House advances Rep. Causer bill to boost agriculture emergency preparedness

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives advanced Monday legislation by Rep. Martin Causer (R-Cameron/McKean/Potter) that aims to enhance Pennsylvania’s ability to respond quickly and effectively to threats facing the agriculture industry.

“From an economic perspective, agriculture is our state’s top industry, supporting more than a half million jobs and generating more than $26 billion in total earnings,” Causer, chair of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, said. “The industry also puts food on our tables. All Pennsylvanians have a vested interest in ensuring our agriculture industry not only survives but thrives and being ready to respond to potential disasters is a vital part of that.”

House Bill 1516 would create the Pennsylvania Rapid Response Disaster Readiness Account and allocate funding to the Department of Agriculture to enable a quick response to agricultural disasters. Examples include deploying animal or plant health officials to contain an outbreak or threat and providing an immediate response to foodborne illnesses.

Currently, the Spotted Lanternfly, an invasive species, is threatening multiple segments of the agriculture industry, including grapes, fruit trees, and hardwoods. It was first discovered in Pennsylvania in Berks County in 2014 and has since spread to more than a dozen counties in the eastern and southcentral regions of the state.

In 2015, the state was preparing for a potential outbreak of avian influenza as the disease spread across the country in nearly two dozen states.

“We have effective monitoring and surveillance systems in place to identify threats like these early on, but we are not as prepared as we could be to act on them,” Causer said. “Creating a disaster readiness account will help ensure we have the resources to provide a rapid and well-coordinated response when needed.”