State House Update: Land and Shoreline Protections (continued)
Thank you to everyone who joined us last week at the State House for the Senate Briefing: Conversations with Conservationists. The presentations from our friends and allies this Year were great. If you missed it and would like to view the video: check out the archives here (look for Conversations with Conservationists on Jan. 20, 2016).
The Conservation Bank: This week, Rep. Bingham will introduce a Conservation Bank bill, mirroring Senator Campsen’s bill in the Senate (S.519). This bill will eliminate the sunset, improve the death clause, and increase funding by .05 cents (as recommended by the Wetlands Task Force). Thank you to our bill sponsors and numerous co-sponsors for supporting the conservation of special places in South Carolina. We also appreciate that the DNR Board supports both the Campsen and Bingham bills.
Shoreline Management: The Senate will have a chance this week to restore the permanent baseline language to S.139 from DHEC’s Blue Ribbon Committee (BRC) on Shoreline Management’s recommendations. We’ve been talking about setting a permanent baseline to limit seaward development on our shoreline for several Years — and it’s finally time to act. We thank Senator Cleary for pushing for a permanent baseline in keeping with the BRC’s recommendations.
Please email your Senator about S.139 today.