State, Federal Lawmakers Consider Forgiving Farmers’ Student Debt

State, Federal Lawmakers Consider Forgiving Farmers’ Student Debt: Only about 6 percent of American farmers are under the age of 35, while more than 62 percent are over 55, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2012 Census of Agriculture. The number of new farmers is also declining, USDA data shows. In 2012 there were 171,550 farmers who had operated their farms for less than five years, 23 percent fewer than in 2007.

 

Troubled by those statistics as well as by recent reports about the prevalence of student loan debt (see States, Feds Tackling Student Debt Conundrum in the April 1 issue of SNCJ), federal lawmakers are considering adding farmers to the list of occupations eligible for a program that forgives student loan debt for public service workers. The issue is a concern for at least a couple of states as well. New York launched a student loan forgiveness program for farmers last year. And Wisconsin is weighing doing the same.

 

New York state Sen. Patty Ritchie (R) and Wisconsin state Rep. Mark Spreitzer (D) said states should be doing whatever they can to help new farmers, given how important agriculture and its related industries are to the U.S economy, providing nearly 10 percent of the nation’s jobs in 2014. Eric Hansen, a policy analyst at the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC), said many farmers also have a tougher time making their monthly student loan payments than other workers because they only get paid once a year, after the harvest. An NYFC survey of new and aspiring farmers found that 28 percent were waiting to start farming or had chosen not to pursue the occupation because of their student debt, which averaged $35,000.

 

But some question whether the job farmers do qualifies as a public service, such as education or law enforcement, any more than driving a food delivery truck or checking out groceries at the supermarket does.

 

“If their job is a public service, then is every job a public service?” said Alexander Holt, a policy analyst for New America, a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on economic, political and social issues.

 

Paul Mitchell, an associate professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said new farmers have bigger financial problems to worry about than student loan debt. For instance, the cost of agricultural land has risen from $2,300 per acre in 2011 to $3,020 per acre in 2015. And the average price of a 95-horsepower tractor has gone up from $62,000 in 2005 to $107,970 in 2015.

 

“Some of these government programs are just like throwing rocks into the Mississippi River,” Mitchell said.

 

Some agricultural economists say what new farmers really need are programs that make it easier for them to obtain land and credit. And some states have established programs with that aim, such as the Aggie Bond program, available in Colorado, Illinois and several other states, which offers first-time farmers low-interest loans to purchase land, livestock and farm equipment and buildings.

 

Richard Ball, commissioner of the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets said farmers are “rugged individualists” who want the government to acknowledge their importance but don’t want subsidies.

 

“Most farmers will say, ‘get the policy right, get the attitude right, and then let us do our job,’” he said. (STATELINE.ORG, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF STATE AGRICULTURAL FINANCE PROGRAMS)

AK Budget Crisis Comes Down to Wire

According to Alaska Sen. President Kevin Meyer (R), he and his fellow lawmakers know “we need to do something and we need to do something major” about the state budget. The global collapse of oil prices has left the state with a multibillion-dollar deficit. It has been burning through its cash reserves to cover expenses. And Gunnar Knapp, professor of economics and director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage, has told lawmakers that the state is probably facing a recession.

 

Despite lawmakers’ clarity about the magnitude of their budget problem, at press time, days before the end of the state’s regular session on April 17, there was little agreement on what to do about it. Some wanted to tap the Alaska Permanent Fund that has paid annual dividends to residents for decades, a proposal that would likely have been political suicide in previous years. Some wanted to raise taxes on the oil, fishing and mining industries. Some still saw room for budget cuts. And some wanted a mix of those measures.

 

House Speaker Mike Chenault (R) said even getting his own caucus to agree on a plan was a challenge.

 

“The only thing that they’ve all agreed to is, they want to get out of here on time,” he said.

 

Gov. Bill Walker (I) could spoil that plan, however. He warned that lawmakers could face a special session if they didn’t reach an agreement on the budget before the end of the session. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Budgets In Brief - April 18 2016

NE Legislature Passes LB960 -  Infrastructure Bank Bill

NEBRASKA lawmakers approved a bill (LB 960) allowing the state to use $400 million over the next 17 years from the gas tax increase approved by the Legislature last year and $50 million from the state’s rainy day fund for an infrastructure bank to facilitate work on the state’s highway system. (JOURNAL STAR [LINCOLN], LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)

CT Gov Proposes School Funding Cuts

CONNECTICUT Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) has proposed eliminating cost-sharing grants for 28 of the state’s most affluent school districts while protecting funding for the state’s 30 lowest-performing districts to help close a $922 million hole projected for next fiscal year. (HARTFORD COURANT)

 U.S. Jails Receive Private Funding to Reduce Overcrowding

Eleven U.S. jail systems, including New York City’s and Charleston County, SOUTH CAROLINA’s, will receive grants of between $1.5 million and $3.5 million from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to reduce their inmate populations. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

 Budget Deal in KY

KENTUCKY House and Senate leaders reached agreement on a $21 billion, two-year state budget last week that cuts spending at most state agencies by 9 percent and reduces funding for higher education by 4.5 percent, while providing over $1 billion for public pension programs. (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER)

Gas Tax Advances in MO

The MISSOURI Senate has passed a bill that would raise the state’s gas tax by almost 6 cents a gallon to fund road and bridge projects. The House has so far refused to support raising taxes to pay for infrastructure projects, and the bill would also need voter approval. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

 

-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK

 

WY, CO Move Opposite Directions With Female Representation

Wyoming, the Equality State, was the first U.S. territory to grant women the right to vote and the first state to elect a female governor. But only 13 percent of its current state lawmakers are women, the lowest rate of any state in the country, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. In the neighboring state of Colorado, 42 percent of state lawmakers are women - the nation’s highest rate - which House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, the first female Democrat to lead that chamber, says has improved the tone in the Capitol.

 

“This is no longer a good old boys club and I think any time you mix it up and represent a lot of diversity, I think it makes the tenor better,” she said.

 

While the percentage of lawmakers in Wyoming and even Colorado who are women falls short of the number of Americans who are - just under 51 percent, according to the 2010 Census - a comparison of the two states reveals key differences between them.

 

In Colorado, as a result of term limits, party leaders on either side of the aisle have encouraged women to run for legislative office, particularly in the suburbs.

 

“I think both parties have discovered that women do well in suburbia,” said Meg Froelich, who produced a recent documentary about women in politics in the state. “So if you want to win that election, it’s often a winning strategy to put forward a woman candidate.”

 

Wyoming’s shift from multimember to single-member districts in the 1990s, meanwhile, may have hurt women seeking legislative office there.

 

“So maybe you like Suzie Q and you like John but you can only vote for one. And so you have to pick,” said Margaret Brown, who served in the state’s Legislature from 1983 to 1987. (NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO)

ACLU Sues OH Sec of State Over Voter Rolls

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio has filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Jon Husted (R), alleging he is violating the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 by removing from the voter rolls tens of thousands of voters who haven’t voted in three consecutive federal elections. Freda Levenson, ACLU of Ohio’s legal director, says that process disproportionately impacts marginalized voters and could be particularly burdensome this year.

 

“The already widespread disenfranchisement that has resulted from this process is likely to be much worse in a presidential election year,” she said.

 

Husted called the lawsuit “politically motivated, election-year politics [and] a waste of taxpayer dollars,” and said the voter rolls are maintained in compliance with state and federal laws.

 

“Voter rolls with deceased voters and people who’ve moved out-of-state have long contributed to the problems of voter fraud, long lines and discarded ballots,” he said. “In 2011, there were several Ohio counties with more registered voters than eligible voters.”

 

Husted’s office has purged the state’s voter rolls of 465,000 deceased voters and 1.3 million duplicate registrations in recent years. (COLUMBUS DISPATCH)