Friday, May 19, 2006

Conservation Bill Looks Likely

Dennis Anderson writes on conservation issues for the Star Tribune. He has been one of the lead voices in the state for many years trying to get the sporting crowd and the environmental crowd working together on behalf of the outdoors that both value highly. This year it finally seems to be happening, and he writes today that he thinks it is a near certainty that the legislature will pass a ballot measure that will allow voters to vote on amending the state constitution to dedicate a portion of the state sales tax to conservation. This kind of guaranteed financial support is sorely needed if the state is going to make progress in cleaning up lakes and rivers and protecting land from development. He credits both Republican and Democratic leadership for bridging their differences to move this bill forward. And he sizes up the opposition this way:
This, despite opposition that remains from some labor unions, at least one state business group and two or three guys with a laptop who call themselves a taxpayers league.
Two or three guys with a laptop who call themselves a taxpayers league. Ain't it the truth.

1 comment:

ProgressiveChurchlady said...

Great news!! One of the lobbyists who has been working hard on this legislation is former Rep. State Rep. John Tuma of Prior Lake. I'm sure he helped bridge the bipartisan gap to make this happen. He works for the consortium of environmental groups that lobby as one unit at the capitol. Chloe and I met him at the dyslexia conference the end of March where he was one of the panelists who talked about how they became successful and continue to overcome the challenges of dyslexia. He now uses voice-to-text and text-to-audio equipment to do his work. His wife read him through law school. Now that is LOVE!