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The Oklahoma Pork Council named Bartlesville's Senator Julie Daniels as their Senator of the Year on Friday, Aug. 2nd.

The Senator was honored for her already strong reputation for defending property rights, and for her work this year with House Bill 2373.

As the Senate author of the bill, she explains that it passed and is aimed at limiting the non-economic damages in agriculture nuisance lawsuits. Those damages are commonly known as the "Pain and Suffering Damages." After a defendant has paid and abated to the person(s) that sued, the defendant is then allowed to ask for damages for pain and suffering caused to them by the nuisance.

Sen. Daniels said there is a movement across the United States among trial attorneys to go after whole industries in certain states and seek exorbitant, non-economic damages from deep pocketed companies. She said they passed House Bill 2373 this year in order to protect the agricultural industries in Oklahoma from what she believes are “unbalanced” calls for damages in the kinds of lawsuits in other states in the nation.

The future of agriculture is bright, Sen. Daniels said, as long as we understand that agriculture is a good thing and not a bad thing. She said America feeds the world and the country is feeding the world on less and less acreage as technological advances continue to be made.

Moving forward, Sen. Daniels hopes Oklahoma can keep having a robust agricultural industry. She believes that agriculture ranks third in the State and said the land in Oklahoma is very important. A variety of geographical conditions allowing for the production of many agricultural goods, so it is vital that the land and the industry is protected.