Brief⁽¹⁾

S.B. 504 would require the Secretary of the Department of Wildlife and Parks to account for any compensation received by the agency, whether monetary, in-kind, or otherwise, from leases of real property under the control and jurisdiction of the agency. This compensation would have to be reflected in the budget of the agency.

In addition, the bill would establish in the State Treasury the State Agricultural Production Fund. All money received from agricultural production on state-owned property under the Secretary's control would be remitted to the Fund. The bill would direct the Department to establish separate accounts of the Fund for each state-owned property. The money in the accounts would be used for costs and expenses associated with the management practices as determined for each property. The bill would require that all expenditures from the Fund be made in accordance with appropriation acts.

Background

This bill was introduced at the request of Senator Tyson. At the hearing on the bill testimony was provided by a resident of McPherson and a spokesperson from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. Senator Tyson also provided written materials which were distributed to the members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

At the time of the hearing on the bill, the spokesperson for the Department offered amendments to the bill which called for the establishment of the State Agricultural Production Fund and required the Department to establish separate accounts of the Fund for each state-owned property. The amendments also called for the Department to use the moneys for cost and expenses associated with the management practices determined for each piece of property. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee adopted these proposed amendments.

As a part of the Committee's review of this issue, the Committee heard a review of the performance audit entitled, "Reviewing the Department of Wildlife and Parks' Management of Lands Leased for Farming and Grazing," dated February 1998.

The fiscal note on the original bill indicates that the reporting requirement in the bill would have no fiscal impact.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext-bill.html.