Kansas Legislative Update on the Environment KLUE

KANSAS LEGISLATIVE UPDATE ON THE ENVIRONMENT

The KLUE is produced periodically during the legislative session
and is sent via email to the Board and members of the
Kansas Natural Resource Council (KNRC).

Below is the first KLUE of the 2006 session as a sample. If you want the KLUE delivered to your email box during the 2010 session, Join the KNRC We cannot exist without support from our members. We hope you will add your voice to the only group focused solely on defense of the Kansas environment. You will find a membership form at:

http://www.knrc.ws/join.htm

HIGHLIGHTS: WEEK OF JANUARY 16

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Governor's Budget

The Budget submitted by Governor Kathleen Sebelius on January 9 contains some interesting items, including:

	$450,000 for incentive grants to finance transition to dryland farming in western Kansas.
	$311,500 for purchase of Conservation Easements.
	$786,000 for purchase (retirement) of water rights in over-appropriated areas in western Kansas.
	$4+ million for a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). This money would be a 20% match to leverage federal funds targeted to enroll lands in long term conservation practices along the Arkansas River from Great Bend west to the Colorado border while retiring irrigation water rights at the same time.
	$800,000 for Watershed Restoration and Protection Plans (WRAPS).
	$65,000 for operating expenses for the Prairie Spirit Rail Trail.

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BILLS WE WILL BE MONITORING

Here are bills introduced during the first week of the session or pre-filed before the session began.

Eminent Domain
In the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision (Kelo et al., vs City of New London et al., June 23, 2005) that enabled the condemnation of land by government for economic development purposes, there is a flurry of activity in states nationwide to set limits on this procedure. Environmentalists generally support these limits as an anti-sprawl measure, and in this case agricultural interests are lining up with us. Here are the measures we are aware of. No action has been scheduled to date on any of them.

	SB 323 - This bill states "The taking of private property with the intent to or in anticipation of selling, leasing or otherwise transferring such property to any other private entity is not a valid public use and is prohibited - - " and then goes on to list some exceptional circumstances regarding abandoned buildings, unsafe conditions or a "state of disuse" that would not be covered by the blanket prohibition. This is in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
	HB 2343 - While SB 323 is only one page, HB 2343 goes into great detail to describe what would be allowable and what would not. This is in the House Federal and State Affairs Committee.
	SCR 1612 - This is a resolution that basically calls for the language quoted above for SB 323 to be put on the November ballot as a Constitutional amendment. This is in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Landfill Siting
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has been studying ways to improve siting restrictions for landfills. The most recent draft of this proposal would disallow landfills over the Equus beds, over any alluvial aquifer if it is less than 5 miles upstream of a well used for public water supply or within one mile of a wildlife refuge, among other good provisions. No bill based on this research had been introduced as of January 16.

Conservation Easements/Districts
Rep. Tom Sloan of Lawrence has introduced two bills that would protect rural lands by putting them into special legal categories.

	HB 2556 - This bill extensively amends the State Conservation Commission statute to enable that agency to purchase and administer conservation easements on "private working farm and ranch lands in Kansas". This is in the House Environment Committee.
	HB 2558 - Provides for the creation and administration of "conservation and environmental protection or encroachment districts" by counties. This bill had a hearing in the House Environment Committee Tuesday January 17.

State Parks Funding

SB 87 was introduced in the 2005 session and would add a fee to vehicle license renewals to fund state and local parks. It was stalled at the end of the session when Sen. Derek Schmidt called for the Attorney General to rule on the legality of putting such a tax on motor vehicles. Phil Kline issued an informal opinion on April 6, 2005 stating that it was legal. This is in the Senate Ways and Means Committee as of January 16.

Selection of KDWP commissioners

HB 2561 has been introduced by Reps. Gatewood and Grant (both from the Pittsburg area) to change the way members of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Commission must be selected. It states that of the seven members, one member shall be chosen from one of each of the five KDWP adminstrative districts. Currently there is no geographic requirement for selection of commissioners. The changeover must take place by July 1 of this year, if the bill is passed. This was assigned to the House Wildlife and Parks and Tourism Committee.

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