In a rare turn of events, AOC testified against House Bill 2469 in the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee, because the bill would lift the current preemption on local regulation of agricultural seeds or seed products. The bill related specifically to control of GMO seeds, but the reasons for AOC to oppose the bill were simple:

    • The statewide approach avoids the financial burden and regulatory nightmare of a highly technical/scientific determination process being imposed on counties, and potentially varying from county to county.
    • Counties have neither the technical expertise nor the ability to enforce measures to protect production from adverse impacts of seed or products that are genetically engineered.
    • Counties simply do not have the resources to manage an entirely new responsibility as regulation of agriculture products.

Oregon’s shared services system of governance is a careful balance between services regulated and delivered at the county level, those provided by the state, and those that are shared.

Contributed by: Gil Riddell | AOC Policy Director