Yesterday, we announced to conservation district board chairs and managers that WACD’s Legislative Week will be delayed. The new Legislative Week is Wednesday to Wednesday, March 10-17, 2021.

For whatever reasons, we recently learned that few conservation districts had scheduled meetings with legislators for next week (the previously announced time for Legislative Week). One significant conflict was NACD’s annual meeting which is going on at the same time.

With a virtual session, we have more flexibility in scheduling. Our view is that this change in timing is probably beneficial because the serious budget conversations don’t really begin until early March after state revenue forecast numbers are updated. That update gives legislators more clarity around how much money will be coming into the state’s coffers. Since securing more conservation technical assistance funding is of interest to every district, having those conversations with legislators in March makes good sense.

WACD will continue to have legislative engagement between now and March. We are hearing from several districts who have already met with legislators and WACD’s staff and lobbyist have been meeting with legislators.

We will have more information for conservation districts and partners as WACD’s Legislative Week in March gets closer!