William Petroski

bpetrosk@dmreg.com

The Iowa Senate passed a bill Tuesday aimed at limiting lawsuit damages in cases filed by unhappy neighbors against livestock producers.

Senate File 447 allows for an affirmative defense to be raised when an animal feeding operation is alleged to be a public or private nuisance or otherwise interfere with a person's enjoyment of life or property. The legislation suggests the public interest is served by preserving and encouraging responsible animal agricultural production. The affirmative defense could be raised regardless of the established date of operation or expansion of an animal feeding operation.

The affirmative defense limits compensatory damages, as opposed to punitive damages, and specifies three categories of awards.

Sen. Dan Zumbach, R-Ryan, an eastern Iowa farmer who chairs the Iowa Senate Agriculture Committee, said the legislation is intended to protect animal agriculture, which provides 160,000 jobs in Iowa and generates $38 billion annually in economic impact. The measure, which heads to the House, was approved on a 31-18 vote, with two Democrats joining Republicans in supporting the measure.

"This is an economic development bill," Zumbach said, adding it will help rural communities by allowing more farmers to be involved in animal agriculture. He also suggested the legislation will help spur enrollment in rural schools as young families become involved in agriculture. The changes are needed to address "nuisance lawsuits" filed by "greedy, out-of-state law firms," he remarked.

The bill's supporters include the Iowa Pork Producers Association, Smithfield Foods, Iowa Corn Growers Association, the Coalition to Protect the Rural Economy, and several insurance companies. Opponents include the Iowa Environmental Council, Iowa Association for Justice, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund, and Iowa Rivers Revival.

One of the issues during the debate focused on an amendment proposed by Democrats and rejected by Republicans that was aimed at protecting existing property owners from confined animal feeding operations.

Sen. William Dotzler, D-Waterloo, said it's obvious that animal agriculture is in good shape in Iowa, noting the state has many times more hogs than it has people. He said that if someone spends $300,000 to $500,000 to purchase a rural property and someone puts a feedlot next door to them, they should be compensated.

"Not taking this amendment says you don’t give a hoot about your neighbor," Dotzler said.

Sen. Rita Hart, D-Wheatland, whose family farms in eastern Iowa, said she worries that more people in Iowa are thinking that more and more farmers are bad actors.

"I don’t like that. I want people to believe that farmers are doing good things for the state of Iowa," Hart said. She added that if Iowans wants to spur rural population growth, people shouldn't have to worry about someone moving a large animal feeding operation next door to them and hurting their quality of life.

As more amendments were debated, Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, launched a lengthy attack on the bill. He said it's astonishing that Senate Republicans were proposing such legislation when rural Iowa has become a "chemical waste zone" and major concerns have been expressed about water quality.

"This is an unnecessary bill. It is a complete waste of time," Bolkcom said.

Zumbach passionately defended the bill in his closing remarks, saying it protect "good actors" who farm responsibly. "It has no protections for bad actors at all. They can still be sued if there is a nuisance, but it will be in a fair and equitable way," he said.

Zumbach scolded Democrats for questioning the legislation, pointing out that Iowa farmers need to be successful to purchase farm implements manufactured at Deere & Co. plants scattered across Iowa.

"This bill is about protecting the little guys," Zumbach said. "This bill has nothing to do about defending the indefensible. This bill is a great piece of legislation about making rural Iowa thrive."