Industry Gains Visibility, Makes Contacts at Political Conventions

Society of American Florists

Political conventions are seen by many Americans as gatherings of well-connected political operatives with funny hats and unrestrained zeal who meet to nominate their party’s candidate in large, balloon-filled halls.

The reality is they’re much more than that and SAF this year continued a more than 30-year tradition of representing the floral industry at Democratic and Republican conventions. 

In addition to the official floor proceedings broadcast on television, the conventions feature scores of receptions, breakfasts, lunches, dinners, policy briefings and other events. Attending those events are members of Congress, governors, state legislators, representatives from different industries, federal officials and Hill staff, in addition to the convention delegates.

SAF participates in many of those events where we make important connections, learn about new policy proposals and create or reaffirm relationships with individuals who can help us reach our legislative and regulatory goals.

Agricultural objectives
Participating in convention events related to agriculture was one key objective for SAF in both Philadelphia and Cleveland.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack was the speaker at two agricultural
events SAF attended at the Democratic Convention. He underscored the importance of agriculture to the U.S. economy and SAF was able to make contact with key USDA officials and Hill professionals who can have an impact on SAF’s agricultural agenda.

In Philadelphia, convention delegates approved the 2016 Democratic platform, promising to “build a stronger rural and agricultural economy.” The platform calls for an “increase in funding to support the next generation of farmers and ranchers, with particular attention given to promoting environmentally sustainable agricultural practices.”  What that might mean for floral production practices or the types of federally-funded industry research that SAF would support is only speculation at this point.  

However, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) newly updated Agricultural Worker Protection Standard (WPS), a regulation SAF has helped craft and revise since its inception in the early 1990s, received a mention as the platform vowed to further “protect farmworkers from harmful pesticides and herbicides” and called for support of stronger safeguards for agricultural workers, including such things as regulation of work hours.

In Cleveland, SAF participated in a briefing with the agriculture policy advisor for the Trump campaign. Few specifics were given, but the Republican Party platform, approved at the convention, calls agricultural production and exports “central to the Republican agenda for jobs, growth, expanded trade and
prosperity.”

The platform supports separating the food stamp program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), thus separating the program’s authorization from the 2018 Farm Bill, a move that would make passing a Farm Bill more difficult and possibly endanger research dollars important to the floral industry.

Why? Since the 1970s, the Farm Bill has included both food stamps and programs in production agriculture because that brings urban and rural lawmakers together to support the bill. However, there are fiscal conservatives who believe that the entire Farm Bill package is too expensive, and treating food stamps and agricultural programs in separate pieces of legislation would make it easier to find savings.

The question is, by splitting them, would there be enough support to pass either bill? Most people in agriculture policy think it will be difficult.

One more issue for agriculture that’s criticized in the GOP platform is the EPA’s Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule which Republicans vow to overturn. SAF and AmericanHort have weighed in on that proposed regulation with comments on how it would affect the floral and nursery industry.

Impromptu meetings
Another important objective in attending the convention is to meet and mingle with people who can help move SAF’s legislative agenda. This often happens through impromptu get-togethers with a key SAF ally, associate or hoped-for partner on an issue important to the industry. These unplanned conversations happened numerous times at both conventions. For example, in Cleveland, import challenges were discussed with an influential former member of Congress who was open to meeting in the future about that topic.

And merely walking down the street, waiting in line or going from one event to another, SAF met with, among others, Rep. Virginia Foxx, (R-NC) a key supporter of small business and a member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee; Rep. Jim Costa, (D-CA) a prime advocate of the STARS Act; and Rep. Paul Ryan, (R-WI), Speaker of the House.

The value of attending both conventions comes down to this: talking to people about issues of common interest and how to work together in the future. It’s as simple as that.

U.S. Department of Labor “Persuader” Rule Blocked by Court
In July, a judge in the District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide injunction prohibiting enforcement of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL's) Persuader Rule, which requires employers to disclose to their employees who are behind anti-union organizing rhetoric.

In other words, employers have to say whether they hired a consultant to fight union organizing. Previously under the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, disclosure of such hiring of third-party consultants was required only if the consultant had direct contact with the employees.

Under President Obama, The Department of Labor (DOL) has taken several actions to implement various provisions of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) after that legislation was rejected by Congress.

SAF and its members have been active over the years in lobbying against EFCA during SAF’s Congressional Action Days. 

In March, the Department of Labor (DOL) finalized a rule that could, because of the reporting requirements, prevent employers from communicating the pros and cons of unionization with their employees during union election campaigns, one of the provisions that was proposed and rejected by Congress in EFCA. 

For almost 50 years, DOL has not required employers to file reports about consultants or attorneys that provide “advice” (which includes providing materials, drafting speeches and providing compliance assistance) to the employer as long as the consultant did not directly interact with the employees. 

The new DOL rule seeks to reverse that policy and require that employers and consultants report details of that advice, including all related financial data. It would also severely penalize employers, consultants and attorneys who inadvertently fail to report activities and agreements that DOL had considered merely “advice” for nearly five decades. Certain violations could result in criminal
sanctions.

DOL’s rule could discourage employers, particularly smaller employers, from seeking legal counsel and assistance to comply with federal labor laws during a union organizing campaign.

The injunction prevents DOL from enforcing the rule anywhere in the United States unless the same district court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court issues a contrary decision.

EPA Extends Atrazine Comment Period
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it’s extending the comment period for the draft risk assessment of atrazine, an herbicide used extensively in row-crop production, especially corn, sorghum and sugarcane.

The agency said it’s allowing more time because of the length and complexity of the assessments and the difficulty of commenting during the growing season.

Despite its limited use in specialty crops like cut flowers, SAF is monitoring EPA’s approach to analyzing ecological risk since it may affect how the agency assesses products used more prevalently in the floral industry. Specifically, EPA’s willingness to revisit studies previously dismissed by their own scientific advisory panel signals the agency may be taking a more aggressive approach to avoid re-
registering some crop protection products.

The 60-day extension moves the deadline to October 4, 2016. Following the publication of the final risk assessment, the EPA plans to assemble an independ-ent advisory panel in 2017 to review the ecological findings, which is the first step in a process that may result in an attempted ban.

SAF will continue to engage federal agencies to ensure sound science is used as the basis for decisions that affect growers. GT