Monday, January 7, 2013

CoLA, Tea Party Patriots Federation PRIORITY LEGISLATION / RIGHT TO FARM ACT...HB1430

PLEASE join us tomorrow if possible. Lingamfelter supports individual property rights with HB1430! Details follow. Remember to call your legislators to attend Jan 14, 10 am Property Rights briefing, House Room Three, CAPITOL and ask them to support HB 1430 and OPPOSE HB 1450, Patron Chris Stolle. Please forward to your lists!


PRESS CONFERENCE & PROTEST
 
TUESDAY, JAN  8,  11am
 
House room #1 at the Capitol
 
Please join us!


 
A bill to amend the Virginia Right to Farm Act has been introduced by Delegate Scott Lingamfelter to protect Virginia farmers from out of control local government regulation. (HB1430 linked below)
 
The Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation has worked hard to get this bill sponsored and considers this priority legislation for the 2013 VA General Assembly. There have been so many constitutionally guaranteed rights denied to Martha Boneta that it does not seem possible that Liberty Farm, Paris VA is located in these United States.
Please call your legislators and ask them to support HB1430.  http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/VGAMain?openform
 
See you at the press conference.

Thank you
Carol Stopps
Chair: Legislative Action
VA Tea Party Patriots Federation
"A statewide coalition of Tea Party and Patriot Groups"


Carol,

FFC allows this to be reprinted with or without credit.  At the bottom are links to the Boneta Bill and Scott Lingamfelter's press release.

Mark Fitzibbons

http://fauquierfreecitizen.com/h-b-1340-guaranteeing-individual-liberty-and-property-rights-for-farmers/

Lingamfelter Adds Teeth to Farm Freedom with Boneta Bill

H.B. 1430 – Guaranteeing Individual Liberty and Property Rights for Farmers

Legislation protecting the property rights and individual liberties of farmers will be the subject of a press conference January 8 at 11 a.m. in House Room 1 of Richmond's historic Virginia State Capitol.

H.B. 1430 was written in response to overzealous enforcement actions by Fauquier County against farmer Martha Boneta for selling her farm produce, advertising pumpkin carvings, and holding a private birthday party for eight 10-year-old girls. Those unconscionable actions against Martha the farmer resulted in the "Pitchfork Protest" in August that gained national attention.

H.B. 1430, the Boneta Bill, is sponsored by Delegate Scott Lingamfelter and amends Virginia's Right to Farm Act.

Virginia's Right to Farm Act (VRFA) was intended to protect the rights of Virginians to engage in something that is fundamental to a way of life in the Commonwealth, and indeed America: farming.

Despite the VRFA, county ordinances and actions of county officials have resulted in restricting the farming lifestyle and defining down what it means to be a farmer. Martha Boneta's property is zoned agriculture, and she even had a business license for her quaint farm store called Paris Barns at Liberty Farm. Fauquier County nevertheless fined Martha for farming. Fauquier County's ordinances and the actions of the county zoning administrator and board of zoning appeals constitute trespasses on the rights of all farmers.

H.B. 1430 amends the VRFA by clarifying that farming is not merely growing crops or raising livestock. Farming is more than that. It is a lifestyle of one's own "pursuit of happiness." It is commerce that sustains individuals, families and even communities. It is the subject of great American literature, art, artifacts and more. It is, like all great American endeavors, what each individual chooses to make of it through his or her own vision, ingenuity, capital, time and labor.

Farming is not what government officials choose to dictate to free citizens. H.B. 1430 reflects these principles by amending the definition section of the Right to Farm Act to protect the rights of farmers to engage in commerce within their communities, to include the byproducts of farm produce (goats milk soap, for example), and to include the sale of items incidental to farming such as art, literature, artifacts and more. These are consistent with the traditional, self-sufficient farm life, and are good for the economy.

The bill also expressly provides that county ordinances are void if they violate constitutionally protected rights on agricultural property. Such rights include freedom of speech, assembly, the press, religion and more.

Lastly, too often we see government officials abusing the power of their offices by bullying citizens through incorrect and harmful interpretations of laws. H.B. 1430 adds teeth to the VRFA and tempers overzealous counties and county officials by making them subject to the same fines and penalties that they might seek to unlawfully impose on farmer-citizens.

Virginia farmers set forth some of most important principles about liberty for all Americans. Perhaps the most important American innovation was that liberty is best preserved by a supreme, paramount law governing government itself – our Constitution with its Bill of Rights. H.B. 1430 strengthens the Virginia Right to Farm Act against counties and county officials who violate the law by trespassing on the property rights and the individual liberties of farmers.

You can read H.B. 1430 here: http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?131+ful+HB1430

You can read Delegate Lingamfelter's press release here:

http://va31st.com/press-release-delegate-scott-lingamfelter-introduces-the-boneta-bill-in-response-to-property-rights-infringements-by-government/

 







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Tricia Stall
Distinction between conservation and environmentalism: The first means taking care to use natural resources without ruining them for the next person. The second says that mankind has no rights and suggests that any use of any natural resource causes damage. We must STOP AGENDA 21!

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