Kennard_Don_MoneyforParks.mp3

Don Kennard [00:00:00] I decided that one of the problems we had in Texas was that money for parks and natural areas was hard to come by. It was always the first thing out of a budget and the last thing in.

Don Kennard [00:00:15] And to have a really viable park system, you have to have continuity, and you have to know where your money is. And you have to plan, do a lot of planning. And you have to plan along population growth and explosion.

Don Kennard [00:00:32] And the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which was started under the Eisenhower administration, and which Price Daniel, when he was in the Senate, had a hand in, from Texas, because he passed the Outer Continental Shelf rules and regs for the development of oil and gas out there.

Don Kennard [00:00:53] And they dedicated that royalty money from the oil and gas in the Outer Continental Shelf, a good part of it, was dedicated to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, that was to be used for parks and was to be used for water, development of water resources and that sort of thing.

Don Kennard [00:01:12] And nobody knew then how much money that was going to be brought in in the Outer Continental Shelf and it ended up, now it's bringing in a heck of a lot of money. And that money was dedicated.

Don Kennard [00:01:26] Well, I got the idea of a dedicated fund from that, that we ought to have a state fund that we could match the funds that were available at the federal level. And so, I came with this idea of a fund set up for that purpose.

Don Kennard [00:01:42] And I was lucky enough that about the time I proposed that idea, we had a big tax Session and, and nobody wanted to run with the tax bill and, and Ben Barnes was the lieutenant governor at the time. And Bill Moore, who was a senior senator over there, who had run with tax bills in the past, was coming up for reelection, and he didn't want to run with it again. And so, they came to me and asked me if I would run with it.

Don Kennard [00:02:08] And I said, "You bet I will." It gave me, it just opened the door for me. And I said, "Under one set of circumstances." And he said, "What's that?" And I said, "I would like to be able to put in a provision in there where we can dedicate, develop a dedicated fund and put the money into it from a cigarette tax or a beer tax or a tax on something, but put that money in there and let that go for nothing but to be dedicated to the development of historic sites and parks and open space, natural areas."

Don Kennard [00:02:42] And they agreed to that.

Don Kennard [00:02:45] And so, that's how Fund 31 got started. And we set aside a penny a pack on cigarettes.