Point Reyes Light- September 17, 1998
Chaos on Capitol Hill sidetracks Farmland Protection Act
The chaos on Capitol Hill was evident this week when a Senate hearing on the Point Reyes National Seashore Farmland Protection Act was inadvertently canceled by a supporter.
Senator Dale Bumpers (D-Arkansas), the ranking member of the Senate National Resources Committee, mistakenly thought the bill had already been passed by the House of Representatives, so he - with agreement from the committee's Republican chairman - called off a Senate hearing scheduled for Sept. 24.
Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey authored the bill in the House and by now has lined up 230 co-sponsors, more than half the 435 members of the House of Representatives.
But the bill has never been put to a vote in the House, and Woolsey's office has been counting on its being included in an omnibus parks bill.
Senator Barbara Boxer, along with Senator Dianne Feinstein, have sponsored the bill in the Senate, and on Wednesday Boxer spokesman David Sandretti confirmed that Bumpers' staff had been "assuming it had passed the House."
With the Senate, like the House, scheduled to end its session in two weeks, it would now be "difficult to reschedule a hearing," Sandretti acknowledged.
However, he added, that does not necessarily mean the Farmland Protection Act is dead. "Even if there's no hearing in the Senate, the bill could still pass," Sandretti said. "It happens all the time. It's entirely possible that if the House passes it, the Senate will pass it as well."
In 1996, for example, many provisions for turning the Presidio into a national park did not go through Senate hearings but were merely added to an omnibus bill, he noted.
Woolsey spokeswoman Aimee Feinberg agreed: "The news about the hearing [being canceled] has no impact on the bill's chances to move forward."
At this point, Bumpers' staff appear to be putting the best face they can on the mixup.
By canceling a Senate committee hearing on the bill before it goes to a vote in the House, Bumpers will deprive opponents of a forum for voicing their opposition and dividing supporters, Sandretti quoted the Arkansas Democrat's aides as saying.