From staff reports It may well be one of the most significant bills for Oklahoma agriculture this session. HB 4118 passed the Oklahoma House two months ago.
This bill is strongly supported by multiple ag groups and would provide a legal firewall to be set up between farmers and activists who want to create havoc in the courts system by filing what some have called nuisance lawsuits. This measure has been referred to as the poultry bill and chicken litter is at the heart of the issue.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s Vice President for Public Policy Steve Thompson told us on Friday that “it’s ready to go for a vote before the full Senate and that will happen one day this week and we're excited to see where everybody stands.” Thompson adds that while this directly is to help contract poultry growers- it also very much has implications that matter to pork and beef producers, too- “the same set of issues and rationale that are used to harass the poultry growers- we have seen it in other areas grow into the swine industry and beef industry because they are the same folks who don’t like our business- don’t like any of the livestock sectors.”
Michael Kelsey, Executive Vice President of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, told our Maci Carter that HB 4118 matters to the beef industry in our state. Kelsey believes “if you think about that from an agricultural standpoint, there are four animal rights lobbyists at the state capitol this yearfour of them. They are not lobbying for the interests of animal agriculture. In fact, they are lobbying against us- they are very much against this bill because they want to put us out of business.”