The Joint Legislative Commission on Land and Water Conservation
In the short session of the 2006 General Assembly, a bill was introduced to dramatically increase funding for land and water conservation and historic preservation. That bill authorized a bond referendum to be placed on the November 2006 ballot for $1 billion to be distrbuted to the state's existing conservation trust funds. The bill did not move in the short session because the Governor was concerned about the state taking on additional debt, even though 75 house members and 23 senators co-sponsored the bill. At the close of the 2006 session, the General Assembly and the Governor created the Land & Water Conservation Commission, charged with making recommendations to the 2007 General assembly concerning how to pay for this increase in funding. In it's report issued in January 2007, the Commission found that many opportunities for conservation will be lost if the state does not act qickly to sercure land now....at lower prices than in the future. |
|
