Washington,
May 10 -
Congressman Jim Gerlach today joined many of his colleagues on the House Suburban Agenda Caucus to announce a legislative agenda that address issues important to the millions of Americans living outside of the nation’s cities. The seven bills the Caucus will work on this year includes H.R. 5313, the Open Space and Farmland Preservation Act, a legislative-priority Congressman Gerlach has been working on since his first term.
“I know the issue of open space preservation is very important to my constituents in the 6th District,” Rep. Gerlach said. “Through the Caucus, we’ve brought issues to the forefront that many consider “non-controversial” but that are vital to improving the quality of life in many of our Congressional districts. It is time that we actively consider and enact measures to benefit all Americans, but will particularly address the challenges facing working families in fast-growing suburban areas.”
The Open Space and Farmland Preservation Act is designed to promote the protection of the most threatened farmland and open space in a community; land that a state, county and municipality or private entity have all agreed is worthy of preservation. To do so, H.R. 5313 reserves a small portion of federal Farmland Protection Program dollars to provide matching federal dollars for preservation efforts that are already receiving a state, county, and local or private dollar. The bill creates a challenge grant that encourages states, counties, and municipalities or private entities to work together to obtain a federal twenty-five percent match.
“This legislation will go a long way toward using existing federal dollars to encourage more states, counties, municipalities and private groups to take action to protect open space and farmland,” Rep. Gerlach said. “It is important to note that the bill is also fiscally responsible as it does not authorize any new spending, it simply reserves a portion of existing program dollars. It’s my hope that if this “pilot program” is enacted it will lead to more federal efforts to preserve farmland and open space.”
House leadership has been working with the Suburban Agenda Caucus members to identify bills that will be brought to the House floor for a vote in the upcoming months.
In addition to Congressman Gerlach’s legislation, the other bills announced today included: the School Safety Acquiring Faculty Excellence Act (H.R. 4894); the Charitable Donations for Open Space Act (H.R. 5056); The Health IT Promotion Act (H.R. 4157); the 401 Kids family Savings Account (H.R. 5314); the Deleting Online Predators Act (H.R. 5319); and the Gang Elimination Act of 2006 (H.R. 5291).
