By Peter St. Clair, CNPS-San Diego Legislation Chair
The United States House of Representatives and Senate have commenced committee and subcommittee hearings on two bills, H.R. 1572 and S. 2384, introduced respectively in the House and Senate, that would build federal staff, research and funding capacity in botanical sciences and commercial use of native plant materials. The bills share a common title: Botanic Sciences and Native Plant Materials Research, Restoration and Promotion Act.
The legislation would also mandate greater use of native plant materials by the Department of the Interior (including BLM), the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Defense. The bill would create a cooperative grant program with federal funding to states, local government and their non-profit partners for actions that would prevent rare plants from becoming endangered.
CNPS and Cal IPC are among the 100 national supporters of this bill. Work on the bill started in 2015 with Chicago Congressman Mike Quigley and support from the Chicago Botanic Garden. The Senate sponsor is Mazie Hirono, with support from the National Tropical Botanical Garden. Numerous Representatives including Mike Levin from San Diego and both our Senators are co-sponsors.
What can CNPS members do to help move this bill through Congress?
Visit the web site built in support of the bills: https://botanybill.weebly.com
Contact your Representative and ask if they will consider becoming a co-sponsor. Rep. Susan Davis is not on the list. Rep. Juan Vargas is not on the list.
Contact Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and ask that she use her authority to move the bill through committees and subcommittees.
Contact Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Joe Manchin of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and ask them to move the bill through hearings.
The 2019/2020 session of Congress has produced bipartisan legislation on conservation that has been signed into law by President Trump. Aside from very nasty disagreements on regulation (NEPA and Endangered Species), funding for conservation such as in these bills, has been an area of bi- partisan cooperation.
It is difficult to pass laws and obtain budget authority for conservation at all levels of government. By their very nature, conservation efforts deal with a broad range of activities. With these two bills, the pathway lies between Agriculture, Natural Resources, Defense, and Appropriations (for funding for scientific staff, research and grants).