Water committee hears bill to create state conservation fund, boost water-plan transfers

The Committee on Water opened a public hearing on House Bill 2,113 on Feb. 6 to consider creating a state conservation fund, increasing transfers to the State Water Plan Fund and expanding grant and technical assistance funding for municipal and rural water systems.

Supporters said the bill is intended to preserve and expand local conservation-district capacity and to direct more money toward technical assistance and infrastructure grants. "This is a 2-to-1 state match capped at $50,000," said Shawn Miller, representing the Kansas Association of Conservation Districts, describing the bill's proposed match for county conservation-district staffing. "That gets us to a $75,000 total, much more likely that we can keep an office staff up and running."

The bill would create a new state conservation fund in the state treasury and, beginning July 1, 2025 and on July 1 each year thereafter as monies are available, direct $5,000,000 from the state general fund to that new fund. Section 1 would require the Division of Conservation within the Kansas Department of Agriculture to use the fund to provide a match for conservation districts on a basis of $2 of state money to $1 of nonstate or private money and to fund domestic water‑quality sampling. The division would also be required to adopt rules to administer the fund and solicit stakeholder input on those rules.

Section 2 would…