Yesterday, Congress overrode a Presidential veto to pass the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008. Although there was a clerical error in the process, it largely concerns a 34-page segment of the bill that was not in the copy of the bill the President vetoed (and is unrelated to the conservation provisions we have focused on).*

In addition to renewing the easement incentive, this bill:

• Provides a total of $733 million over 5 years for the Farmland Protection Program. It also clarifies the eligibility of land trusts to participate directly and specifies the following funding levels: $97M in FY08, $121M in FY09, $150M in FY10, $175M in FY11 and $200M in FY12.
• Re-establishes the Grassland Reserve Program with a goal of 1.22 million acres, funded with an estimated $300 million.

Click here for the exact language.

Thank you for adding your voice to the hundreds of land trusts and dozens of conservation, wildlife, sportsmen's and agricultural organizations that helped make this victory possible. We have powerful champions in Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Representatives Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Dave Camp (R-MI), but champions alone have failed to extend dozens of other popular tax provisions that expired this year. Your passion, and those many urgent phone calls made all the difference!

How You Can Help

Pat yourself on the back!  Soon, we'll be releasing a new "grassroots toolkit" full of templates to spread the news about this important conservation tool in your community, and to re-launch our campaign to make the incentive permanent. But today is all about saying thank you:

• Send thank-you emails to all the board members, partners and individual supporters who you've asked to contact Congress throughout this process.
• Fax thank you letters to each Senator and Representative who did anything to support the easement incentive, from cosponsoring S.469 or H.R. 1576 to voting for the final Farm Bill. Click here for a sample letter including links to those lists.
• Send a brief personal email or handwritten note to any Congressional staff members who were particularly helpful.
• Thank any reporters who covered your work with the easement incentive. Consider forwarding a copy of our press release with a personal note.

Of course, we're disappointed the conservation tax incentive wasn't made permanent, but this two-year extension has the potential to help us conserve an area twice the size of Rhode Island--forever. That's a legacy for future generations we can truly be proud of! 

Thank you!

Russ Shay                          
Director of Public Policy   
Land Trust Alliance                
rshay@lta.org           
202-638-4725

Sign up to be a Land Trust ADVOCATE
Land Trust Alliance ~ 1660 L St. NW, Suite 1100 ~ Washington DC, 20036 ~ 202-638-4725

Our Mission: To save the places people love by strengthening land conservation across America.

* Interested in the controversy over how the veto was done?  In short, House and Senate parliamentary experts believe that all parts of the Farm Bill except the 34-page international trade section that wasn't in the package that the President vetoed are now law.

Here are excerpts from the Washington Post account:

With an overwhelming 82 to 13 vote, the Senate yesterday completed the override of President Bush's veto of a comprehensive farm bill, shrugging off Republican concerns about an embarrassing legislative glitch to make the $307 billion bill the law of the land.

House GOP leaders continued to grumble that Democrats had violated the Constitution by pressing forward with the veto override after they discovered that a whole section of the bill on trade policy had been inadvertently dropped from the version vetoed Wednesday.

But Democratic leaders said they had court precedent and constitutional scholars on their side. "The veto override will have the force of law," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Senate Republican leaders appeared unconcerned. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) were among the 35 Republicans who joined in the most significant legislative rebuff of Bush's presidency.

Lawmakers said they would take up the farm law's trade section as a separate bill and pass it after their Memorial Day break.

An enrolling clerk dropped the section, which includes international food aid programs, as the measure was being sent to the White House.

House Democratic leaders did push the entire farm bill back through the House again yesterday, in case they decide to start the process over again. But that appeared doubtful after the Senate's action.

Citing the Supreme Court's 1892 decision in Field v. Clark, House parliamentarian John Sullivan released a statement yesterday saying that "the law that would result from a bicameral override of the President's veto on H.R. 2419 would be the text that was presented to the President on parchment, notwithstanding its omission of the congressionally intended [trade] title."

Lastly, from Congress Daily:  "White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the administration is treating the bill as law, although he continued to criticize its provisions."

Thank Your Representative If They Signed The Letter!

On February 14, 2008, Congressmen Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jim Gerlach (R-PA) and Joe Pitts (R-PA) and 62 other Members of the House sent a letter to the House Agriculture Committee urging a permanent extension of the tax incentive for conservation easements in the Farm Bill. Click here for a copy of the letter.

If your Member of Congress appears on the list below, please call and thank them for their support. If they’re listed in red, that means that even though they supported the tax incentive in this letter, they haven’t yet signed on as cosponsors of H.R. 1576, a bill to do exactly what they supported in the letter!   Please ask them to cosponsor HR 1576 too – building that list of cosponsors also helps us demonstrate support for the tax incentive!!

Support the Conservation Programs in the Farm Bill
Your continued support over the next two weeks will be critical to securing the tax incentive and in getting funding increases for critical conservation programs in the Farm Bill! The Senate’s Farm Bill includes a permanent extension of the conservation tax incentive.
Negotiations between the House, the Senate and the President are already underway, so every bit of extra support for making the conservation easement incentive permanent will help. Here are some easy ways you can help:

• TODAY:  Check our list to see if your Representative has cosponsored H.R. 1576, the stand-alone bill to make the easement incentive permanent!  If not, please ask them to do so by calling Elizabeth Thomas in the office of Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA).  If they HAVE cosponsored, thank them – and ask them to please call Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) or Ranking Member Jim McCrery (R-LA) of the House Ways & Means Committee and ask them to help ensure that the provisions in the Senate’s Farm Bill that are identical to H.R. 1576 are included in the final Farm Bill.
  
  
• NEXT WEEK is a Congressional recess, so it’s a great opportunity to meet your Members of Congress close to home! Visit their websites at www.house.gov and www.senate.gov to find the phone number for the district office closest to you. You can request an in-district meeting or find out if they’ll be at public events where you can meet them. If you can’t get to meet with your Representative, be sure to ask their staff to support the same $5 billion in increased funding for conservation programs as was in the bill the House passed last summer. This includes the House’s higher funding for the Farm and Ranch Protection Program and the Grasslands Reserve Program, both of which give grants to land trusts and states to purchase conservation easements on working farm and ranch land.

Need help?  Want to do even more?  E-mail policy@lta.org.

See background, frequently asked questions, and resources on the tax incentive

If you think this new filing requirement may apply to your organization, go to http://www.irs.gov/charities/index.html for complete details.

This is a critically important juncture for our campaign . The Farm Bill is our best opportunity to move the tax incentive forward this year and the key decisions on that bill will be made in the next few weeks.  A personal call from your Representative to Speaker Pelosi or other key leaders could mean the difference between winning or losing the easement incentive.

Help Orchestrate Personal Calls to House Leadership
At this point, it will take a personal call from your Representative to key leaders of the House to make a difference on the Farm Bill. Please think about who on your board or in your community can best reach your Representative directly and ask them to make such a call. You may also have a chance to raise this with your Representative in person while they are back home for the Congressional Easter Recess, March 17-28.

Ask Democrats to call:

• Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
• House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY)

Ask Republicans to call:

• House Ways & Means Committee Ranking Member Jim McCrery (R-LA)
• House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)

Messages we need your Representative to convey:

• The tax incentive for conservation easements that Senator Baucus is trying to get into the Farm Bill is very important to landowners and conservationists in my district.
• It is extremely important to get this done in the Farm Bill.

If you already asked your Representative to do this, please follow-up—and be sure to tell them that even though House leaders are saying “no,” this issue isn't decided yet.

Click here for a fact sheet with more details.

Ask Your Representative to Support LWCF & Forest Legacy

Congressmen Tom Allen (D-ME) and Jim Gerlach (R-PA) are circulating a Congressional sign-on letter urging the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee to provide $278 million for the federal Land & Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), $120 million for the LWCF state grants program, and $120 million for the Forest Legacy Program in fiscal year 2009. These programs have historically been the most significant federal sources of funding to support land conservation and your Representative's signature will help us ensure these programs continue to succeed.

This is a relatively easy ask; here's what to do:

• Call your Representative (Switchboard: 202-224-3121) and ask to speak to the staffer who handles Interior Appropriations.
• Tell them how important LWCF and Forest Legacy are to your organization and to conservation in your state (mention specific projects if possible).
• Urge them to sign the Allen-Gerlach letter by calling Jim Bradley in Rep. Allen's office (5-6116) or Laura Carrel in Rep. Gerlach's office (5-4315) no later than Wednesday, March 12.
• Click here for a copy of the letter you can forward to them upon request.

Sign up to be a Land Trust ADVOCATE

Get Your Representative to Weigh in Personally with Leadership 

At this point, it will take a personal call from your Representative to key leaders of the House to make a difference on the Farm Bill. Just a few calls into the right people at this critical moment could literally change the history of conservation! Please think about who on your board or in your community can best reach your Representative directly and ask them to make such a call.

Ask Democrats to call:

• Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) or her Chief of Staff, John Lawrence
• House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY)

Ask Republicans to call:

• House Ways & Means Committee Ranking Member Jim McCrery (R-LA) 
• House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)

Messages we need your Representative to convey:

• The Tax Incentive for Conservation Easements that Senator Baucus is trying to get into the Farm Bill is very important to landowners and conservationists in my district.
• It is extremely important to get this done in the Farm Bill

See background, frequently asked questions, and resources on the tax incentive.

Eight New Cosponsors for HR 1576; 160 Total

Over the past two weeks the following representatives have cosponsored HR 1576: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL), Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN), Rep Adrian Smith (R-NE) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT). That means we now have 160 Members, more than a third of the House, on record supporting a permanent extension of the tax incentive for conservation easement donations!

Please check out our complete list of cosponsors! If your Representative isn't yet on the list, please call and urge them to cosponsor HR 1576. If your Representative is already a cosponsor, please urge them to weigh in with leadership (see above) and thank them publicly or privately using the templates on our tax incentive webpage.

Sign up to be a Land Trust ADVOCATE at: http://www.lta.org/publicpolicy/advocates.htm