With Florida orange crops dropping 16 percent over the past year, Florida’s two senators--Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Marco Rubio--are urging the Senate to help out in the fight against citrus greening.
Nelson and Rubio sent a letter on Thursday to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., urging them to pass the “Emergency Citrus Disease Response Act.” The bill, which is sponsored by Nelson with Rubio on board as a co-sponsor, would provide relief to the citrus industry by letting growers “expense the costs of equipment at the time of purchase, instead of the current 14-year depreciation schedule.”
In the House, Florida Republican Vern Buchanan is the sponsor of the bill. Every other member of the Florida delegation is co-sponsoring the legislation.
“The citrus industry desperately needs relief, and Congress can play an important role in ensuring our growers have an incentive to keep fighting while research for a cure continues,” Nelson and Rubio wrote McConnell and Reid. “The bipartisan and bicameral Emergency Citrus Disease Response Act would allow more citrus growers to immediately expense the cost of re-planting lost or damaged citrus trees instead of the standard 14-year depreciation period under current Internal Revenue Service rules.
“We must recognize that an arbitrary 14-year timeline is not helpful for growers fighting this pest,” Nelson and Rubio added “Efforts to get the Emergency Citrus Disease Response Act enacted into law have been going on for almost a year. Without relief soon, there may not be any citrus groves in the United States left to save.
“As you negotiate Senate consideration of upcoming tax bills, such as an end-of-year tax extenders package, we urge that you give serious consideration to citrus growers and recognize their importance to our nation by including S. 2346 in any tax legislation sent to the president,” the senators from Florida continued.
The decline in Florida citrus in recent years is mostly the result of Huanglongbing (HLB), better known as citrus greening.
Spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, a tiny insect, citrus greening infects trees, leading to deformed and bitter fruit. Eventually, citrus greening kills the tree. One of the few ways to fight citrus greening is by removing the tree.
