The purpose of HB 1060 (Concerning Regulating Dietitians) is only to license dietitians in Colorado. We are not trying to regulate any other group who gives out nutrition information or does nutrition counseling.

Several groups do not understand the intention of the bill and have started a campaign to oppose it. There are actually nine exemptions or exclusions in the bill which cover anyone who performs or engages or practices nutrition, nutrition counseling, nutrition assessment, or nutrition care. That means certified nutritionists, nutritionists, herbalist, naturopaths, chiropractors, retail employees of Vitamin Cottage, Vitamin Cottage Nutritional Health Coach, employees of Whole Foods, etc., can practice “nutrition” as they do now. We do not intend to infringe on anyone’s business or professional practice.

Please call the members of the House Ag Committee to ask them to vote for the bill. The bill will be heard in the Ag Committee on Monday, Feb 6, so make your call this week!!

Rocky Mountain Farmers Union is supporting this bill, and as Chairman of the Board and a Registered Dietitian, I am asking you to call the members of the House Ag Committee now!

Jan Kochis, Chair
Board of Directors
Rocky Mountain Farmers Union

The Hickenlooper administration caught everyone’s attention with a proposed 2011-2012 Colorado budget that slashes public education to the tune of $332 million or nearly $500 per pupil. This proposed reduction, along with the approximately 6.38 percent reductions to school districts in the current year, totals nearly 14 percent in the last two years.

These reductions in funding are particularly hard to deal with in Colorado’s rural school districts, many of which are losing enrollment and thus losing additional funding. Many rural school districts have already gone to the four-day week, made other elective program cuts, and used up their precious reserves to balance their budget. Rural school districts, because of their lack of economies of scale due to large geographical service areas, have higher per student transportation costs and have less flexibility in reducing their budgets. Some rural teachers, administrators and school board members are wondering if they can keep their doors open and what is next.

In recent months, various proposals and ideas have surfaced to fix the problem that has forced Colorado to cut an incredible $888 million from K-12 schools in the last four years and $5.8 billion from Colorado’s general fund budget.

Proposed fixes range from an effort by Senator Rollie Heath to incrementally increase state income and sales tax to 1999 levels to create new funds for K-12 and higher education to another by the Fiscal Policy Institute to implement a graduated income tax. Others believe that the proper approach is to continue to reduce the cost, size and complexity of government by establishing and funding only core functions and priorities.

Many people believe that Colorado is in this budget mess now due to the constitutional formulas that do not allow representative government to work. The combination of Gallagher, TABOR and Amendment 23 has created an untenable situation and many believe that Colorado voters must fix these mechanisms going forward and make it more difficult to amend the Colorado Constitution. It appears that the Colorado state legislature will soon pass Senate Concurrent Resolution 001, a referred measure to be voted on by the people of Colorado that would, if passed, make it more difficult to amend the state constitution. The measure requires that a certain percentage of signatures for constitutional ballot measures be gathered statewide, and that the threshold for future constitutional changes will be 60 percent rather than a simple majority.

Governor Hickenlooper added to the concerns of rural residents when he recently stated that Colorado should move toward consolidating school districts to end up with no more than 60 districts. Currently, there are 178 school districts. There are several reputable studies that conclude that there are not any substantial savings by consolidating rural districts. The large number of students and costs for K-12 education are along the front range of Colorado where the population centers are located. Many believe that school districts (especially rural districts) need to share services, i.e., superintendents, CFOs, business managers, transportation directors, technology systems, distance learning, etc., rather than consolidating districts. This approach would allow local rural communities to keep their school buildings open and thus save and protect jobs in the community and at the same time be more efficient.

All of us who care about local, county, and state services –  K-12 education, higher education, roads, social services, law enforcement, corrections –.need to get engaged in these discussions and help determine the future of our great state of Colorado. We must stand up for rural Colorado.

The quality of the education that a student receives must not be determined by their Colorado zip code.

The Board of Directors of Rocky Mountain Farmers Union has denounced the “Big Bad Three” initiatives (Amendment 60, Amendment 61, and Proposition 101) is potentially disastrous for the state of Colorado and its local communities.

Speaking of Amendment 60, RMFU Board Chair Jan Kochis said, “It could kill the schools, community recreation programs, and any new capital improvement projects in your community. It could cut more than $1 billion from local schools.” The amendment changes property taxes, increasing the burden on the state government to find money for schools in a shrinking revenue stream.

“These three initiatives are a deadly combination,” according to RMFU President Kent Peppler. “Amendment 60 strips the state of revenue, Amendment 61 forbids it from incurring debt, and Proposition 101 returns our auto license fees to 1919 levels. We need to send the corporate, out-of-state funders attempting to destroy our state a message: ‘This is OUR state! and we aren’t going back to 1919!’”

RMFU Vice President Dale McCall, who is a lifetime farmer and educator and currently executive director of the Colorado BOCES Association, said, “If these initiatives pass, our Colorado public schools will be strangled. All school districts in Colorado will lose an additional 23 percent of their revenue. This 23 percent loss of revenue will be in addition to the 6.38 percent they lost in the current year. This loss of revenue would devastate all schools, especially rural schools that are also declining in enrollment. These three initiatives must be defeated to allow Colorado to provide a quality, competitive education for our kids.”

Organizations across the state have scrambled to educate voters about the initiatives, which appeared on the ballot while questions about who was organizing their campaigns, where their money was coming from, and whether they obtained the necessary signatures legally swirl in the state’s courts. “Ironically, proponents of measures accuse those of us fighting them of using out-of-state money, but they refuse to disclose their own sources and their numbers don’t add up,” Peppler stated.

County and city commissioners, police and fire chiefs, superintendents of schools from Haxtun to Delta, Fort Collins to Alamosa have urged voters to defeat these measures. As quoted in the Fort Morgan Times, Progressive 15’s executive director, Cathy Shull, summed up the impact on Morgan County: “Under Proposition 101, local school districts would lose almost $1.3 million. The Morgan County government would lose close to $1 million,” Shull said. “Cities and towns in the county would lose close to $200,000, hospital districts $60,000, fire districts $47,000, library districts $47,000 and water districts $45,000.” This is the impact on a single Colorado county.

“These measures are exploiting taxpayer discontent to wreck the state’s government and economy,” Peppler said. “The motives of the people behind this are pretty clear. Colorado’s local communities have spent almost 20 years ‘de-Brucing’ our tax laws to keep local government afloat. One clause of Amendment 60 actually repeals any voter-elected attempts to lessen the local effect of TABOR.”

State Senate Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer and Colorado Representative Glenn Vaad (ranking minority member of the Transportation Committee) will be in Longmont Saturday morning, April 18, for a legislative coffee hosted by the Adams/St. Vrain Farmers Union and the Larry Roe insurance agency. The legislators will be at the Buzz Coffee Shop from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. to answer questions and review the legislative session.
Details:
Saturday, April 18, 2009
10 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Buzz Coffee Shop
1139 Francis St., Longmont, Colo.

About thirty members and officials from Rocky Mountain Farmers Union spent Wednesday, January 28, meeting with legislators and administration representatives to identify rural priorities for the new legislative year. In a full morning of meetings at the First Baptist Church across from the State Capitol, the group was joined by representatives of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Natural Resources, and Governor Bill Ritter took 45 minutes from his busy schedule to listen and answer questions.

Representatives Dickie Lee Hullinghorst, Judy Solano, Joe Miklosi, Andy Kerr, Jerry Sonnenberg, Cory Gardner, and Jim Riesberg joined the group at various times to discuss pending legislation, as did Senators Mary Hodge and Greg Brophy. Some scheduled attendees were unable to conclude committee business in time to come by.

In the afternoon, participants visited legislative leaders: Speaker of the House Terrance Carroll, Senate Majority Leader Brandon Shaffer, and Senate President Peter Groff. Senator Gail Schwartz joined the group in Sen. Shaffer’s office, where water and energy issues were discussed.

Gov. Ritter emphasized the importance of treating urban and rural citizens equitably as we review existing programs and consider pending legislation. He observed that agriculture is buffered somewhat against unemployment, where the state ranks 32nd overall. On the other hand, we are behind Nebraska in rural broadband access. Members asked many questions about the potential impact of the stimulus package. While infrastructure projects must be “shovel-ready,” there are a number of projects, including numerous outmoded water treatment facilities, that fit that description.

Speaker Carroll responded to a question about “green collar” jobs by calling them win/win ideas. “You can’t outsource green jobs to Bangalore,” he added.

It was a busy but productive day for both lawmakers and representatives of rural Colorado. One member, John Ellis of Boulder County, was able to bring a small but valuable federal program to the attention of lawmakers. “If that effort creates state support for farmers market vouchers, that alone will make the day worthwhile,” said RMFU President Kent Peppler, a Mead, Colo., farmer. “Putting rural constituencies in front of our legislators benefits both sides.”

Denver >> Rocky Mountain Farmers Union (RMFU) President Kent Peppler sent a letter to USDA Secretary Ed Schafer urging swift action on the request by Governor Ritter to assist Colorado producers being impacted by growing drought conditions.

Peppler followed up with a letter to Colorado Governor Bill Ritter petitioning for a broader response to the drought conditions in Eastern Colorado through the release of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acreage in additional counties. “We support the release of CRP grazing land to feed endangered livestock in southeastern Colorado,” Peppler said. “But we need to help animals throughout eastern Colorado, where conditions have become just as serious.”

In the letter to USDA, RMFU expressed strong support for Governor Ritter’s request that the USDA Farm Service Agency assess the impact of local drought conditions throughout Colorado agriculture and prepare damage assessment reports for crop and pasture losses. Wheat farmers are at risk as well as livestock growers, with projected yields at barely fifty percent of last year’s production. RMFU also supports immediate action on Ritter’s request for emergency access to land set aside by conservation programs to allow haying and grazing for livestock producers.

Farmers and ranchers in all of eastern Colorado are facing financial disaster from drought conditions. Ranchers will be forced to liquidate livestock herds because cattle can’t be fed on drought-depleted pasture. Farmers with reduced wheat yields and increased input costs will also face financial pressures. “Congress passed the 2008 farm bill to protect our domestic food supply against natural disasters,” Peppler said. “The economies of our rural communities and our state depend on agriculture, and consumers depend on our farmers and ranchers for a safe and reliable supply of food. Working together, through application of programs already in place, we can make sure farmers and ranchers survive these disasters and continue to provide for our country’s food needs.”

Peppler praised the cooperative teamwork of the Colorado Department of Agriculture and Colorado Division of Wildlife. “They are working together to ensure that haying and grazing will be done consistent with sound wildlife management practices,” Peppler said. He pledged that RMFU and its producer-members will work closely and cooperatively with USDA and all Colorado government agencies to be sure environmental practices are met.

Rocky Mountain Farmers Union represents 23,000 farm, ranch and rural families in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. RMFU works closely with consumer groups, conservation groups, and local food coalitions to promote and support food safety and independence, and to make farming a sustainable family occupation.

The Mined Land Reclamation Board oversees the work of the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety. Members are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the legislature to four-year terms. Board members are selected to represent the public and private interests affected by Colorado mining.

“With the chance of uranium mining north of Greeley and the potential impacts on agriculture and groundwater, agricultural representation on the board is more important than ever,” said RMFU President Kent Peppler. “Ray Peterson brings legislative and agricultural experience to the board, and he will represent the interests of family farming and ranching and good stewardship of our soil and water.”