Action Alert:---State Legislation SB12, SB115, SB401, SB370
Action Alert:---State Legislation HB 2800
Action Alert:---State Legislation HB 2173
Action Alert:---State Legislation SB 478
Related Posts: Action Alert:---State Legislation SB12, SB115, SB401, SB370 Action Alert:---State Legislation HB 2800 Action Alert:---State Legislation HB 2173 Action Alert:---State Legislation SB 478 Please call, email, and write a letter to the Senators on the Business and Transportation Committee and ask them to support SB 478. Let them know that it is time to give the people a vote on the debt created by Urban Renewal. The following is a Sample letter and more links to more information. SAMPLE LETTER: Hello Senators, I am writing you today to ask for your support of SB 478, which would allow the voter to have a choice over the Urban Renewal Agencies in the state. The Bill is currently in one of your committees, Business & Transportation, and I would like you to pass this bill out of committee and onto the floor for a full vote of the Senate. Last year the State of Oregon lost over $182 Million in taxes due to Tax Increment Financing, which is the process Urban Renewal agencies use to skim money from schools, colleges, hospitals, fire departments, law enforcement and many other taxing districts that provide the basic services on which people depend. The state’s school districts suffer the largest loss of money, up to 45% of the funding comes from their coffers, and the state has to backfill that loss with the revenue provided by our income taxes. Then cities and counties use that funding to leverage grant money from state and federal government agencies. Those grants also come from other sources of tax revenue paid for by us, the taxpayer. It becomes apparent that the entire process is a pyramid scheme developed as a mechanism to provide sustainability to the corporate welfare system, with little to no input from citizens. Eventually this process will start to consume too much of our taxes and will leave many municipalities financially ravaged. Cities and counties cannot go into bankruptcy according to OR law, so they use the debt from Urban Renewal to subsidize their budgets through varying infrastructure projects. A city or county does not suffer damage to their credit rating if their Urban Renewal Agency goes belly-up, because under current law it is an independent entity legally separate from the city or county of origin. Currently, Multnomah County sacrifices 25% of every dollar collected in property taxes to Urban Renewal and much of that money goes into the pockets of very wealthy developers and private consultants. Please, support the people of Oregon by supporting SB 478 and Thank You for your time. Senators on the Business and Transportation CommitteeHere are the links to the bill: Senate Bill 478 http://apps.leg.state.or.us/MeasureInfo/Measure#measureNumber=478 Where to Access Session Information for the Oregon Legislature? Click to Find Your Oregon State Legislator Where to Access Session Information for the Oregon Legislature? The podcast above is a good program on Urban Renewal. |
Chair Representative Brian Clem Vice-Chair Representative Kevin Cameron Vice-Chair Representative Lew Frederick Member Representative Paul Holvey Member Representative Kim Thatcher Member Representative Ben Unger Member Representative John Davis Hey folks, Here is some information of the first piece of State Legislation that will need our support. Please, read the bill and contact your State Congressman and tell them to pass HB2173....Rob T. Action Alert UpdateThe Oregon Citizen Lobby has scored this bill please review at: http://www.tracktheirvote.org/ttv/TrackBill.aspx You will also be able to access the actual bill as introduced! From a Watchdog in Salem: We, in the Coquille Valley and other parts of Oregon need your help. Please either call or email Rep. Brian Clem, Chairman of the House Land Use Committee and tell him you want a hearing on this very important bill to protect and conserve agriculture lands for food and future generations of farmers and ranchers. Without creating a venue or process for wetland creation, restoration or enhancement, hundreds of acres of agriculture lands will continue to be converted out of agriculture production and into "permanent" wetlands. The latest proposal in the Coquille Valley is 742 acres in Winter Lake, Beaver Slough, and Lowe Creek. Chair, Land Use Committee Rep. Brian Clem: [email protected] (503) 986-1421 House District 9 Rep: Caddie McKeown 503-986-1409 From a Watchdog in The Coquille Valley In August another farmer in the Willamette Valley and I met with Rep. Krieger and LC to draft a bill to provide a process for these wetland restoration projects plus address the lack of liability on EFU lands should the operation be impacted by the restoration project. Currently Oregon statutes provide for fish restoration projects to be exempt from liability except for "gross negligence". Currently there are two bills in legislature. One is HB2173, which is sponsored by Rep. Krieger and Rep. Brian Clem (Salem). The bill has been sent to the House Land Use Committee of which Rep. Clem is Chair. I have done an overview plus provided some background information concerning what is happening. I also did an overview plus documents for the Coquille Valley. I'll send those to you in a second email. I had a conference call this morning and the issue that was brought up is that the "restoration" groups (TNC, Joint Venture, OWEB, etc) are not pleased with these bills. We need to be proactive in getting our story out to the legislature. Senator Betsy Johnson has a companion bill in the house which is similar to HB2173 but it also addresses the issues of appraisals by these NGO's. Her bill is SB338 and she is also getting a lot of comments. Please take the time to call your legislators or friends at the Capitol and ask them to support these bills. You will notice the overview deals primarily with the need to support Goal 3 and retain productive agriculture land. Right or wrong, this is the approach I think that needs to be taken and we can back up that with the Coquille Valley information. You can get a copy of these bills on-line however since they are land use bills, they 30 plus pages long. Thanks for any assistance you can provide. sharon Related Posts: Congressman Peter DeFazio & The Land and Water Conservation Fund USFWS---Three Articles relevant to the LWCF and the NFWF Senators Wyden and Reid Planning 2013 Omnibus Federal LandsBill USFWS & USDOT---North Bank Lane Project Coos County Today---Sign the "NO Bandon Marsh Petition" USFWS---Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge American Policy Center---news on more Federal Land grabs The National Fish & Wildlife Foundation The US Forest Service Is Involved With Another Land Grab in Coos County “Coos County Today” Keep the Lights ON in Bandon Congress wants answers on Oregon farmer crackdown Land Acquisition Green Group Gets $2.4 Billion from BP Settlement RMP's for Western Oregon Urgent, Urgent, Urgent, House May Cave On LWCF. Call Now. NO BME | Info on HB2173Oregon Live Track a Bill http://gov.oregonlive.com/bill/ Link to the State Website http://www.leg.state.or.us/ Link to the page on the State Legislature’s website http://www.leg.state.or.us:8765/query.html?qt=hb2173&charset=iso-8859-1 Link to the wording of the bill HB2173 Below is the Committee and its member for the two wetland bills. These committee members need letters from you supporting the legislation and your story. SB 338: Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee Sen. Jackie Dingfelder, Chair [email protected] Sen. Alan Olsen, Vice-Chair [email protected] Sen. Mark Haas [email protected] Sen. Alan Bates [email protected] Sen. Bill Hansell [email protected] Also I would recommend you send your letters to: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] I also checked to see if there was a venue to email all legislators at once without typing them and there is not. I checked this afternoon with our OFBF lobbyist. You can go on-line and get the list of 2013 legislators. Here are some others that need emails: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] HB2173 has gone to the House Land Use Committee. Chair Brian Clem signed onto this bill. Special "thank you" to Rep. Clem who was raised in Coos County. Rep. Brian Clem, Chair [email protected] Rep. Lew Frederick, V-Chair [email protected] Rep. Kevin Cameron, V-Chair [email protected] Rep. John Davis [email protected] Rep. Paul Holvey [email protected] Rep. Kim Thatcher [email protected] Ben Unger [email protected] |
Committee Staffer:[email protected] Co-Chair Representative Cliff Bentz 503-986-1460 Co-Chair Representative Tobias Read 503-986-1427 Co-Chair Senator Lee Beyer 503-986-1706 Co-Chair Senator Bruce Starr 503-986-1715 Senator Chuck Thomsen 503-986-1726 Senator Chris Edwards 503-986-1707 Senator Fred Girod 503-986-1709 Senator Rod Monroe 503-986-1724 | Representative Kevin Cameron 503-986-1419 Representative John Davis 503-986-1426 Representative Margaret Doherty 503-986-1426 Representative Chris Gorsek 503-986-1449 Representative John Lively 503-986-1412 Representative Caddy McKeown 503-986-1409 Representative Nancy Nathanson 503-986-1413 Representative Julie Parrish 503-986-1437 |
Oscar Hult, executive director of the Albany Downtown Association, said the ADA has been keeping track of jobs in the main downtown district, but only since 2010, and only for a small portion of the CARA boundaries (Water Street to Third
Avenue and Calapooia to Baker streets; a total of 18 blocks).
The agency is now planning a more thorough, annual survey of jobs lost and gained for the entire downtown, Hult said. “We just want to know whether or not downtown’s truly becoming more viable.”
Since 2010, he said, the 18-block area has gained 161 jobs and lost 71.5, for a net gain of 89.5.
How much of that is because of the urban renewal district, however, is impossible to say.
Co-Chair Senator Lee Beyer 503-986-1706 Co-Chair Senator Bruce Starr 503-986-1715 Senator Chuck Thomsen 503-986-1726 Senator Chris Edwards 503-986-1707 Senator Fred Girod 503-986-1709 Senator Rod Monroe 503-986-1724 | Co-Chair Representative Cliff Bentz 503-986-1460 Co-Chair Representative Tobias Read 503-986-1427 Representative Kevin Cameron 503-986-1419 Representative John Davis 503-986-1426 Representative Margaret Doherty 503-986-1426 Representative Chris Gorsek 503-986-1449 Representative John Lively 503-986-1412 Representative Caddy McKeown 503-986-1409 Representative Nancy Nathanson 503-986-1413 Representative Julie Parrish 503-986-1437 |
FY 2008 Land Acquisition Requests
http://www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/LWCF/purchases08/docs/PNWstreams_project_fy08.pdf
Appropriation History:
FY 2002-2006 Appropriations $10,980,896 3,770 acres
FY 2007 Appropriation $0 0
FY 2008 Request $1,000,000 280 acres
Future requests $6,925,000 2,340 acres
http://democratherald.com/news/local/article_22d86e8c-f041-11e0-94c3-001cc4c002e0.html
In 1983, Congress established the Bandon Marsh as a national wildlife refuge to protect the largest remaining tidal salt marsh in the Coquille River Estuary. In 1999, DeFazio led the effort to pass the refuge expansion to include the Ni-les’tun Unit. This area includes an intertidal marsh, a freshwater marsh, and riparian areas for migratory birds and salmon, steelhead and cutthroat
trout.
DeFazio also helped secure $765,000 in land acquisition funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and $4.2 million in transportation act money for North Bank Lane improvements.
Land and Water Conservation FundFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The United States' Land and Water Conservation Fund(LWCF) is a Federal program that was established by Act of Congress in 1964 to provide funds and matching grants to federal, state and local governments for the acquisition of land and water, and easements on land and water, for the benefit of all Americans.[1] The main emphases of the fund are recreation and the protection of national natural treasures in the forms of parks and protected forest and wildlife areas. The LWCF has a broad-based coalition of support and oversight, including the National Parks Conservation Association, The Wilderness Society, and the Land Trust Alliance. The primary source of income to the fund is fees paid to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement by companies drilling offshore for oil and gas. Congress regularly diverts most of the funds from this source to other purposes, however. Additional minor sources of income include the sale of surplus federal real estate and taxes on motorboat fuel.[1] Funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund have been utilized over the years on projects both large and small. LWCF has helped state agencies and local communities acquire nearly seven million acres (28,000 km²) of land and easements controlling further land, developed project sites including such popular recreational areas as Harper's Ferry in West Virginia, California's Big Sur Coast, and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in Montana, helped maintain Yellowstone National Park, and helped to build and maintain "thousands of local playgrounds, soccer fields, and baseball diamonds."[2] Though LWCF is authorized with a budget cap of $900 million annually, this cap has been met only twice during the program's nearly four decades of existence. The program is divided into two distinct funding pools: state grants and federal acquisition funds. The distribution formula takes into account population density and other factors. On the federal side, each year, based on project demands from communities as well as input from the federal land management agencies, the President makes recommendations to Congress regarding funding for specific LWCF projects. In Congress, these projects go through an Appropriations Committee review process. Given the intense competition among projects, funding is generally only provided for those projects with universal support. Initially authorized for a twenty-five-year period, the LWCF has been extended for another twenty-five years, its current mandate running until January 2015. | National Fish and Wildlife Foundation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) was created by the U.S. Congress in 1984 to protect and restore fish and wildlife and their habitats. NFWF directs public dollars to critical environmental needs and matches those investments with private contributions. NFWF supports science-based, results-oriented projects across the United States and the world. NFWF provides grants on a competitive basis to protect imperiled species, promote healthy oceans and waterways, improve wildlife habitat, advance sustainable fisheries and conserve water for wildlife and people. Birds, freshwater fish, marine and coastal ecosystems, wildlife and habitat are focal areas. NFWF’s Congressional mandate is to connect government agencies, non-profit organizations, corporations and individuals to combine federal funds with private donations for effective, results-oriented conservation projects. Since its establishment in 1984 through 2011, NFWF has awarded over 11,600 grants leveraging $576 million in federal funds into more than $2 billion for conservation. As part of its Congressional charter, NFWF also serves as a neutral, third-party fiduciary to receive, manage and disburse funds that originate from court orders, settlements of legal cases, regulatory permits, licenses, and restoration and mitigation plans. The funds are managed under NFWF’s Impact-Directed Environmental Account (IDEA) program. NFWF works with federal agencies, regional, state, and local organizations, corporations and philanthropic institutions to apply these funds to conservation projects. NFWF has no membership and does not advocate or litigate. NFWF is a public charity under the IRS tax code and treated as a private corporation established under Federal law. Under the terms of its enabling legislation, NFWF is required to report its proceedings and activities annually to Congress. Profile of grantees. The Foundation has tended to make grants for land and easement acquisitions to larger, more established organizations with experienced staff who have the know-how to put together a grant proposal and complete an easement project. These organizations include: The Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, Natural Resources Conservation Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and large regional land trusts. These major organizations received about two-thirds of the 73 grants for interests in land reviewed by the consultants under the General Applications program between 1986 and 2002. |
Since 1965 the recorded balance in offshore oil revenues credited to, but not appropriated from, the LWCF is $17 billion. Imagine the scale of conservation that could be accomplished if we decided to “settle up” and expend these technically already conservation-committed dollars! Much more realistic and urgent, however, is the need to begin committing the full, legally authorized LWCF amount every year within our federal budget. Since taking office, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced repeatedly his commitment to “fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund,” but previous administrations have made similar statements, without result. Today signs are again promising: the proposed fiscal year 2011 federal budget requests more than $600 million in LWCF funding (including $384 million for federal land acquisition, $100 million for the USDA Forestry Legacy Program, $85 million for the cooperative endangered species fund, and $50 million for state transfers and grants, according to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation), and bills are being discussed in Congress that would mandate fully funding the LWCF.
"I am pleased that this amendment significantly advances the cause of making public lands more accessible for multiple uses including hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation," said Senator Thune. "Our amendment reauthorizes the North American Wetlands Conservation Act and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. This amendment also includes language that I've advocated for in the past which would ensure that the EPA cannot regulate the use of lead ammunition and lead in fishing gear."
One provision within the legislation would direct 1.5 percent of Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) dollars towards priority recreational access projects. The “Making Public Lands Public” provision is intended to improve access to Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands where access is blocked by private land. Priority access easements and acquisitions often do not fare well when directly competing for limited LWCF funds with large-scale habitat conservation efforts. Dedicating a small percentage of LWCF dollars towards these small but critical projects has the potential to significantly improve sportsmen’s access.
May 11, 2000
https://forms.house.gov/defazio/pf_051100ENRelease.htm
CARA provides $2.8 billion in annual funding for important conservation and recreation programs. Since 1965, revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling have been earmarked for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (L&WCF), which now has an unspent surplus of $13 billion. The bill would provide full funding for the L&WCF which supports federal and state open space protection and park improvements. In addition, the bill allocates oil and gas revenues for coastal conservation, fish and wildlife, urban parks, historic preservation, federal and Indian lands restoration, farm and forest land protection, and endangered species recovery programs.
Conservation legislation at the top of Wyden’s list
Despite the failure of the last Congress to act on dozens if not hundreds of conservation bills, new Senate Energy Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) intends to tackle the backlog first thing this year.
“To that end, one of Sen. Wyden’s first priorities will be to pass the dozens of lands bills left over from last Congress,” said Wyden’s press assistant Samantha Offerdahl. “As you may know, Sen. Wyden introduced several wilderness bills that didn’t move last year, including proposals to protect thousands of acres of wilderness land near Devil’s Staircase, Cathedral Rock, Horse Heaven and Wild Rogue in Oregon.”
As usual the obstacle last year was the Senate’s filibuster rule.Faced with the press of other business, such as Hurricane Sandy
relief, Senate leaders did not choose to offer either an omnibus wildlife bill, an omnibus lands bill or a combination of the two on the floor.
Wyden intends to meet that Senate impasse head on. “Generally, Sen. Wyden has said that he would like to restore the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to something resembling the success of the committee in the past,” said Offerdahl.
“That means routinely passing public lands bills important to the nation, and moving through the gridlock that halted the progress of public lands bills many members of the Senate introduced in previous years.”
House members have already begun reintroducing park and rec bills this month for the 113th Congress, with a handful of minor measures in the hopper. For instance Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced a bill (HR 250) January 15 that would
require Congressional approval of any national monument designated by a President. Senators will begin introducing their bills January 22.
Last year the Senate Energy Committee, under former chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), did not get around to going public with an omnibus lands bill that was expected to include 100 or so individual bills, although it reportedly assembled a measure. Those individual bills would have designated new national parks, designated wild and scenic rivers, designated wilderness areas, authorized land exchanges and much more.
A wildlife bill composed of 19 individual measures promoted by sportsmen effectively expired on the Senate floor Nov. 26,
2012, when Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) demanded a procedural vote on the budget impacts of the bill (S 3525). Sixty votes were needed to keep the bill alive, but only 50 senators voted for it.
Some of the items in the wildlife bill were also candidates for the omnibus lands bill, if not the whole measure.
All the conservation legislation will have to start over in this 113th Congress; however, the odds will be slightly more favorable because Wyden intends to move aggressively on them. In addition Democrats who tend to support omnibus land bills and omnibus wildlife bills made modest gains in the November 6 elections.
The Senate Energy Committee had been taking the lead in assembling an omnibus bill but Senate Democratic leaders did not give clearance for floor consideration. For its part the House Natural Resources Committee moved more than 100 land bills through the House floor, only to see them die in the Senate.
End of Public Lands News article excerpt.
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