Marco Rubio Backs Bill To Save Florida Citrus
July 22, 2016 U.S. Senator Marco Rubio has a sweet spot for his home state’s signature crop and officially showed it by becoming a co-sponsor of a measure that would provide growers with an incentive to plant more trees and bolster the troubled Florida citrus industry.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (center) joins Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam (left) and others on a tour of a Central Florida citrus grove to get a first-hand look at HLB and its impact on the crop.
Photo courtesy of Adam Putnam
Rubio (R-FL) joined original sponsor U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) in championing The Emergency Citrus Disease Response Act, which allows growers to immediately expense the cost of planting new citrus instead of the standard 14-year depreciation period under the current IRS rules. The tweak to the IRS code is designed to increase slumping production. It would be available for 10 years.
Rubio, along with Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, toured a grove outside of Auburndale, FL, yesterday to get an update on the state of the industry. He said he will push hard for the IRS legislation.
Florida Citrus Mutual applauded Rubio’s commitment to the state’s signature crop. Mike Sparks, Executive VP/CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, thanked Rubio and other members of the Florida Congressional delegation for their steadfast support of the industry.
“By some estimates our industry needs to put more than 20 million trees in the ground over the next 10 years to support existing infrastructure and get our production back to where it was before HLB,” said. “We offer a sincere thank you to Senator Rubio, Senator Nelson and Rep. Vern Buchanan as well as other members of the Florida Congressional delegation for their support of this important bill. It is truly a bipartisan effort and reflects the fact that Florida’s elected officials understand the citrus’ vital economic role.”
In the House, Rep. Buchanan is the primary sponsor of the bill. Co-sponsors from Florida include Reps. Bilirakis, Brown, Castor, Clawson, Crenshaw, Curbelo, DeSantis, Deutch, Diaz-Balart, Frankel, Graham, Grayson, Hastings, Jolly, Mica, Miller, Murphy, Posey, Rooney, Ros-Lehtinen, Ross, Wasserman-Schultz, Wilson, Webster and Yoho. Rep. Olson from Texas and Reps. Gosar, Schweikert and Franks from Arizona are also co-sponsors of the bill.
Subscribe Today For
