This is great news! I posted earlier about a ridiculous corporate giveaway that Rendell signed into law this week. So I thought it only proper to give him some props for vetoing a terrible corporate handout to factory farms.
In the waning moments of 2003, Gov. Rendell vetoed a highly controversial bill that critics said would have stripped townships of power to restrict large farming operations.
Here is some info on what this Bill did:
"If this had passed, factory farms would have taken over, and in short order. And if anyone had tried to block it, they would have been sued."
Breech said that under the vetoed law, a company could have decided to build a large farm, and anyone who had tried to stop it could be accused of "willful and wanton action" and sued.
Guy F. Donaldson, president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, the state largest farmers' organization, said the bill simply would have required townships to pay farmers' legal bills if the farmers successfully challenged an illegal local ordinance.
"Gov. Rendell's veto... essentially says to farmers that they are on their own so far as dealing with illegal local farm ordinances," said Donaldson. About 60 of the state's approximately 1,400 townships have enacted ordinances that go beyond state law in regulating large farms, including implementing water-withdrawal restrictions and buffer zones, he said.
Gotta love the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. What a corporate puppet they are. They could screw farmers over left and right but they'll still pretend to stand for farmers. Its ridiculous.
And for insight into how a typical bill passes the Pennsylvania Assembly.
The bill drew criticism not only because of its contents, but also because of the way it was approved: It cleared the House and Senate in less than 24 hours, attached to a seemingly unrelated bill that concerned summary offenses involving motor vehicles.
My state senator Mary Jo White (19 year corporate lobbyist for Quaker State) is one of the routine offendors of reasonable process. She teams with Scarnati (another piece of work) to move things from Committee to a Floor Vote before the other Senators can blink. They've been doing this for a while and I wouldn't be surprised if they were involved in this.
But this is where Rendell has no clue:
>Rendell said the bill would not "chill township supervisors" from passing laws to regulate agriculture operations.
I'm hoping this is a misquote because this is primarily what this Bill did. And this is why so many were united in fighting it.