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House committee approves package to add water funding and technical assistance for small towns
Summary
Lawmakers voted to move a bill that boosts the state water plan funds and technical assistance for small and rural communities and expands conservation district matching; proponents said it builds on 2023 investments, opponents urged more local conservation requirements.
A bill to add funding for the state water plan and to increase technical assistance for small communities advanced after extended debate in the Committee of the Whole.
Representative Blake (committee co-sponsor) and Representative Vaughn described the measure as a response to a backlog of water infrastructure needs across Kansas and to chronic underfunding of water programs. The bill would add money to both the technical assistance program used by small towns and to the water projects fund, and it would increase the state's matching ratio for county conservation district funding from 1-to-1 to 2-to-1 to make local money stretch further.
"Part of this increase will go 7,000,000 additional more money to technical assistance and another 20,000,000 to the water projects funds for a total of 22.5," Representative Blake said in committee debate, characterizing the proposed increases discussed in the bill. The bill was presented alongside background showing $380 million in requested projects after the 2023 funding round.
Supporters emphasized the limited engineering capacity in many small communities and the use of technical assistance to prepare projects to compete for grants. Representative Vaughn said the bill helps communities do the planning required to qualify for larger grants and cited examples of small towns that previously received state assistance.
Opponents cautioned that some towns should first adopt stronger conservation measures and that funds must be directed by local planning. Representative Wasser said she would not support additional dollars without stronger local conservation requirements.
The Committee of the Whole adopted the committee report and reported the bill favorably to the full House.
Ending: If enacted, the bill would increase available grant funds and technical assistance aimed at small towns and conservation districts; the bill includes programmatic changes intended to leverage federal and local matching funds.
