Working Lands Alliance Call To Action for 21 April 2015

As many of you are aware, drastic funding cuts have been proposed in Gov. Dan Malloy’s state budget for the next two years that will adversely affect a number of important public causes, including historic preservation, protection of farmlands and open spaces, and public housing. The Community Investment Act, which has long served as a highly successful funding channel for many programs in the above areas, stands to be completely de-funded by the proposed budget. This would have a devastating effect on the many Connecticut communities that have been well served by such programs.

Below is the text of an email just sent by the Working Lands Alliance that outlines calls to action and provides instructions on how to effectively express your opposition to Community Investment Act funding cuts. I’m hoping that all of you might be willing to follow the steps outlined below, in both providing testimony to the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee this coming Tuesday (April 21st, 2015), and also notifying your own state legislators of your opposition to these cuts.

[ Editor's note: to find your Connecticut State Legislators' email, and local and capitol mail addresses, please use the Connecticut General Assembly's Find Your Legislators page ]

Thank you very much for considering your own active participation in this important campaign! And please feel free to forward this information on to anybody else you know who’ll likewise consider this campaign critical.

Text of original email from the Working Lands Alliance

ACT NOW: OPPOSE $15 MILLION RAID OF COMMUNITY INVESTMENT ACT FUNDS APPROPRIATIONS HEARING ON TUESDAY ON DEFICIENCY BILL FOR CURRENT FISCAL YEAR.

This Tuesday, the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee will be holding a hearing on HB 6825: An Act Making Deficiency Appropriations and Addressing the Deficit for the Current Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2015.In Section 5 of this bill, the Governor proposes to divert $15.2 million in Community Investment Act (CIA) funds to address the budget deficit for the current fiscal year. This raid is in addition to the complete sweep of funds proposed for the FY 16 and 17 biennial budget – providing a series of devastating blows to this account.The proposal in HB 6825 takes $10 million in CIA money from the Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition Program (and CIA is the only consistent source of funds for this program). The bill also proposes to sweep $5.1 million from historic preservation efforts, and $100,000 from the CT Food Policy Council.

JOIN US AND VOICE YOUR STRONG OPPOSITION TO RAIDING THE COMMUNITY INVESTMENT ACT’S DEDICATED FUNDS TO ADDRESS BUDGET DEFICITS!

Here’s the message we want to send to the Appropriations Committee and the leadership in both caucuses:

Since 2005, the Community Investment Act has made over $133 MILLION in investments across the 4 sectors who share these funds: Agriculture/Farmland Preservation, Open Space, Historic Preservation, and Affordable Housing. These investments (over 1100 projects in 168 towns) have benefitted almost EVERY COMMUNITY in our state – from rural to suburban to urban communities!

CIA was structured to be a dedicated fund outside of the budget that is continuously reinvesting in our communities across the four sectors.

We strongly oppose raiding CIA’s dedicated funds to address budget deficits. These unprecedented diversions will end the Community Investment Act as we know it, and will greatly impact the many worthwhile projects CIA funds across the state.

To see what investments have been made in your community, visit communityinvestmentact.org.

To download the Community Investment Act fact sheet, click here

CALL TO ACTION: JOIN US ON APRIL 21st AT 2 PM IN THE LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING – ROOM 2C!

Help us defend this unprecedented diversion of CIA funds by testifying or emailing written testimony.If you are interested in testifying or submitting written testimony, see the directions below. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions about this bill.

All the best,
Lisa Bassani
WLA Project Director

Directions To Testify or Submit Written Testimony
Appropriations Committee Hearing: Tuesday, April 21st at 2 pm

The Appropriations Committee’s hearing will be held on Tuesday, April 21st at 2 pm in Room 2C of the Legislative Office Building, 300 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT.Sign-up will begin at 11:00 A.M. in Room 2700 of the LOB. State agency representatives must register on the sign-up sheet to speak. Public speaker sign-up will be conducted on a first come, first served basis. The Committee requests that testimony be limited to matters related to the items on the Agenda.State agencies and public speakers should bring 60 copies of testimony to Room 2700 by 1:00 P.M. and should submit testimony electronically, in Word or PDF format, to APPtestimony@cga.ct.gov. Public speaker testimony will be limited to three minutes.

SUBJECT MATTER: State Agency Deficiencies
H.B. No. 6825 AN ACT MAKING DEFICIENCY APPROPRIATIONS AND ADDRESSING THE DEFICIT FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2015.Please cc your legislators when you submit testimony to let them know that you care about this issue.We would appreciate it if you would also email a copy to us: lbassani@farmland.org

Working Lands Alliance
A Project of American Farmland Trust
775 Bloomfield Ave
Windsor, CT 06096
workinglandsalliance.org
860-683-4230

JOIN WLA TODAY!

Working Lands Alliance | One Short Street | Northampton | MA | 01060

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About John Poole

My interests include historic homes, architectural preservation and restoration, improving the energy performance of old houses, and traditional timber frames.

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