KCC Legislative Update

The Land Stewardship Taskforce did something that is hard to do in politics — it made a decision. The Taskforce on Thursday the 13Th directed the LRC (Legislative Research Commission) staff to begin drafting a bill that would create a statewide Land Conservation and Stewardship program. This came after a excellent presentation on the essential elements of such a program by Lynn Garrison. Mr. Garrison laid out the key elements in a 45 minute PowerPoint presentation that compared and contrasted other State’s programs in the areas of coordination, management and funding. The Taskforce asked Mr. Garrison to put his suggestions in bill form and work with LRC to come up with a prototype bill. The Chairperson of the Taskforce Senator Brandon Smith asked for volunteers from the group to work on the draft that will be presented to the full Taskforce hopefully at a meeting in late September. The Kentucky Conservation Committee has been plugging away at this issue for over three years and it looks like we’re finally moving in the direction of a coordinated statewide program for the protection and conservation of unique land resources in Kentucky. Stay tuned for reports on the upcoming bill draft.