Legislative Update - June 2006

• June 29, 2006
• June 14, 2006
  

June 29, 2006

Budget Update

Things are changing by the minute in Harrisburg, but I wanted to give everyone an update. SB 1224 has passed the entire Senate and the House Agriculture Committee. It will now go to the House Appropriations Committee and then on to the House floor.

SB 1224 is the legislation that creates a single conservation district fund administered by the State Conservation Commission. Appropriations from agencies such as DEP and PDA will be transferred to this fund and districts will have a one stop shop, so to speak. The bill makes this fund "special" meaning that it is non-lapsing.

We are extremely hopeful that SB 1224 will reach the governor's desk within the next few days before the General Assembly leaves Harrisburg for the summer.

As far as funding is concerned, the final budget numbers are still undisclosed. I should have a clearer understanding by the end of the week, which coincidently is the deadline for passing a budget on time. We still believe that those budget votes will occur sometime late Friday night, or early Saturday morning.

June 14, 2006

Two Bills Introduced to Create a Non-Lapsing Fund for Conservation Districts, Senators Hold Farmers First Agenda Press Conference, and Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee Meets

Two Bills Introduced to Create a Non-Lapsing Fund for Conservation Districts

At the PACD Executive Council meeting in January, a resolution passed supporting the creation of a special non-lapsing fund for conservation district allocations. Recently, Senate Bill 1224 and House Bill 2743 have been introduced in the PA General Assembly to accomplish this goal.

PACD is hopeful that the PA General Assembly will create the new non-lapsing fund and secure additional funding for the conservation districts when they finalize and pass a state budget later this month. After the creation of the non-lapsing fund, which will be administered by the State Conservation Commission, the Departments of Environmental Protection and Agriculture will transfer money to the fund saving time and effort for the districts.

PACD needs your help to ensure this legislation is passed. A sample letter to Pennsylvania representatives and senators is available on the PACD website at http://www.pacd.org/about/legupdate/sampleletter.htm. A press release for local media is also available on the PACD website at: http://www.pacd.org/about/legupdate/samplerelease.htm. Please distribute these widely as soon as possible. In addition to sending a letter to representatives and senators, please call or visit them regarding this issue. With everyone's help from across the state, we can make a non-lapsing conservation district fund a reality.

Senators Hold Farmers First Agenda Press Conference

Building on their successful "Farmers First Agenda," Senator Mike Waugh (R-York) and Senator Noah Wenger (R-Lancaster) unveiled the second phase of a comprehensive legislative agenda aimed at promoting agriculture in PA. Of significance to the conservation districts is that they included SB 1224 in their list of priorities for the initiative. SB 1224 is the legislation that combines funding for the conservation districts through a fund administered by the State Conservation Commission.

Almost twenty organizations stood in support of the Farmers First Agenda phase two proposals at the press conference. We are extremely hopeful that the inclusion of SB 1224 will help us to generate the interest needed to pass the legislation during the budget process.

Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee Meets

The Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee met recently to further discuss mercury emissions. The Committee voted 10-1 to approve legislation that would prohibit the state from enacting limits on mercury emissions from power plants that are stricter than those in federal law. The legislation now goes to the full Senate for consideration. The state Department of Environmental Protection is working on a new regulation that would force coal-fired power plants to cut back their mercury emissions farther and sooner than federal law requires.