The Off Season in Jefferson City
by Roy C. Hengerson

When the Missouri State Legislature leaves town after the end on the Session in May, Jefferson City becomes a quiet mid Missouri town. Tourists stream through on their way to the Ozark attractions, including clear rivers, streams, lakes, and historic buildings and sites. However, the legislative action does not completely cease, but rather continues in small meeting rooms, large conferences, and field trips around the state. Out of these activities comes the making of legislative proposals for next year’s legislative session. Three such issues are highlighted in this article.

State Forestry Law
The Missouri State Forestry Law was enacted in 1946. It is badly outdated, especially the Forest Cropland Program which is part of the Law. The goal of the Forest Cropland Program is to encourage private forest landowners to protect and manage their forests by reducing property taxes in exchange for enrolling in the Program. However enrollments have been declining since the early 1970s when 543,000 acres were enrolled. The $400 cap on per acre land value is one reason for the decline. Another is the generally low property taxes in rural Missouri, giving the landowner little incentive to enroll. The current program is also a burden to counties to administer.

Some of the objectives of a revised State Forestry Law include continuation of a voluntary incentive-based forest protection program, increased use of best management practices on private forests, increased use of trained loggers and foresters in private forest land management, and recognition of the many benefits of well managed and protected forests to Missouri citizens.

The Missouri Conservation Department convened a meeting of interested stakeholders in late June 2007 to provide input to development of a forestry law revision. Based on this, legislation will be drafted and reviewed to revise the forestry law. It may take more than one year to enact this law, but the goal is to bring a proposal to the Missouri Legislature for consideration during the 2008 Session.

CAFOs/Local Control
Control of large factory farms or Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) was the biggest environmental controversy in the 2007 Legislative Session. Family farmers, local government officials, and environmentalists won a significant victory by blocking efforts to reduce or eliminate local control of CAFOs. However, we know the issue will be back in 2008. These allies met in mid June 2007 to review the events of the 2007 Session and plan for legislative proposals and actions for the 2008 Session. Involvement of the Missouri Association of Counties will be a key objective. Building public support for the need to control CAFOs will also be important.

During the 2008 Session local control allies will closely monitor the legislative process, assure good communications among the organizations and individuals involved, and plan appropriate activities such as lobby days and other lobbying tactics. The records of individual legislators will be scrutinized and where appropriate will be used in the 2008 legislative elections in order to hold legislators accountable to their constituents. In the 2006 elections local control/CAFO issues became key issues in a number of legislative races.

Green Building Legislation
Passage of the Easy Connection Act was an important victory for the environmental community in 2006. Now is the time to advance other clean and renewable energy proposals, as more and more people understand the need to conserve energy and reduce climate change-causing emissions. Two such legislative proposals are establishing a renewable energy standard and measures to encourage the use of “green” building technologies. There will be a number of meetings this fall as legislative proposals take shape. Expect action on energy issues to unfold during the 2008 Session.