Arkansas Wetlands Mitigation Bank Act, HB1671, is on the Senate agenda

Arkansas Wetlands Mitigation Bank Act, HB1671 proposed by Lindsley Smith (D-Fayetteville ), who may be the most liberal legislator in Little Rock, has passed the Arkansas House and is being considered by Senate Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development. As an aside, it is interesting to note that as a first term legislator, Ms. Smith has introduced a significant number of liberal bills. It also seems that busy house members did not address the issue of protecting the interests of Arkansas land owners. Various Arkansas conservative groups and land owners oppose HB1671 because they note that the Act "is too broad of an expansion of power for the Director of the Natural Resources Commission without sufficient oversight and includes all aquatic resources ."

Several emails received have expressed, "It is one of those bills that is worded so subtly that in a court of law it could be interpreted to mean a number of things and has to do with our preserving our property rights. It could endanger everyone's property rights in some form or other. " People should contact the Senate Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee members and their State senator to express their concerns in regard to amending the bill or defeating the bill so that it can be properly written to address protecting the land owners in the future. There is no need to rush passage of this bill!

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Tags: Arkansas, property rights, wetlands