State needs to cull out duplicate ag regs

This editorial appears in the Yakima Herald-Republic on Dec. 3, 208

With the tight state budget acting as a driver, lawmakers have a good opportunity to seriously review the state's regulatory network with an eye toward not only making it more effective, but less costly by eliminating duplication of effort. And they can start with the agriculture industry.

A recent survey of 900 farmers, consumers and agriculture support industries listed overregulation as the greatest challenge to the future success of agriculture in the state. The poll will be part of a report to the Legislature on ways to keep the industry profitable.

We think it provides an ideal starting point for a total review of all regulations affecting the industry, particularly overlapping jurisdictions of local, state and federal agencies.

State legislators have a habit of constantly adding new regulatory legislation, without always going back to see if existing regulations are working, or even needed.

Two recent incidents prompted our interest in such a review.

* An in-depth Yakima Herald-Republic series on contaminated wells in the Yakima Valley (http://www.yakimaherald.com/dirtywater) found an unacceptable lack of communication and coordination of regulatory efforts among local, state and federal agencies.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency subsequently announced last month it will probe the issue and has scheduled a meeting for 10 a.m. Thursday at the Zillah Civic Center. The public will be invited to submit written or oral comments from 11-11:30 a.m.

* A special "Sunshine Committee" appointed by the Legislature has been meeting for months and will submit its first report to lawmakers in the session that begins next month.

The broadly representative panel drew from both the public and private sectors to begin a review of some 300 exemptions that have been written into the Public Records Law by legislators since the law was approved by state voters in 1972.

The Sunshine Committee is making 12 recommendations for repeal, retention or clarification of exemptions considered to date. Most were housekeeping in nature, except for a controversial exemption involving attorney/client privilege that when invoked by government entities shuts off certain information from public view. The committee recommended the Legislature clarify the exemption because it's too vague and open to interpretation in its present form.

We see the same concerns and call for review of all regulation of agriculture by local, state and federal agencies with an eye toward coordination and effectiveness.

Keith Mathews, executive director of the Yakima Valley Growers-Shippers Association, said that orchardists often encounter conflicting regulations from different agencies. A case in point would be on-farm worker housing, which is under the jurisdiction of the state departments of Health and Labor and Industries, as well as the federal Department of Labor.

All three inspect and can interpret differently, he said, adding that that any hotel or motel room in Yakima would not qualify for temporary farm-worker housing under current regulations.

We like the concept of a Sunshine Committee and can see a similar effort being beneficial for reviewing the regulatory network for agriculture. Perhaps other sectors prone to heavy regulation could follow in the future.

Keep what's needed, change what needs changing and jettison the rest. It's the kind of comprehensive look that's long overdue in the state's largest, and critically important, industry.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Sarah Jenkins, Bill Lee and Karen Troianello.

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