker administration, but she retired before the inauguration in 2023. The new director announcement is pending, but I’m certain it will be another strong leader with great ties to agriculture and rural issues – so we will continue to have strong connections in that agency, too. Besides, we’re neighbors now. Since moving the IBA office to the state fairgrounds at the first of the year, we have IDOA on one end of our street and IDNR on the other end of the street. It’s easy to take a stroll down for a cup of coffee if we need to chat beef issues with one of the senior leaders at either department.

What are the hot topics or legislative priorities you are anticipating for 2023 in Springfield?

JS: At the state level, we’re always advocating to preserve and maintain our current statutes for how livestock production is regulated. The Livestock Management Facilities Act is good governance for us – it clearly spells out how you cite livestock operations, how they are managed and regulated, right down to the rights and responsibilities of the beef producer – and all of it is under the purview of the IDOA. My mantra is that it works well – so if it ain’t broke, please don’t try and fix it!

Beyond LMFA though, we are always monitoring for legislation that might impede the freedom to operate of our producers. In the past this has meant working to defeat legislation that changes property rights for example or changes our access to important inputs like water or antibiotics. We have seen bills come about in the past on labeling meat, or advocating for fake meat, and those issues can be complex, but we work to unwind them. Sometimes the most important work we do in Springfield is not generating policy, its working to prevent more of it.

I would like to see the General Assembly solve for added resources in support of our local meat processors. Our leadership is interested in seeing more training and development available to prepare meat cutters and skilled labor for locker plants and meat processing facilities.

How much attention will agriculture topics get in 2023?

JS: At the national and state level, we will no doubt see a lot of work ahead of us this year. Like I mentioned earlier, Congress must tackle this farm bill; that’s not optional and the work is already beginning. We will want to be engaged and our members need to be keeping tabs on what’s happening in those negotiations to make sure that Illinois’ representatives know what producers expect in the final bill. Beyond that issue, there will be several cattle-related measures likely to come back to the surface in the U.S. Senate and in the House of Representatives. We work closely with NCBA staff in Washington to stay on top of these issues, from environmental regulations to trade issues, cattle marketing legislation – a whole host of topics, really, that will matter for our producers. The national policy priorities are being reviewed now and will be set in motion after the upcoming meetings in New Orleans.

In Illinois, we will also see a lot of work on agriculture and rural legislation. For perspective on this topic, consider that within hours of the inauguration of this current General Assembly, members of the Illinois House of Representatives immediately began filing legislation. Within 24 hours, I believe it was over 1,100 bills that had been filed. That’s a lot of regulations to sift through, and it is only one chambers approach. The Senate still has their legislating to do, too. We saw a lot of social issues getting acted upon very quickly already this year – hot topics in the media and in our own communities. But there will be agriculture regulatory issues coming in the days and weeks ahead. Some of them will be positive proposals which can help our industry grow and be productive. But there are also those stinkers lurking out there – the bills we don’t want or need, and that’s where we’ll have to roll up our sleeves and do the work of navigating all these legislators to make our case for what is best for the family farms of IBA members.

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