Posted on 05/27/2004 6:11:18 AM PDT by forester
DATE: MAY 2, 2004
TO: ALL GRASSROOTS AND CONCERNED CITIZENS . . . . . . . . . . . (PLEASE SHARE WITH YOUR LIST OF CONTACTS)
FROM: ROSE COMSTOCK - PRESIDENT - ALLIANCE FOR AMERICA www.allianceforamerica.org
WHAT: Wednesday of this week the California Assembly Appropriations Committee approved two bills that would establish a Sierra Nevada Conservancy.
Governor Schwarzenegger has indicated that he intends to create a Sierra Nevada Conservancy during his first term in office. These two bills-AB 1788 and AB 2600-present radically different ways of doing so.
AB 2600 by Assemblyman Laird (D-Santa Cruz) would give Sierra residents virtually no say in the conservancy's operations. In contrast, AB 1788 by Assemblyman Leslie (R-Tahoe City) would create an entirely new type of conservancy. It would ensure that a large portion of the conservancy board is comprised of locally-elected officials, and it would give local communities the right to say "no" to projects they find objectionable.
Yesterday, however, staff members of the Appropriations Committee removed the parts of AB 1788 that gave local communities a "veto" power over objectionable projects.
Assemblyman Leslie has stated unequivocally that he will actively oppose any Conservancy language that does not provide local communities a point of real leverage in the decision-making process. If he cannot amend AB 1788 and return meaningful local influence to the bill, he wishes to "assure the residents of the Sierra that he will drop his own bill and actively oppose any attempts at creation of a conservancy-regardless of the possibility that AB 2600 may become the law of California."
ACTION: There is only a small window of opportunity to generate pressure to reinstate language that ensures strong local voice in the conservancy decision-making process! Both bills are headed for the Assembly Floor next week. Governor Schwarzenegger, the Resources Agency, and members of the Assembly need to hear from you! Governor Schwarzenegger can still intervene, but he will only do that if he gets strong pressure from all of us. Make your calls beginning Monday, May 24th, send your faxed letter and emails all next week until a vote occurs.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger http://www.governor.ca.gov/state/govsite/gov_homepage.jsp State Capitol Building Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: 916-445-2841 Fax: 916-445-4633 governor@governor.ca.gov
Secretary of Resources Mike Chrisman
California Resources Agency Sacramento, CA 95812-2815 Phone: (916) 653-5656 (916) 653-8102 fax http://resources.ca.gov/
Assistant to the Secretary for Resources: Cynthia J. Paulsen Cyndy.Paulsen@Resources.Ca.Gov
Members of the State Assembly
To find your State Assembly member: http://www.assembly.ca.gov/
TALKING POINTS:
- Any proposed conservancy gives us cause for serious concern. Countless problems have been created in our region by state employees with no accountability to the people and little connection to the areas their decisions impact. Like the Governor, it is our desire to see government become more responsive and connected to the people, not less so.
- If there is to be a Sierra Nevada Conservancy, it must be built upon respect for and collaboration with the people who live in the Sierra.
- Such a conservancy can be established only if its design requires collaborative decision-making. The Conservancy board must contain strong representation from the Sierra region, and, more importantly, any major board action must be based upon general consensus with local elected officials.
- Local governments are responsible for local land use planning and decisions, and are held accountable by their constituents for such decisions. Unless local government has the ability to say "no" to conservancy acquisitions it finds objectionable, the conservancy will have the power to approve acquisitions with no local oversight.
- Giving local communities a true voice would be unique for a conservancy. However, any conservancy stretching across the entire Sierra Nevada would be unique. No existing conservancy contains the vast area, diverse sub-regions, and varied land uses encompassed by the Sierras.
- The best government efforts always draw from the perspective, volunteerism, and commitment of local communities. By ensuring the conservancy only undertakes projects embraced by local communities, we can create the goodwill and trust critical to effective efforts.
- In addition, a new conservancy must not be funded on the backs of taxpayers. How can Sacramento lawmakers justify crating another agency in the business of buying up more land, while the state is dealing with a severe budget deficit affecting education, healthcare, fire protection and other vital services? Unless its funding is drawn from existing conservation programs, new conservancy would only add to the existing budget burden the state is facing.
Background:
http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/acsframeset2text.htm - AB1788 Leslie This bill creates the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) in the Resources Agency, with a governing board consisting of 20 voting members and three non-voting members, to acquire, and direct the management, of public lands located primarily within the "Core Sierra Nevada Region."
http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/acsframeset2text.htm - AB2600 Laird This bill creates the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) in the Resources Agency, with a governing board consisting of seven voting members and three non-voting members to undertake activities that encourage tourism and recreation, protect, conserve, and restore the region's resources, reduce the risk of natural disaster, protect water quality, help local economies, identify high priority projects for funding, enhance public use and enjoyment of public lands, and advance environmental preservation and economic well-being.
http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=31721
In the Heights of Sierra, It's Hard to Give an Inch Source: Copyright 2004, LA Times Date: May 16, 2004 Byline: Julie Cart, Times Staff Writer
The Sierra Nevada's rural communities share more than 400 miles of the granite mountain range and an unswerving conviction that the region should not be dictated to from afar.
But that independent streak threatens to scuttle a five-year effort to create a Sierra Nevada Conservancy, which could funnel millions of dollars to the economically depressed region while protecting its vaunted scenery and natural resources.
Two bills in the Assembly that would create a conservancy could be defeated as a result of the region's reluctance to cede authority to outsiders and because of fear that too much land will be put off-limits to hunting, fishing, livestock grazing and other traditional activities.
Originally posted at: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-sierra16may16,1,6491835.story?coll=la-news-environment
Evening bump.
ping
ping
Well, it's nice you are aware of this stuff too. I guess I'll quit worrying.
Also, are you keeping a ping list for this? If so... tertiary01 is interested.
---------------------------
CURRENT BILL STATUS
MEASURE : A.B. No. 1788
AUTHOR(S): Leslie.
TOPIC: Sierra Nevada Conservancy.
HOUSE LOCATION: SEN
+LAST AMENDED DATE: 05/26/2004
TYPE OF BILL :
Active
Non-Urgency
Non-Appropriations
Majority Vote Required
State-Mandated Local Program
Fiscal
Non-Tax Levy
LAST HIST. ACT. DATE: 05/28/2004
LAST HIST. ACTION : In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
TITLE : An act to add Division 23.3 (commencing with Section
33300) to the Public Resources Code, relating to the
Sierra Nevada Conservancy.
For that they would hunt you down like a dog.
Send them a postcard from your new home in a surrounding state, that may make em think ( but I doubt it)
How about one more adjective to the word alert: WACKO RED ALERT!
As for the ping list, I have been using three different lists. The rights farm environment, the short list (which has a general interest use) and the Sac area list. Which one do you want to be on?
If the Sac area list includes the Sierra Nevada, that list will be fine.
Thanks
It does if you are in El Dorado, Placer or Nevada Counties. Adding you.
bttt
Amen. Seems the good ones are always taken from us far too soon.
I saw someone announce on the CA board that Our Lady of Grass Valley is busy with a brand new baby!!! Congratulations, MOM!!!
You farmfriend?
"GVgirl 05/28/2004 6:23:35 PM PDT
Congratulations on your new baby girl."
Sorry 'bout that, but I guess I sure gotcher attenshun!!!
RE: Letter to Governor (#20 this thread)
I have heard nothing back from the Governor, but I DID get this email (below) back from Tim Leslie's Office, which I thought I might share with you. If nothing else, I am impressed with his PR department - since I am not in his district. No big deal of course, but at least it says SOMEONE in his office is paying attention. Am I 'reading between the lines' correctly if I infer from his response that he might actually *LIKE* to get some more correspondence of the sort he might get from this group? ...perhaps an encouragement to others who might consider writing?
I'm going to try and see if our lobbyist will go talk to the committees once the bills have been assigned. Since I don't have access to State Net anymore I will have to try to find out the hearing dates on the public stuff. Oh joy.
Check out the last couple of posts.
Oh no... another chance for Doug to burst some blood vessels inre the likes of Joe Edmisten!
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