Measure Would Aid Hog Farm Expansion

It will be easier for corporate swine production facilities to expand into rural counties, under a Kansas bill that passed the House Friday morning on a 106-8 vote.

Currently, establishing corporate swine production in a county requires an election in the county. The House bill would give county commissioners the authority by resolution to permit or deny. A 60-day protest period would allow citizens to circulate a petition for signatures, to require a vote at the next county, state or special countywide election. The number of signatures needed would be equal to 5 percent of the voters in the county who voted for the office of secretary of state in the last general election.

The Kansas Rural Center objected to the bill. Its policy analyst, Paul Johnson, described in a newsletter the bill’s progress as "the very definition of fast tracking."

Introduced Jan. 23, the legislation was taken up for a hearing before the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee last week. Finished in the House, it now goes to the Senate Agriculture Committee.