06/10/05 Inspection fee hike, Part two

Even before the Washington State Department of Agriculture announced it would increase fees for inspection of fruits and vegetables effective July First, members of W.S.D.A. said they were willing to work with tree fruit and vegetable growers and shippers to find other alternatives. An agency press release again stated that the agency will be meeting with industry officials in coming months to discuss how to make the fee inspection program more cost efficient and cost effective. But in the meantime, growers are still set to pay more to have their product inspected. Or are they? Jim Hazen of the Washington State Horticultural Association and member of a Specialty Crop Coalition opposed to the inspection fee increase said they were prepared in the event that the Washington State Attorney General's Office ruled, as they eventually did, in favor of W.S.D.A.'s practice of shifting funds from the inspection fee program to pay for agency expenses. HAZEN: During the legislative session, one of our fallback strategies was to amend the Department's budget to include a amendment, a proviso, that would stall the Department's ability to increase fees until the Department sat down with industry and discussed streamlining the fruit and vegetable inspection program. And Hazen says right now, that is the best strategy in play for the Specialty Crop Coalition to keep if not this inspection fee increase from happening, then further fee increases from taking place.