- Oklahoma Farm Bureau

Perspective
Oklahoma Farm Bureau
www.okfarmbureau.org
Aug. 7, 2015
OKFB women donate to State Question 777 campaign
Left: OKFB Women’s Leadership
Committee Chairman Kitty Beavers
(left) and WLC Coordinator Marcia
Irvin (far right) present a $10,000
check to OKFB President Tom
Buchanan for the State Question
777 campaign. OKFB WLC is one
of the first groups to donate to the
campaign.
SQ777 is a state constitutional
amendment to protect Oklahoma’s
farmers and ranchers by creating
additional constitutional
protections they currently lack
and need. The state question will
appear on the general election
ballot in November 2016. For
more information, visit www.
OklahomaRightToFarm.com.
IHG, AT&T offer new savings to OKFB members
s summer comes to a close,
Oklahoma Farm Bureau is proud to
announce two new member benefit offers,
adding to a long list of exclusive savings for
OKFB members.
InterContinental Hotel Group and AT&T
are now offering special discounts for all
OKFB members.
IHG, a new member benefit partner,
offers a 10 percent discount at more than
1,400 participating IHG brand hotels
including InterContinental®, Crowne
Plaza®, Hotel Indigo®, Holiday Inn®,
Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®,
Candlewood Suites®, EVEN™ Hotels and
HUALUXE® Hotels and Resorts.
IHG’s nine hotel brands include some
of the best-known and most popular in the
world with a portfolio covering everything
from luxurious, upscale hotels in the
world’s major cities and resorts to reliable
family-oriented hotels offering great service
and value. IHG has more guest rooms than
any other hotel company in the world.
Joining IHG Rewards Club allows OKFB
members to earn points when staying at
any IHG hotel. The points can be used for
reward nights, travel, merchandise and
more. To save on a hotel, use corporate code
100334603.
OKFB members can sign up and save
on AT&T wireless phone coverage that
blankets Oklahoma with blazing 4G LTE
speed. Save up to 10 percent on qualifying
services from AT&T wireless. When
visiting a local AT&T store, provide proof
of eligibility with an OKFB membership
card. If purchasing online, visit www.att.
com/wireless/oklahomafarm. Mention FAN:
29405.
For more information about OKFB’s
member benefit programs, contact Jennie
Bruning by calling the home office at
405-523-2300.
August Area Meeting Dates
District 1
Aug. 17 • 12 p.m.
Hunny’s Barbecue in Guymon
Aug. 17 • 6 p.m.
Northwest Inn (The Grill) in Woodward
District 2
Aug. 20 • 11:30 a.m.
Kiowa County Farm Bureau in Hobart
District 3
Aug. 20 • 6:30 p.m.
Canadian County Farm Bureau in El Reno
District 4
Aug. 13 • 11:30 a.m.
Stephens County Farm Bureau in Duncan
District 7
Aug. 11 • 6:30 p.m.
Garfield County Fairgrounds in Enid
District 5
Aug. 18 • 12 p.m.
Pete’s Place in Krebbs
District 8
Aug. 18 • 6 p.m.
Aldridge Hotel in Ada
District 6
Aug. 10 • 6:30 p.m.
JL’s Barbecue in Pryor
District 9
Aug. 13 • 6:30 p.m.
Creek County Fairgrounds in
Kellyville
Milliman joins OKFB as northeast field representative
age Milliman recently joined the
Oklahoma Farm Bureau Field
Services Division as the northeast field
representative. Milliman started with OKFB
on July 31.
In his new position, Milliman will
assist 13 Farm Bureau county offices and
boards in northeast Oklahoma including
Adair, Cherokee, Craig, Delaware, Mayes,
Muskogee, Nowata, Okmulgee, Ottawa,
Rogers, Sequoyah, Tulsa and Wagoner
counties.
“I have always had a passion for
agriculture,” Milliman said. “I have been
a Farm Bureau member and county board
member for several years. I like what Farm
Bureau does for farmers and ranchers and
Gage Milliman
am looking forward to being a part of that
success.”
A native of Newton, Illinois, Milliman
received a bachelor’s degree in animal
science from Southern Illinois University.
For the past nine years, he has worked for
Oklahoma State University Extension.
Milliman grew up on a corn, soybean,
wheat and hay farm in south central Illinois.
He currently raises Charolais cattle with his
wife, Trista, and son, Henry.
He enjoys raising cattle, riding horses,
baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Milliman can be reached by email at
Gage.Milliman@okfb.org.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau Online
Like ‘Yes on 777’ on Facebook
Eradicating Oklahoma’s feral hogs
State Question 777, or the Right to Farm, will appear on the
general election ballot in November 2016. Stay ahead of the game by
liking Yes on 777 on Facebook. The page will share breaking news and
information about the Yes on 777 campaign.
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Feral hogs continually create problems for agriculturalists and
landowners in Oklahoma. In a recent article by OKFB, Josh Gaskamp,
range and wildlife consultant for the Noble Foundation, discusses the
steps Oklahomans must take to control and eliminate feral hogs from
the state’s landscape.
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www.okfarmbureau.org
Government agencies gone rogue
By Marla Peek
OKFB Director of Regulatory Affairs
hile you are baling
hay, getting ready
for fall planting and
college football, the state
legislature is taking a
break (they work February through May).
However, state agencies are busy drafting
rules for the upcoming legislative session.
Rules are important to Farm Bureau
members because rules are law!
In state government, rules are written
primarily to implement the laws the
Legislature passed. Sometimes, rules are
written to address a problem an agency
or its constituents have. Two things make
a winning formula for good rules. One
is that the agency should have excellent
stakeholder (bureaucrats love that word)
input into drafting the rules. Second,
the agency should stick to the facts (the
written statute passed by the Legislature
or Congress) and only draft the minimum
language that accomplishes the goal. For
rulemaking, less is best.
Occasionally, an agency goes rogue.
It forgets it serves the people, not the
other way around. Agencies have a lot of
power because they are the experts on
what they do. They also can have a lot of
power because as part of the executive
branch, their board members may service
multiple terms that are multiple years long.
For example, the term for a director on
the Oklahoma Water Resources board is
seven years! Fortunately, we currently have
an excellent panel of board members on
the OWRB board. Agency boards are an
essential part of our government’s system
of checks and balances. Agency boards
are sometimes responsive to constituents
when the agency itself is not. Boards
can influence their agency to listen to its
constituents and act accordingly. Proposed
state agency rules must go through an
agency hearing, and then be approved by
that agency’s board before they are sent to
the Legislature for review and approval.
In 2015, the OWRB proposed a wetlands
water quality standards rule. Because of
concerns by Farm Bureau and many other
organizations, the agency withdrew the rule
for consideration.
OKFB is currently
serving on a
wetlands stakeholder
subgroup, made up
of state agencies
and interested
organizations.
The subgroup is developing a wetlands
definition, which may be promulgated by
the OWRB as a rule in 2017. This is an
excellent example of an agency working
well with its constituents. The people spoke
and the agency listened, creating a good
outcome.
Federal government, on the other
hand, is a whole other matter. The
federal rulemaking system can go terribly
awry. Unfortunately, the Environmental
Protection Agency doesn’t have a board of
directors, just long-term stubborn employee
bureaucrats pushing an environmental
overreach agenda. If ever there was a
perfect example of a rogue agency abusing
their power, it is the EPA. The best example
of bad rulemaking is the proposed Waters of
the United States, or WOTUS, rule, which
purportedly was promulgated by the EPA
jointly with the Army Corps of Engineers.
As it happens, that was not to be the case.
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe learned recently the
Corps did not receive the draft final WOTUS
rule until EPA submitted it to interagency
review. The process to develop the rule
greatly limited the Corps input. As Farm
Bureau members know, EPA succeeded in
their WOTUS rulemaking, making it one of
the biggest agency
private property
rights power grabs
in history. Now,
only Congress
can force EPA to
re-write it.
— Marla Peek
Again, rules are
important and OKFB members’ input into
them is critical. Agencies need to know
how their rules affect real people. There is
nothing that gets an agency board’s respect
and attention more than a member of the
public standing up and telling them how a
proposed rule will affect them.
Because of OKFB’s grassroots policy
and its thousands of members, OKFB has
a strong reputation with agency boards
making us one of the most successful
organizations around. So, thank you
members! Here’s hoping you make a lot of
hay, fall planting goes well, and everyone
has a terrific football season.
OKFB has a strong reputation
with agency boards making
us one of the most successful
organizations around.
Member Benefits
Calendar
Office Depot
August Area Meetings
Aug. 10-20
Contact: Holly Carroll 405-523-2307
It’s almost time to head back to school! Need to stock up on supplies?
Use your OKFB membership to save on school supplies at Office Depot.
Visit the member benefits page on our website for details on how to save
on office and school supplies.
www.okfarmbureau.org/benefits
YF&R State Fair Livestock Judging
Sept. 18
Contact: Holly Carroll 405-523-2307
Resolutions Deadline
Oct. 9
Contact: Tasha Duncan 405-530-2681
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Perspective, P.O. B. 53332, OKC, OK 73152-3332
Perspective, P.O. B. 53332, OKC, OK 73152-3332
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Executive Director
Monica Wilke 405-523-2303
VP of Public Policy and Media Relations
John Collison 405-523-2539
Directors of Corporate Communications
Sam Knipp 405-523-2347
Dustin Mielke 405-530-2640
Communications Specialist
Hannah Nemecek 405-523-2346
State Question 777 website, social media live
he Yes on State Question 777,
Oklahoma’s Right to Farm,
website is now live online at www.
OklahomaRightToFarm.com.
The website serves as a central location
for all information regarding the SQ 777
campaign. Users can sign up to volunteer,
register to vote and find campaign event
dates. The new site also includes frequently
asked questions, videos, testimonials and
social media links.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau members are
encouraged to share the website and social
media links on their personal social media
platforms. Members also can refer to the
website when sharing SQ 777 with friends,
family and other interested individuals.
Follow the Yes on SQ 777 campaign
by liking Yes on 777 on Facebook and
following @YesOn777 on Twitter and
Instagram.
SQ 777, or the Right to Farm, is a state
constitutional amendment to protect
Oklahoma’s family farmers and ranchers
from unreasonable government interference
and attacks by out-of-state special interests.
SQ 777 will appear on the November
2016 general election ballot. If approved
by voters, farmers and ranchers will have
additional constitutional protections they
currently lack and need. Right to Farm will
assist Oklahoma farmers and ranchers in
defending themselves.
For more information, visit
www.OklahomaRightToFarm.com.
The OKFB Women’s Leadership Committee meets in the home office July 28 to plan events and activities for the upcoming months. During the
meeting, the WLC nailed down details for its state WLC conference being held in October this year.
4 | perspective