KCC Legislative Update

Thursday the 14Th ,just after his meeting with the Governor on budget issues, Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo met with representatives of the Kentucky Conservation Committee to discuss the long delayed Land stewardship Task Force and the creation of a long-term vision for conserving Kentucky’s dwindling land resources. The meeting included yours truly, Dr. Vicki Holmberg the KCC chairperson , Dr. Bill Martin and Horace Brown along with State Representative Robin Webb who has been the champion of KCC’s cause from the beginning. The meeting lasted almost an hour and proved very beneficial as Speaker Stumbo voiced his support for the concept of a long term plan for land preservation along with a resource stream adequate for an effective, statewide program and promised to move quickly in assembling the Task Force in order to have possible legislation to consider in the upcoming regular session in 2010. With the possibility of new revenue sources becoming available through expanded gaming and tax reform it was imperative that the environmental community make a case for a preservation and conservation program befitting a State with such varied and beautiful land. Speaker Stumbo agreed that now is the time to move. Land will never be cheaper, and large contiguous tracks are still available. Please contact your legislature and urge support of the Land Stewardship Task Force and hopefully we will have a full-fledged land stewardship program complete with funding for you to support  early next year. We will keep you updated.

The final hours of the 2009 Regular session were hectic, but without the clock-stopping dramatics of the 2008 session. Still, some last minute shenanigans were attempted. SB 138 (setting up oil and gas leases on State lands) and SB13 (the nuclear power bill) were attached to several House Bills in the Senate, but the time is such that it is doubtful that they will pass. The House stuck to an earlier promise and finished regular business at 5:00 Friday, and the Senate ended at around 8:00. The Legislature can still take one of the two remaining “Veto” days to concluded regular business, but it is not likely that any controversial bills will be included. There will now be a nine-day recess after which the Legislature will re-convene to address any possible gubernatorial vetoes.

All in all, it was a quiet session with most of the big issues worked out by leadership in the early stages. Most of the major environmental bills are being put back for a later session, including changes to the earlier energy legislation and changes to mine safety laws. The big issue, state revenues, will remain an issue the rest of the year, and may prompt a special session if income continues to deteriorate. As I write this at 8:30 on Friday night, it looks like we’ve gotten through this session with no major environmental disasters. Thanks to Tom Fitzgerald for his work on good amendments to several bills.

Some good news coming from Frankfort this week, first and foremost, SB 13 – the “let’s get the nuke party started and worry about cleaning up later” — bill was recommitted to the House Natural Resources Committee … kudos to Horace Brown, KCC Board member, for his efforts on this. While it could still move, the prospects right now are not good.We will continue to monitor.

On a semi-sour note, SB 138 (oil and gas production on State land) passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee at 9:39 Thursday and SJR 67 (to study the feasibility of doing what SB 138 has already authorized) passed out of Tourism and Energy about an hour later. I say semi-sour, because it seems that we are going to get some beneficial floor amendments from our hero, Rep. Robin Webb that will make SB 138 a pretty good bill. The amendments will strengthen reclamation and other environmental standards on oil and gas production in this State, something that is long overdue. It will also transfer some of the proceeds from royalties, etc. to the Heritage Land fund to further its good work in purchasing State lands for preservation and recreation purposes … mega kudos (with apologies to our friend Mr. Limbaugh) to Tom Fitzgerald for working with LRC staff to craft the language. (I never thought that I would write a blog using Tom Fitzgerald and Rush Limbaugh in the same sentence.)

HB 537 ( renewable energy portfolio standards) could also see some revision. As it reads now, the portfolio standards aren’t really standards at all, but more like wishes. It is hoped that either through this bill, or somewhere in future legislation we will get some goals for increasing our use of alternative energy with some “teeth” and better still, some real economic incentives. Andy McDonald, a KCC Board member and Director of the Kentucky Solar Partnership has written an excellent white paper on this issue which should be available soon on The KCC website.

A long and productive session for the KCC has ended, and now the task is to monitor the implementation of our two major pieces of legislation. A Meeting in the Governor’s office with Rep. Webb and Secretary Hayes went well and it is hoped that the Governor will make his appointments to the Land Stewardship Taskforce soon. The Smart Building portion of HB 2 is awaiting the formation of the advisory board outlined in the legislation.

A major priority of the Kentucky Conservation Committee (KCC) for the 2008 Kentucky General Assembly was legislation that would require state government to create demand for high performance buildings, using its own capital construction budget as a stimulus. The state owns over 7,000 buildings and leases another 800, and has a two-year capital budget of almost $10 billion for new construction and renovations.

High performance buildings score highly on “green” rating systems for energy efficiency, improved worker/ student productivity, protection of health, environmental sustainability, reduced liabilities, and lower life cycle costs.  Commercial and public entities have constructed high performance buildings in Kentucky, but the work force skills and some materials used in these buildings are in limited quantities within the state. 

Last fall, KCC board member Russ Barnett drafted a White Paper that outlined desirable legislation. Also in the fall, KCC invited the Kentucky Chapter of the Green Building Council to present the Leadership in Environmental Energy and Design (LEED) certification program to our annual membership meeting.

When the 2008 General Assembly opened, KCC worked with other environmental advocacy organizations and Representative Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, to develop an energy conservation bill. KCC’s High Performance Building legislation was included in HB 2, the bill that resulted from the collaboration. HB 2 passed the General Assembly in the final hours of the 2008 session with these provisions:

·         The Finance and Administration Cabinet must establish an advisory committee and issue standards based on LEED, Green Globes, and other national rating systems;

·         Government and state university buildings entering the design phase before July 1, 2009, must meet the new design standards;

·         Buildings that meet the new design standards will be given preferences in leasing procedures after July 1, 2008, and must meet the new standards if leased after July 1, 2018.

In addition, HB 2 requires collaboration between the Departments of Education and Workforce Development to train students and workers in sustainable building technology, and at the suggestion of the Kentucky Woodand Owners Association, encourages the use of locally and sustainably grown timber products.