2011 Legislative Summary
Success for Open Space Funding, Recreation and Forestland Conservation!
SB1242, Sections 13 and 32 – Authorization to Bond for Open Space Grant Program.
Authorization to provide $5 million in each of the next two fiscal years for open space funding was included in the bond package. This money would supplement funds from the Community Investment Act. No word yet on whether there will be a 2011 grant round under the Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Program.
HB6651, Sections 133 and 134 - Community Investment Act (CIA).
CLCC worked closely with a coalition of organizations from around the state to ensure that funding provided through the CIA was not diverted for other state budget needs. As of June, the CIA fund appeared to be safe from any sweeps this fiscal year. Under the leadership of Senate President Don Williams, advocates raised awareness of the importance of the CIA through a press conference and two week display of CIA funded projects at the LOB and celebrated its success in protecting open space and farmland, preserving historic properties and providing affordable housing. View examples of open space conservation, community garden development, farmland protection and other CIA funded projects.
HB6557 – Recreational Land Use Act.
Protections from liability under the Act will now extend to municipalities and political entities, such as regional water companies, that open their lands without charge for public recreation. The liability protection is almost as strong that currently enjoyed by private landowners (including land trusts).
HB6263 - Transition from 10 Mill Program.
Allows an owner of forest land currently enrolled in the state's “10 mill program” to convert to the state's forest preservation program (“PA490 program”) without penalty. Without this legislation, landowners who steward more than 14,000 acres of forest and made a 100 year commitment to protect their land would have seen a 20‐fold increase in their property taxes.
HB6157 - Establishment of a Timber Harvest Revolving Fund.
This Revolving Fund would allow DEP to recoup a portion of the revenues from sustainable harvests on State Forest lands to enable the Department to reinvest those funds in forest management and/or planning.
Land Swap and Community Green Fund - More Action Needed!
SB1196 – “Haddam Land Swap”.
SB 1196, the Conveyance Act, containing the so-called “Haddam Land Swap” provision was approved on the last day of the session and signed by Governor Malloy. For further information on the Haddam Land Swap, please visit Rivers Alliance.
SB1019 – Community Green Fund.
At the end of the session, the Senate killed the Community Green Fund bill. CLCC will continue to work with organizations from across the state in support of this legislation which would enable, but not require, towns to enact a conveyance fee of 1% on buyers of real estate, with the revenue from the program placed in a local dedicated fund for conservation purposes.
Other Legislation of Interest to the Conservation Community.
SB1243 - Establishment of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and Planning for Connecticut's Energy Future.
Consolidates the development and implementation of Connecticut's environmental and energy policy within a new, expanded Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). The new Department will include the Department of Public Utility Control, now known as the Public Utility Regulatory Authority, the old DEP, and the Connecticut Siting Council (for administrative purposes). The bill also requires the new DEEP to develop a comprehensive State Energy Plan and establishes a variety of new programs to promote clean energy and energy efficiency.
HB6515 – Job Creation and Habitat Restoration.
Provides an $15 additional fee on Long Island Sound license plates with $5 to the Department of Motor Vehicles for administrative fees and $10 to DEP’s habitat restoration matching grant.
News from the Federal Level
The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
LWCF is the nation’s premier source of revenue for federally supported land protection and preservation, including the Forest Legacy Program and the Highlands Conservation Act. It is funded as a conservation offset with a fraction of the revenue received from offshore oil and gas leases; and yet it is chronically underfunded.
CLCC’s Steering committee approved an Opinion piece that ran in the Danbury News Times on June 16th in support of the LWCF.
The Highlands Conservation Act (Highlands).
Authorized for up to 10 million annually but also chronically underfunded, the Highlands received no money in FY11. The US Fish & Wildlife Service zeroed out the 5 million line item for the Highlands in the President’s budget request and the prospect of funding in the FY12 budget currently being drafted in congress is quite dire. The Highlands Coalition is working to strengthen the US Forest Service connection to the program and the appropriations language will be important for FY13.
The Focal Area selected by the Highlands State Committee to propose to the DEP for CT’s FY13 Highlands submittal includes all of Danbury, New Fairfield and Sherman, the western portions of Brookfield, New Milford and Kent, and southwest Sharon, CT.
The Federal Forest Legacy Program (FLP). The FLP received 53 Million in FY11 but Connecticut’s top project (ranked 26/38 nationally) did not rank high enough nationally against other, high cost projects to receive funding. In order for Connecticut’s FY12 project to be funded (it ranked 26/46 nationally), at requested funding levels, the FLP would need to receive 87 million, which is highly unlikely in the current session of Congress.
Future FLP projects in CT will be ranked against rigorous criteria to ensure that our submissions are competitive. In addition to large acres, public access and deeply discounted prices are going to be essential. Aggregated parcels are encouraged but each must likely be able to stand on its own if there is only partial funding.
