By Billy Howe
TFB State Legislative Director

On May 29, Republicans and Democrats will go to the polls to elect their party’s nominee for the general election in November. But, in reality, they are electing the person who will win the general election and be your next State Representative, State Senator or Congressman.

Political reality is that every 10 years the Texas Legislature redraws the districts for these offices in a fashion where the outcome of the general election is pre-determined. Congressional and state legislative districts are so weighted either Republican or Democrat that the general election is meaningless.

By Mike Barnett

“To everything there is a season.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

“For many regulations, there is no reason.” Mike

From planting to harvesting and everything in-between, regulations are facts of life in agriculture—as they are for every industry and all Americans.

Not all are bad. Regulations have made for a cleaner and safer environment for all Americans. Our food supply is safer because of regulations. The problem is overkill. Rules tend to proliferate like rabbits.

Wayne Crew’s Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State—a survey of the cost and compliance burden imposed by federal regulations—shows the following:

By Gene Hall

I was pleasantly surprised to read this week of President Obama’s executive order to review and possibly eliminate federal regulations that might do more harm than good. If the administration really wants to go after pointless, economy choking, job killing and foolish regulations, there is an obvious target—EPA.

Of course, the cynic in me suspects this is not much more than window dressing—part of the president’s desire to appear more centrist. I hope he’s genuinely trying to get to the middle, because that’s where the country is, impatiently waiting on its leaders.

By Gene Hall

In one of my favorite songs, Lee Greenwood sings of his heart “drifting down a dusty Dixie road.”  I’ve been down many of those roads. In fact, dust is an inescapable part of rural life.  I grew up at the end of one of those dusty roads.  When we worked cattle, we raised some dust. Same for when we baled hay. In other agricultural pursuits, of which I don’t have direct experience, dust is part of the deal.

By Mike Barnett

Guess what? Fighting pests on the farm might become a lot harder.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to change the way you spray pesticides. Changing the rules to correct a wrong is right. Changing the rules just to change the rules, or to satisfy the agenda of an unrelated group, is wrong. The unintended consequences can be a killer.