Texas well have to try again in 2 years to get a bill to stop TAHC from
making NAIS mandatory. In the meantime, we need to keep an eye on TAHC,
work to keep NAIS from becoming mandatory at the federal level, and keep
educating Texans so that we win the next time around!

Judith McGeary
Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
www.farmandranchfreedom.org

The Lieutenant Governor's and Senators' offices got many calls about HB 461 yesterday, and several Senators tried to get an agreement to bring HB 461 up for a vote. But they were not successful, the clock has run, and the bill is dead for this session. For now, TAHC keeps its authority to make NAIS mandatory. We will be watching the agency closely in the nineteen months between now and the next legislative session.

There are legislators and organizations we need to thank -- and many others that we need to hold responsible for not representing the interests of Texans.

But we'll leave the discussion of the who's and why's for a little later. Right now, despite out disappointment and anger, let's look at what we accomplished. The political insiders said we'd never get our bill out of the House, and certainly never get it through the Senate committees. We fought every step of the way, and we got further than the proponents of NAIS (and even some of our friends) ever thought we would.

Just over a year ago, most Texas legislators had no idea what NAIS even was. Now, a majority of the House voted to strip the TAHC of its authority to make NAIS mandatory, and we had a majority of the Senate who would have voted for the bill, if given the chance. And those who blocked the bill know we will not go away quietly - our calls yesterday showed them that!

Thank you to all of the people who called and wrote their legislators, who supported FARFA by becoming members, and who came to the Texas Independence Day rally to show the legislators how much the people of
Texas care about independent agriculture. *_You truly made a difference._*

The industrial agriculture interests and technology companies have spent almost 20 years developing their plans for NAIS. In the space of 1 year, we've made them and the legislators sit up and take notice of us. *We won't give up. We can, and will, win this fight in the long run.*

Stay tuned for an analysis of the who's and why's of what happened, along with plans for where we go from here. Our fight to protect independent agriculture has just begun!


Judith McGeary
Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
www.farmandranchfreedom.org