Senators George, Birkholz, Gilbert, Jelinek, Cassis and Allen offered the following concurrent resolution:

            Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 12.

            A concurrent resolution to memorialize the Congress of the United States to enact the Conservation Tax Incentives Act as proposed by President George W. Bush.

            Whereas, A major challenge facing Michigan and the rest of the country is how to preserve our rapidly decreasing acreage of open land and wildlife habitat.  Scientific studies have shown that diversity in plant and animal species is in decline and that the loss of open land is a significant factor; and

            Whereas, In an effort to create an effective solution for the conservation of valuable land, President Bush has proposed legislation that would establish an effective means of encouraging conservation organizations to purchase particularly vulnerable acreage.  This legislation, the Conservation Tax Incentives Act, offers an innovative approach by cutting by half the federal taxes on land or easements sold to public or private conservation entities for the purpose of conservation; and

            Whereas, The Conservation Tax Incentives Act directly addresses several obstacles to other means of preserving parcels of land.  Since most threatened habitat is privately owned, this legislation strongly encourages private purchases of land through financial incentives.  The tax incentives would also be attractive to more landowners.  Conservation organizations would be in a far more competitive position to acquire the highest priority sites.  Clearly, this legislation would be an effective tool to protecting threatened habitat throughout our country; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representative concurring), That we memorialize the Congress of the United States to enact the Conservation Tax Incentives Act as proposed by President George W. Bush; and be it further

            Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.