Committee clears cleanup to soybean assessment language; state checkoff would resume if federal program ends

House Bill 304, aimed at clarifying Kentucky law on soybean assessments and how state-level checkoffs interact with the federal checkoff, advanced from the House Agriculture Committee with bipartisan support.

Representative Ryan Bivens, state representative for District 24, introduced the measure and said it is “just some very simple language to talk about soybean assessment” and characterized it as cleanup language. Bivens explained that Kentucky currently participates in a federal soybean checkoff set at 0.5 percent; the state language governs what happens if the federal checkoff ends.

Committee members asked whether producers and associations supported the change. Bivens said the referendum authorizing the federal checkoff had already taken place and that the Kentucky soybean industry supports the measure; Jonathan Reynolds and Debbie Ellis of the Kentucky Soybean Association joined the sponsor at the table. Representative Moore asked whether state producers supported the change; Bivens replied that the association directors do support it and that checkoff dollars are limited to promotion and research, not policy advocacy.

The committee moved the bill with Representative Tate as mover and Representative Pearson as second. The committee recorded the bill as passing with favorable expression and indicated it would likely receive the same on the House floor.