ADVOCACY ALERT: House Bill No. 2686

REORGANIZATION OF WATER RELATED AGENCIES AND FEES FOR WATER FUNDING
The House Water Committee has introduced a bill, HB 2686, with the goal of improving the protection and management of water in our state. You can read the bill on the Kansas Legislature’s website here: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2021_22/measures/hb2686/

Please consider submitting your thoughts on the content of House Bill No. 2686. You can submit testimony either in writing, virtual or in person. Testimony will be heard on Wednesday and Thursday of next week, February 16 and 17, 2022. We also ask that if possible, come to the Statehouse for the hearings! Water is important and we need to show our support for attention to water in Kansas.

Hearing: Wednesday, February 16, 2022, 9:00 AM Room 152-S.
Hearing: Thursday, February 17, 2022, 9:00 AM Room 152-S.

Here you will find the House Water Committee’s agenda for next week here. http://kslegislature.org/li/b2021_22/committees/ctte_h_water_1/documents/agenda/weekly/20220220.pdf

We have also included the House Water Committee’s rules for testifying below. You should notify the committee assistant, Tony Prohaska, of your intent to testify as soon as possible and no later than 9 am Monday. Tony can be reached by email at Tony.Prohaska@House.ks.gov or by phone at 785-296-7310. An electronic copy of your testimony should then be submitted to Tony no later than 10:00 a.m. the day before you testify. Testimony can be offered orally or written, virtually or in-person, and can be proponent, neutral, or opponent in nature. The committee rules are listed here: http://kslegislature.org/li/b2021_22/committees/misc/20212022watercommitteenoticetoconfereesadjustedfornewca.pdf

Why is this important? Some thoughts from your Kansas Riverkeeper:

For years, we’ve been advocating at the Kansas Capitol for more attention to water issues. We’ve begged, pleaded, and danced around in hopes that someone would pay attention. In the middle of the battles over education, we were told that “water would have to wait”. The Kansas Water Plan has been under funded for the last 15 years and has never received an increase since it’s inception. We have heard from citizens that water is confusing in Kansas and that you never know where to go to find anything. We’ve been advocating, but often times it felt like our voice was small compared to so many other issues facing our state.

In 2021, the House Water Committee was created and they took up the issue (we are grateful). They spent all of last session taking a very hard look at how water is organized in Kansas, how far behind we are on dealing with water issues, and how much money we need to get things right. Along the way, the rest of us learned about water in Kansas, too. If you missed it, you can get up to speed by watching the videos of the House Water Committee in 2021 and 2022 here: https://www.youtube.com/c/KSLegislatureLIVE

What we all learned, is that water in Kansas is confusing and we don’t really realize great synergies due to the way that water is organized right now. We are in this together – trying to make sure we have enough water for EVERYONE, the best water quality for EVERYONE, planning for climate change, and making sure that our kids don’t have too many messes to clean up. This is hard work, folks. I commend the House Water Committee for their hard work to bring forth House Bill 2686. I am grateful for their bipartisan leadership – yes, you heard me right. Bipartisan leadership. They have set the example at the Statehouse and I’m proud of the work they’ve done.

Now it’s your turn. Submit testimony. Be heard.
For the river,
Dawn Buehler
Kansas Riverkeeper

For more thoughts on water, read your Kansas Riverkeeper’s latest blog about funding water in Kansas: https://kansasriver.org/category/chasing-the-channel-blog/

Chasing the Channel – Blog No. 19

So, let’s talk water.  I’m not talking about the river itself, although it is directly related to protecting it.  I’m talking about water funding.

I have spent every year of my time with Friends of the Kaw advocating for water funding.  The first six years were spent advocating at Legislative Days at the Kansas State Capitol and in my role on the Kansas Basin Regional Advisory Committee.  Recently, in my appointment to the Chair of the Kansas Water Authority, I will once again be advocating at the Kansas State Capitol to fund water. 

Why is this so important?  The Kansas Water Office is responsible for creating the Kansas Water Plan, a comprehensive document that incorporates characteristics mandated by the State Water Resources Planning Act. Once complete, this document will be submitted to the Kansas Water Authority for review and approval.  This document outlines programs that can be used across the state to protect water quality and quantity.  This is a very detailed and well thought out document, but if you don’t fund it, it is of little value.

The Kansas Water Plan is required to be funded by the State Water Plan Fund.  The State Water Plan Fund receives funds from fees that are assessed to municipal, industrial, and agricultural-related water users and includes a demand transfer (statutory) from the State General Fund for $6 million and EDIF (Economic Development Initiatives Fund) for $2 million.  This total statutory demand transfer payment of $8 million per year has not been fully made into the State Water Plan Fund for the last 15 years, resulting in $84.6 million that has not been transferred to the Kansas Water Plan Fund.  In the past few years, the Kansas Legislators have increased the funding and demonstrated a commitment to these water priorities through partial restoration of these dollars.  However, the Blue Ribbon Task Force determined that the state needs roughly $55 million per year for water.  We currently sit at a total of approximately $20 million per year for water.  So….we have some work to do, but let’s start will full restoration of the demand transfer of $8 million. 

In Governor Kelly’s recent State of the State Address earlier this month, she announced that for the first time in 15 years, her budget would reflect a full restoration of the $8 Million to the State Water Plan Fund. We were thrilled to hear this announcement and thank Governor Kelly for supporting water.  Our next steps involve every single one of us in this state – we must make a call to action.  Please contact your Legislator (Kansas Senate and House of Representative, find yours here) and let them know that you care about water and want to see the statutory funding fully restored.  When you write, call or see them in person, please always be grateful and thank them for their work to increase funding over the years, however, please support full restoration of the demand transfer of $8 million. 

To get completely up to date on the status of water planning in Kansas, please read the Kansas Water Authority’s 2022 Annual Report to the Governor and Legislature.

We have more work to do, but it starts here.  We can do more, when we do it together.

For the river,

Dawn Buehler

Kansas Riverkeeper & Executive Director

Friends of the Kaw