February 18, 2000

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison vowed to continue her fight to preserve Texas’ homestead exemption despite Senate approval of a bankruptcy reform bill that would do away with the historic tradition, overriding state laws and establishing a $100,000 homestead exemption.

"The Senate broke a 130-year precedent when it voted to eliminate the states’ rights to determine homestead exemptions," Hutchison said. "This is a matter that should be decided by Texans, not the federal government."

"The states have always set their individual exemptions on homes and farms because of the vast differences in property values from state to state," the senator continued. "That has not changed, nor should the law."

The bankruptcy reform bill passed by the House gives states the authority to opt out of the homestead cap provision. Hutchison said she intends to work with Chairman Chuck Grassley and the House-Senate conferees to preserve state homestead exemptions in the final version of the legislation.

Sen. Grassley chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and Courts, which has jurisdiction over the bill.

"I am hopeful we will be able to protect the states’ authority in this matter, but if the conference does not adopt the House’s opt-out provision, I will use every parliamentary tool available to protect Texas’ historic homestead exemption," the senator said.

Frito-Lay spokesperson Lynn Markley acknowledged that the Food and Drug Administration says GM foods are safe for humans.

"There is some consumer concern out there. We felt at this time it’s appropriate to ask our growers not to sell us genetically altered corn," Frito-Lay said.

According to Joe Fields, director of public relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation, Frito-Lay executives "are responding to small splinter groups out of fear they’re going to be boycotted."

"We feel the companies are overreacting," Fields said.

Greenpeace and the Union of Concerned Scientists, which had been lobbying PepsiCo, Frito-Lay’s parent company, to stop using biotech crops, applauded the decision.

"The new catalog features full color sections, handy color-coded section tabs and thousands of new products on information-packed pages," according to Stacy Kimbell, regional marketing manager for Grainger. "The new catalog is the easiest to use catalog ever."

Texas Farm Bureau has entered an agreement with America’s leading industrial distributor to offer TFB members a 10 percent discount on purchases.

"That means you can save on just about everything you need to keep the farm running right: farm-duty motors, fans, generators, safety equipment, cleaning supplies and more," Kimbell said.

To reserve your copy of the new catalog, call 1-800-473-3473.

Total worldwide beef exports from January through October amounted to 914,746 metric tons valued at more than $2.6 billion.

Exports to Japan, the leading overseas customer for U.S. beef, were up 7 percent with a value of $1.433 billion.

Mexico, the second leading export market, was up 11 percent in volume with a value of $412 million.