Bills supported by the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) continue to move forward in the Texas Legislature following the official bill deadline at midnight Thursday.

One, SB 1099 by Sen. Craig Estes, has already been sent to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature. The bill allows the Texas Grain Producers Indemnity Board to purchase re-insurance for financial stability. It also allows the board to reduce the reimbursement maximum to 85 percent of the grain’s value or contract price.

SB 140 by Sen. Charles Perry has passed on its third reading and will be sent to the governor’s desk. It allows for a sales tax exemption for GPS systems used on farm and ranch equipment.

Other TFB-supported bills, including agritourism and agricultural liens, are winding their ways to the governor’s desk. But hundreds of bills met their deaths at the stroke of midnight last night.

One bill of importance to TFB did make the cutoff. But it faces death if action is not taken by Friday, May 22.

Senate Bill 474 by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst protects landowners from being offered less than fair market value when their land is condemned.

The bill requires condemnors to pay the landowner’s attorney fees and other costs if the court awards the landowner more than 20 percent above the final offer made by the condemning entity. It will require the condemnor to pay any reasonable attorney’s fees and professional fees.

Landowners who are concerned about eminent domain should probably call their state representative and encourage them to pass Senate Bill 474, Billy Howe, TFB state legislative director, said.

A Voter Voice initiative was created for the support of SB 474. To contact your legislator, click on the VoterVoice title under the Legislative link on TexasFarmBureau.org.

Two bills important to TFB were killed.

HB 2892 by Rep. Andrew Murr of Junction would have created a process for a landowner to challenge whether or not they own the land under a stream on their property. Any stream that averages 30 feet wide is considered navigable, which means the state can claim ownership of the land underneath it.

The state agencies can already go out and basically say, ‘Our records show that this is a navigable stream.’ There’s not really a process in the law to let the landowner challenge that, said Howe. “It’s unfortunate the bill didn’t make it.”

Another bill, HB 2548 by Rep. Phil Stephenson of Wharton, deals with a pesticide disposal program that was addressed several sessions ago and cut in the budget.

The program was valuable to ag producers because they were able to go out and dispose of their pesticide and herbicide containers in a safe manner, Howe said. It’s really been an issue ever since that program was cut.

The bill would have allowed the Texas Department of Agriculture to set up sites to safely dispose of chemicals.