Sen. Bob Hensgens Amends SB 244, Gives Agriculture a Seat at the Table

By Avery J. Davidson

Louisiana Farm Bureau News

Louisiana farmers and ranchers will not have to add meters to water wells thanks to amendments offered by Senator Bob Hensgens, author of a bill to restructure the Department of Natural Resources and rename it the Department of Conservation and Energy.

Staff at Louisiana Farm Bureau discovered the provisions in Senate Bill 244 last week dealing with water regulation that did not exempt agriculture from those regulations. The more than 200-page bill also included the creation of a panel that could make recommendations concerning water regulation. However, there would not be an agricultural representative on that panel.

After speaking with Louisiana Farm Bureau volunteer leaders, Sen. Hensgens, a sixth-generation rice farmer from Vermilion Parish, attributed the inclusion of the language to an oversight and took swift action when he presented SB 244 to the House Committee on Natural Resources and Environment Wednesday morning and offered changes to the bill to protect agriculture.

"This amendment fixes the problem we created on the Senate floor the other day. It was totally not intentional. But we did do it,” Hensgens said. “I had promised (last) Wednesday night, when we found it, to Farm Bureau, that we would put the exemption back in.”

Hensgens also offered an amendment that would add the executive director of the State Soil and Water Conservation Commission to the advisory panel that would offer recommendations on water use.

Sen. Hensgens and several committee members acknowledged receiving calls from concerned Louisiana Farm Bureau members over the Memorial Day weekend.

"(This) is (a) stronger exemption than ag's had in groundwater before,” Hensgens said. “We're putting that now over the whole state. So, there's actually a stronger exemption than they had before."

Committee Chairman Brett Geymann of Lake Charles deferred a vote on Hensgens’ bill until the committee’s next meeting on June 4th. Senator Hensgens indicated that a couple more amendments need to be reviewed by the committee before the bill can advance to the House floor.