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HB 611/FN (BR 1119) - R. Thomas, T. McKee, A. Arnold, J. Barrows, J. Callahan, L. Clark, J. Coleman, C. Hoffman, J. Richards, G. Stumbo, R. Wilkey
AN ACT relating to the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement and declaring an emergency.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 248 to create a Rural Development Finance Board and committees of the board to oversee agriculture's share of the Master Settlement Agreement, to specify the duties of the board and the committees and the programs the committees will oversee, to create a Rural Development Oversight Committee and specify its duties, and to allow for the establishment of Rural Development Advisory Councils and specify their duties; to amend KRS 12.023 to attach the Rural Development Finance Board to the Office of the Governor; declare an EMERGENCY.
HB 611 - AMENDMENTS
HCS/FN - Create new sections of KRS Chapter 248 to allocate 50% of Master Settlement Agreement funding in the tobacco settlement agreement fund to the rural development fund; provide $40 million from the rural development fund to the a Phase II supplement in the first year and provide the amount of funds needed to supplement the Phase II funding program to keep it at a level of one hundred and fourteen million dollars per year for the 12 years of the Phase II funding program; allocate 50% of the remainder of the rural development fund to the state tobacco assistance fund, and 50% to the local tobacco assistance fund; establish funds to receive moneys from the tobacco settlement agreement fund; create the rural development board to administer the state tobacco assistance fund and the state-local tobacco assistance fund; enumerate programs created, funded or overseen by the board to include the Phase II supplement fund, an entrepreneurship program for farm agricultural diversification through initiatives like aquaculture and horticulture, a farm market development and infrastructure program, an environmental stewardship program to provide cost-share, and a farmland preservation program; allocate moneys in the local tobacco assistance fund to accounts for each of the tobacco-producing counties; provide guidelines for use of funds in tobacco-producing counties' accounts; allocate 0.25% of the local tobacco assistance fund to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture for assistance provided by the department to the local tobacco assistance boards; allocate 0.75% of the fund to County Extension Service Offices for assistance provided to the local tobacco assistance boards; create the Tobacco Assistance Office in the Kentucky Department of Agriculture; establish duties of the office; require a tobacco assistance board to be established in each tobacco-producing county; require the local board to receive applications and determine which applicants shall receive funding from the tobacco producing county's account; establish membership and duties of local boards; create a local-state tobacco assistance fund from 1/3 of the funds going to the state tobacco assistance fund and the local tobacco assistance fund; allocate the moneys in the state-local tobacco assistance fund to county accounts for grants or loans; require agencies and educational institutions receiving agriculture related funding to direct their efforts to revitalization and diversification of tobacco farms; create the Master Settlement Agreement Oversight Subcommittee as a permanent subcommittee of the Legislative Research Commission; establish membership of the subcommittee; require the subcommittee to review all proposed expenditures of Master Settlement Agreement funds; appropriate 50% of Master Settlement Agreement funding to the rural development fund; appropriate $40 million dollars in fiscal year 2000 to the Phase II supplement fund; EMERGENCY
HCA (1/Title, J. Barrows) - Make title amendment.
HFA (1, P. Worthington) - Create new sections of KRS Chapter 248 to allocate Master Settlement Agreement funding in the tobacco settlement agreement fund received before June 30, 2000 as follows; ten million dollars to a multicounty fund, of the remaining funds, 50% to a Phase II supplement fund and 50% to the research challenge trust fund and the regional university excellence trust fund; allocate moneys received in the tobacco settlement fund received after June 30, 2000 as follows: provide the amount of funds needed to supplement the Phase II funding program to keep it at a level of one hundred and fourteen million dollars per year for the 12 years of Phase II funding program, of the remaining funds, provide 50% to the tobacco farmers and tobacco communities fund, 25% to the early childhood development fund, and 25% to the health care improvement fund; establish new funds to receive moneys from the tobacco settlement agreement fund; create the tobacco farmers and tobacco communities fund; allocate moneys in the tobacco farmers and tobacco communities fund to accounts for each of the tobacco-producing counties or to a multicounty project account; provide guidelines for use of funds in tobacco-producing counties' accounts; allocate .5% of tobacco farmers and tobacco communities fund to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture for assistance provided by the department to the local access to capital boards; allocate 1.5% of the fund to County Extension Service Offices for assistance provided to the local access to capital boards; create the Tobacco Farmer and Tobacco Community Assistance Office in the Kentucky Department of Agriculture; establish duties of the office; require a local access to capital board to be established in each tobacco producing county; require the local board to receive applications and determine which applicants shall receive funding in the tobacco producing county's account; establish membership and duties of local boards; require agencies and educational institutions receiving agriculture related funding to direct their efforts to revitalization and diversification on tobacco farms; create the Master Settlement Agreement Oversight Subcommittee as a permanent subcommittee of the Legislative Research Commission; establish membership of subcommittee; require the subcommittee to review all proposed expenditures of Master Settlement Agreement funds; create the early childhood development fund; create the health care improvement fund; EMERGENCY
HFA (2, T. Turner) - Delete all the provisions of HB 611 and insert the requirement that all moneys in the tobacco settlement agreement fund which come from Master Settlement funding be distributed to tobacco growers and tobacco farmers by the Finance and Administration Cabinet according to a plan and formula provided by the Kentucky Settlement Trust Corporation.
HFA (3, L. Napier) - Provide that local tobacco assistance boards shall not award funds to a member or family member of a member of the board.
HFA (4, S. Alexander) - Provide that the fiscal court or other legislative body of any county that receives less than $35,000 per biennium in settlement funds may oversee the disposition of the funds in lieu of establishing a local tobacco assistance board; specify how the funds are to be used.
HFA (5, S. Alexander) - Provide that the fiscal court or other legislative body of any county that receives less than $35,000 per biennium in settlement funds may oversee the disposition of the funds in lieu of establishing a local tobacco assistance board; require the funds to be used only for public safety or economic development.
HFA (6, S. Nunn) - Delete provisions of the House Committee Substitute for HB 611 and insert the provisions of HB 611.
HFA (7, T. Turner) - Delete all the provisions of HB 611/HCS and insert the requirement that all moneys in the tobacco settlement agreement fund which come from Master Settlement funding be distributed to tobacco growers and tobacco farmers by the Finance and Administration Cabinet according to a plan and formula provided by the Kentucky Settlement Trust Corporation.
HFA (8, T. McKee) - Clarify that local tobacco assistance funds may be used for agricultural economic development projects, instead of for economic development projects.
HFA (9, S. Nunn) - Direct that the board seek legal assistance and financial and accounting assistance from local offices.
HFA (10, S. Nunn) - Require before the local board makes a grant for an economic development project that the public is notified of the project and given an opportunity to comment; require meetings of the local board to comply with the state open meetings law.
HFA (11, S. Nunn) - Direct that the county judge/executive and mayor of an urban county and the mayor of the largest city serve on the local board.
HFA (12, D. Sims) - Require the Master Settlement Agreement Oversight Subcommittee makeup to be diverse in gender.
HFA (13, D. Sims) - Require the House ex officio members of the Rural Development Board to have agricultural experience and be diverse in gender.
HFA (14, D. Sims) - Remove the power of the local tobacco assistance board to administer moneys from the local fund and give the authority to the Rural Development Board; specify that local funds may be used for agricultural economic development projects.
HFA (15, J. Barrows) - Direct the Rural Development Board to consider the general improvement of Kentucky's agricultural economy in funding decisions; in funding programs using state tobacco assistance funds, use the percentages that would go to various programs as targets; in setting up the local tobacco assistance boards, allow two members to be selected by the county conservation district board rather than the Natural Resources Conservation board; if the amount calculated for any county's allocation of funds for a year is less than one quarter of one percent of the funds for all counties' allocations, assign the funds to the state tobacco assistance fund; allow some local tobacco assistance funds to be used for buy-down on current agricultural loans and for programs to assist farmers in transitioning from one type of farming to another or from farming to another vocation; make technical changes.
HFA (16, C. Ratliff) - Establish an unmined minerals tax reimbursement fund to receive all money from the Master Settlement Agreement allocated to the tobacco settlement agreement fund; direct that the money be allocated to counties that have had land assessed for the value of unmined coal for purposes of the unmined minerals tax; direct that the money revert to the tobacco settlement fund after all unmined minerals tax receipts are repaid.
HFA (17, C. Ratliff) - Establish a coal severance tax reimbursement fund to receive money from the Master Settlement Agreement allocated to the tobacco settlement agreement fund; direct that the money be allocated to counties that have been the site of coal extraction or processing which has generated tax revenues under the coal severance tax; direct that the money revert to the tobacco settlement fund after all coal severance tax receipts have been repaid.
HFA (18, J. Barrows) - Prohibit any member of a local tobacco assistance board or a family member from being eligible for any local tobacco assistance funds except funds or benefits as a member of a cooperative or other organization receiving funds where the person is clearly not the direct recipient or controlling interest.
HFA (19, T. McKee) - Remove the power of the local tobacco assistance board to administer moneys from the local fund and give the authority to the Rural Development Board; clarify that local funds may be used for agricultural economic development projects, instead of for economic development projects.
HFA (20, R. Wilkey) - Change the distribution formula for funds going to tobacco-producing counties to the following weighted factors; 25% weight to the county's percentage of the state's tobacco allotment based on 1999 data, 25% weight to the county's percentage of the state's agricultural cash receipts based on the most recent available data; and 50% weight to the agricultural impact index; modify the factors in the agricultural impact index.
HFA (21, R. Wilkey) - Remove authority of the Master Settlement Agreement Oversight Subcommittee to hold project funds in abeyance; require written notification between subcommittee and entities proposing to expend funds.
HFA (22, R. Wilkey) - Allocate the moneys remaining in the rural development fund after the Phase II supplement fund contribution is taken so that 75% goes to the state tobacco assistance fund and 25% goes to the local tobacco assistance fund; include in the duties of the Rural Development Board, providing oversight and assistance to local tobacco assistance boards, and working with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture as it carries out its role of providing assistance to the local tobacco assistance boards; eliminate the state/local tobacco assistance account.
HFA (23, C. Ratliff) - Establish a coal severance tax reimbursement fund to receive money from the Master Settlement Agreement allocated to the tobacco settlement agreement fund; direct that the money be allocated to counties that have been the site of coal extraction or processing which has generated tax revenues under the coal severance tax; direct that the money revert to the tobacco settlement fund after all coal severance tax receipts have been repaid; limit the reimbursement to the coal severance taxes not already returned to the county.
HFA (24, C. Ratliff) - Establish an unmined minerals tax reimbursement fund to receive all money from the Master Settlement Agreement allocated to the tobacco settlement agreement fund; direct that the money be allocated to counties that have had land assessed for the value of unmined coal for purposes of the unmined minerals tax; direct that the money revert to the tobacco settlement fund after all unmined minerals tax receipts are repaid; limit to unmined minerals taxes not already returned to the county.
SCS/FN/LM - Create various sections of KRS Chapter 248 to create a Rural Development Board to administer funds to provide economic assistance to the agriculture community of the Commonwealth; require the board to be made up of 21 members; require a majority of the voting members to be active farmers; require the Governor to convene the first meeting of the board by July 1. 2000; require the board's duties to include: administering the rural development fund, developing guidelines for eligibility for and disbursement of funds and the types of direct and indirect economic assistance to be awarded, completing a comprehensive plan for investments in agriculture and addressing immediate needs of the Commonwealth's farmers, promulgating administrative regulations, hiring a director, and reporting annually; define criteria to be used in considering applications for funds to include assistance to tobacco farmers and communities in counties most affected by the loss in tobacco income and to communities most dependent on agriculture, compatibility with local and state agricultural plans, enhancement of agriculture, soundness of the proposal, and promotion of diversification; require programs created by the board to include a Phase II Supplement Program to ensure that payments to tobacco quota owners and growers are maintained at the same level as Kentucky's 1999 level in calendar year 2000; and a Farm Market Development and Infrastructure Program; state that programs that receive direct authorization for moneys from the rural development fund by the General Assembly include an Agricultural Entrepreneurship Program, an Environmental Stewardship Program, and bonding for a Rural Water Line Extension Program; authorize the board to establish a Center for Entrepreneurship to assist entities with entrepreneurial efforts; in order to receive funding from the board, require a county to establish a rural development advisory council to devise a plan for the county that would utilize programs best suited for the agricultural members of the county; if the state board recommends that changes be made in a county plan or that an individual application for funding not be approved, allow the county or individual to take the plan or application before the General Assembly's Rural Development Oversight Committee for discussion and possible resolution of differences; create a Rural Development Oversight Committee to review each project being recommended by the board; allow the committee to recommend that a project not be approved; allow the board to approve a project that the committee has recommended not be approved, and require written explanation by the board in such cases.
SCA (1/Title, R. Sanders Jr) - Make title amendment.
SFA (2, V. McGaha) - Reorder the selection of members to the Rural Development Board to place the active farmers as the first to be appointed by the Governor.
SFA (3, T. Buford) - Include under programs that receive direct funding from the Rural Development Board, an Environmental Clean-up Program to provide cost-share assistance to tobacco warehouse operators for demolition and abatement of environmental hazards associated with warehouse structures.
SFA (4, T. Buford) - Add one member, a tobacco warehouse operator, to the Rural Development board.
CCR - Report that Conference Committee cannot agree and requests Free Conference Committee be appointed.
FCCR (Majority Report) - Make title amendment; delete the provisions of the bill and insert the following provisions: require fifty percent of the moneys received from Master Settlement Agreement funding to be allocated to the agricultural development fund; require the agricultural development fund to be allocated so that $40 million dollars in fiscal year 2000 and the amount needed in subsequent years be set aside to supplement the Phase II funding program so that it is maintained at a level of $114,000,000 for the life of the Phase II funding program; require the moneys remaining in the agricultural development fund after the Phase II supplement is taken out to be further allocated 35% to a counties account and 65% for other projects throughout the state; require the allocation within the counties account for each county to be based on a formula which includes the county's percentage of the state's tobacco allotment, the county's number of farms with tobacco quotas as a percentage of farms with tobacco quotas in the state, and the economic impact index which includes tobacco income in the county as a percentage of the total personal income for the county; require the Tobacco Settlement Trust Corporation to provide for distribution of the Phase II supplement funds; require the Revenue Cabinet to issue the supplement checks; Create a 15 member Agricultural Development Board; require the Governor to convene the board by August 1, 2000; attach the board to the Governor's Office for administrative purposes; require the board's duties to include administering the agricultural development fund, receiving requests for funds, which may include applications for alternative crop development research, developing criteria for eligibility for and disbursement of funds, and the types of economic assistance to be awarded, completing a comprehensive plan, devising a plan of action to meet immediate needs of the Commonwealth's farmers and tobacco impacted communities most adversely affected by tobacco losses, hiring a director, developing criteria to evaluate the success of the board's programs, providing reports of each meeting and an annual report, develop criteria to be used in considering applications for state funds to include assistance to tobacco farmers and communities in counties most affected by the loss in tobacco income, assistance to communities most dependent on agriculture, compatibility with state and local plans, promotion of diversification, and the effect on the economic viability of family farms; require uses and restrictions on the funds in the counties account to include loans, grants, funds for water projects, funds for programs for transitioning farmers to another type of farming or vocation, and funds for local governments to clean up environmental problems created by a farm failure; for funding eligibility give tobacco farmers priority, require applicants to have equity to assure a chance of success, and give small farmers equal access; if the state board recommends that an application not be approved or that it be changed, allow the applicant to take the application before the oversight subcommittee for possible resolution; require the board to create committees including access to capital, environmental cost share, marketing and entrepreneurship, technology, infrastructure, and training, farmland preservation, and technical issues advisory; require the board to create a farm market development and infrastructure program and an agricultural entrepreneurship program, and programs that receive direct authorizations for moneys from the agricultural development fund by the General Assembly to include an environmental stewardship program and a rural water line extension program; allow the board to create other agricultural assistance programs which can include an environmental cleanup program for tobacco warehouses; allow the board to establish a Center for Entrepreneurship; require each county to establish an agricultural development council to evaluate the needs of the local agricultural economy and to devise a plan for the county that identifies programs best suited for the agricultural development of the county; require the councils to assist prospective applicants in the county in obtaining moneys from the agricultural development fund; attach the council to the county cooperative extension service for administrative support; require the county council to provide its plan to the board; if the board recommends changes in the county plan, allow the council to take the plan before the oversight subcommittee for possible resolution of differences; create a permanent subcommittee of the Legislative Research Commission to be known as the Tobacco Settlement Agreement Fund Oversight Committee; require the subcommittee to review each project being submitted to the Agricultural Development Board; require the subcommittee to provide findings and determinations to the Legislative Research Commission, and to issue an annual report; require that all expenditures under the Early Childhood Development fund and the Kentucky Healthcare Improvement fund be reported to the subcommittee; allow the Kentucky Department of Agriculture to provide technical assistance to local individuals and entities, county rural development advisory councils, and regional entities in developing proposals and implementing proposals; require agencies and educational institutions that receive agriculturally-related funding under the Act, and those that receive state funding relating to assisting agriculture and farmers in the state, to devote efforts to revitalization and diversification of tobacco farms and to issue a semiannual report on their efforts; Declare an EMERGENCY
Feb 8-introduced in House
Feb 9-to Agriculture and Small Business (H)
Feb 15-posting waived; posted in committee
Feb 17-reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar; floor amendment (1) filed
Feb 18-2nd reading, to Rules; floor amendment (2) filed
Feb 22-recommitted to Appropriations and Revenue (H)
Feb 28-posted in committee
Mar 3-reported favorably, to Rules with Committee Substitute, committee amendment (1-title) ; floor amendment (3) filed to Committee Substitute
Mar 6-posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, March 7, 2000; floor amendments (4) (5) (6) and (7) filed to Committee Substitute
Mar 7-floor amendments (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) and (22) filed to Committee Substitute
Mar 8-floor amendments (23) and (24) filed to Committee Substitute ; 3rd reading; floor amendments (3) (5) (9) (14) and (22) defeated ; passed 66-32 with Committee Substitute, committee amendment (1-title), floor amendments (10) (12) (15) and (18)
Mar 9-received in Senate
Mar 13-to Appropriations and Revenue (S)
Mar 22-reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute, committee amendment (1-title)
Mar 23-2nd reading, to Rules; floor amendments (2) (3) and (4) filed to Committee Substitute ; posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Friday, March 24, 2000
Mar 24-3rd reading, passed 33-2 with Committee Substitute, committee amendment (1-title), and floor amendments (2) (3) and (4)
Mar 27-received in House; posted for passage for concurrence in Senate Committee Substitute, committee amendment (1-title), floor amendments (2) (3) and (4)
Mar 28-House refused to concur in Senate Committee Substitute, committee amendment (1-title), floor amendments (2) (3) and (4)
Mar 29-received in Senate; posted for passage for receding from Senate Committee Substitute, committee amendment (1-title), floor amendments (2) (3) and (4); Senate refused to recede from Committee Substitute, committee amendment (1-title), floor amendments (2) (3) and (4); Conference Committee appointed in House and Senate; Conference Committee report filed in House and Senate; Conference Committee report adopted in House and Senate; Free Conference Committee appointed in House and Senate
Apr 14-Free Conference Committee report filed in House and Senate; Free Conference Committee report adopted in Senate; passed 37-0; received in House; Free Conference Committee report adopted in House; passed 89-5; enrolled, signed by each presiding officer, delivered to Governor
Apr 26-signed by Governor (Acts ch. 530)
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