SARL Members and Alumni News
Washington cougar bill allows training by vetted houndsmen
Capital Press | Posted on February 4, 2019The Humane Society of the United States has endorsed letting vetted hound handlers pursue cougars to stay sharp for when the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife needs dogs to track a big cat menacing people or livestock. Senate Bill 5320 would heighten scrutiny of the handlers used by the state. In exchange, handlers who pass muster could take their dogs out and trail cougars under a training program overseen by Fish and Wildlife.
In Kansas and Missouri, why are rural lawmakers interfering in cities’ affairs?
Kansas City Star | Posted on February 4, 2019Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly made rural redevelopment a central part of her first speech to lawmakers.“The majority of our 105 counties lost population last year, and for many years prior to that,” she said. “Whether it’s roads, broadband, housing, or agriculture, they need our support.”Maybe they’ll get it. The Kansas House has a new committee aimed at revitalizing rural areas. Across the state line in Missouri, Gov. Mike Parson wants $5 million to expand broadband internet. “We currently have about 10 school districts and many rural communities that lack access to high speed broadband,” he told the legislature. “That is unacceptable.”Such appeals to rural development in Kansas and Missouri are pretty common. Perhaps, though, it’s a good time to ask a fundamental question: Why?Why should urban and suburban areas care about, or help pay for, rural development of broadband, schools, housing or anything else?But the problem now is obvious: Those closest to rural culture are leaving for the cities, in droves. One-fourth of Kansas counties have fewer than 3,000 residents. Some rural Kansas counties may be all but abandoned by 2064, according to one study. At that point, 80 percent of all Kansans will live in urban or suburban communities. Most people living in cities and the suburbs are quite happy to help out their rural neighbors, by supporting school districts with 170 students, or backing taxes for rural roads and bridges, or better internet service.What they do object to, increasingly, is the interference of rural lawmakers in local urban affairs, from guns and taxes to trash bags and labor laws. Because rural interests are over-represented in our politics, that interference often becomes law, and it rankles.
Washington:New bill would create rural development investment funds
Columbia Basin Herald | Posted on January 29, 2019Proposed Senate legislation would create rural development and opportunity zone funds and extend tax reductions to certain timber activities. Private investment companies could apply to join these funds that would provide capital for businesses in qualifying areas. The prime sponsor of Senate Bill 5423, District 1 Sen. Guy Palumbo, D-Maltby, reworked the measure from what he proposed last year, noting it won’t cost the state any money. SB 5423 would create a tax incentive for Rural and Small Business Investment Companies (RBICs) and Small Business Investment Companies (SMBICs). In this case, the incentive is for investment in specific opportunity zones in Washington.“This is the way that tax preferences should be written,” said Palumbo. “This one has such strong sideboards and accountability that it theoretically shouldn’t cost the state anything.”
Oregon adopts strict rules for solar panel farms on high-value farm soil
Statesman Journal | Posted on January 29, 2019The Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission didn’t shut the door on new solar farms being built on high-value farmland Friday, but it did allow counties to choose if they could be built under significant restrictions. The commission voted to adopt temporary rules that apply statewide to no longer allow construction of photovoltaic solar power generation facilities — commonly referred to as solar farms — on soils that are determined Class 1, Class 2, prime or unique soils.But if a solar developer can determine a dual use, such as beekeeping, of a solar farm on high-value farmland, they can choose to build on 20 acres if a county allows it.Marion County in March 2018 changed its codes to prohibit building solar farms on high-value farmland.
Trump Eyes Action to Limit States' Powers to Block Pipelines
Bloomberg | Posted on January 29, 2019The Trump administration is considering taking steps to limit the ability of states to block interstate gas pipelines and other energy projects, according to three people familiar with the deliberations. The effort, possibly done through an executive order, is aimed chiefly at states in the Northeast U.S., where opposition to pipeline projects has helped prevent abundant shale gas in Pennsylvania and Ohio from reaching consumers in New York and other cities.
Idaho to pay legal fees after losing 'dairy spying' lawsuit
The Seattle Times | Posted on January 29, 2019A panel of Idaho officials will meet next week to consider paying $260,000 for attorney fees and other costs after losing a lawsuit over an unconstitutional law that sought to criminalize surreptitious filming at agricultural operations. The law was dubbed the “ag-gag” law by critics. It was passed by the Legislature in 2012 after an undercover investigator for a group called Mercy for Animals filmed workers abusing cows at an Idaho dairy.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee's first executive order calls for accelerated rural development
The Tennessean | Posted on January 29, 2019Gov. Bill Lee's first executive order calls for accelerated development in Tennessee's distressed rural counties, a priority he emphasized throughout his campaign for governor. The executive order, issued Wednesday, requires all state executive departments to provide recommendations for how they can better serve rural Tennessee through a "statement of rural impact." His office says the order is a first step by his administration to move forward with plans to spur improvements in 15 rural distressed counties in Tennessee, meaning they are among the 10 percent most economically challenged counties in the nation by the Appalachian Regional Commission, which prepares an annual index.The 22 departments involved in the review have until May 31 to issue their rural impact statements to explain how they serve rural Tennessee. By June 30, each department must release its recommendations for improving service to rural areas.
Rural Hospitals in Greater Jeopardy in Non-Medicaid Expansion States
Pew Trust | Posted on January 24, 2019In December, two nearby hospitals, one almost 40 miles away, the other 60 miles away, closed their doors for good. The closings were the latest in a trend that has seen 21 rural hospitals across Texas shuttered in the past six years, leaving 160 still operating.Lyle, who is CEO, can’t help wondering whether his Falls Community Hospital will be next.“Most assuredly,” he replied when asked whether he could envision his central Texas hospital going under. “We’re not using our reserves yet, but I can see them from here.”It’s not just Texas: Nearly a hundred rural hospitals in the United States have closed since 2010, according to the Center for Health Services Research at UNC Chapel Hill. Another 600-plus rural hospitals are at risk of closing, according to an oft-cited 2016 report by iVantage Health Analytics. Texas had the most hospitals in danger of closing (75), the health metrics firm said. And Mississippi had the largest share of hospitals at risk (79 percent).Neither state has expanded Medicaid eligibility to more of its low-income residents under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. In fact, the closures and at-risk hospitals are heavily clustered in the 14 states that have not expanded.Those state decisions not to expand have deprived rural hospitals, which already operate with the slimmest of margins, of resources that could be the difference between survival and closure.
Housing program helps workers find homes in rural Nebraska
Sioux City Journal | Posted on January 24, 2019A couple in northeast Nebraska is the first to find housing through the state's rural housing program, which aims to help rural communities increase housing opportunities to better retain workers.The state's $7 million Rural Workforce Housing Fund gives nonprofit development organizations matching grants to construct or rehabilitate housing in rural parts of the state. The goal is to create housing options for middle-income workers who don't qualify for other housing assistance programs but don't have enough for a down payment.
North Dakota expands testing after bovine TB strain is confirmed
Meating Place (free registration required) | Posted on January 24, 2019State veterinarians in North Dakota are continuing testing cattle after a total of seven beef cows in a herd from Sargent County tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (TB) in recent months. The TB strain – Mycobacterium bovis – has not previously been identified in U.S. cattle and is most similar to cases that have been identified in Mexican cattle, the North Dakota Department of Agriculture noted on its website. The agency also warned that the strain of TB can be transmitted from animals to humans and from humans to animals.