Farmland Affordability Connecticut An Act Concerning Farm Land Preservation, Land Protection, Affordable Housing and Historic Preservation This act creates new farmland preservation programs and institutes a new $30 document-recording fee to fund these and several existing programs. The act reinstates the program under which the agriculture commissioner purchases title to real and personal agricultural property without any conditions or restrictions on the sale. It also extends the existing property tax exemption for agricultural buildings to those housing seasonal agricultural employees. That exemption is for up to $100,000 of assessed value. Lastly, the act allows towns to create quasi-public authorities to help preserve land for farming, recreation, or open space. PA 05-228 Date effective: 7/11/2005 An Act Concerning Farm Waste Management Under prior law, the agriculture commissioner could reimburse farmers for up to 75% of the cost of complying with a farm resources management plan that the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency or the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) certifies. The act. increases the maximum reimbursement rate to 90% of compliance cost; allows farmers to seek reimbursement (up to 90%) for the costs of complying with a DEP-approved comprehensive farm nutrient management plan (CNMP), in addition to a farm resources management plan; and makes the DEP commissioner the only official who can approve farm resource management plans.
PA 04-65 Date effective: 5/10/2004 An Act Concerning the Preservation of the Family Farm and Long Island Sound This bill which requires municipalities, towns, cities, boroughs and districts to mitigate the loss of active agricultural land taken by eminent domain. Local governments may either purchase an agricultural conservation easement on comparable land within its jurisdiction OR pay a mitigation fee to the state’s farmland protection program to protect similar land elsewhere in the state subject to the approval of the state’s farmland preservation program and the Commissioner of Agriculture.
PA 04-222 Date effective: 6/8/2004 An Act Concerning a Property Tax Exemption for Certain Farm Buildings Concerns a property tax exemption for certain farm buildings; strengthens the state's agricultural economy and encourage farmland preservation while protecting the state's rural atmosphere. This bill authorizes a municipality, upon approval of its legislative body, to exempt from property tax up to $ 100,000 of the assessed value of any building actually and exclusively used in farming, as defined by law. This exemption does not apply to farmers' homes. Farmers must apply and qualify for the exemption according to law. General Statutes of Connecticut Title 12; Chapter 203: Property Tax Assessment; Section 12-91 Date effective: 7/9/2003 An Act Concerning the Liability of Landowners Who Permit the Harvesting of Fruit and Vegetables This act concerns the liability of a farmer or owner of land that allows the harvest of fruits and the removal of trees for firewood. This act states that the owner of the land is not held liable for accidents or injury to an individual that is not charged and that is pick and or harvesting on behalf of a non profit organization. General Statutes of Connecticut Title 52; Chapter 925: Statutory Rights of Actions and Defenses; Section 52-557k Date effective: 6/6/2001 Delaware Fiscal Year 2006 Capital Improvements Act Section 133 This bill designates the use of funds for the Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation. Of the funds up to $150,000 for operational expenses, $350,000 to costs relating to costs required for to create agricultural district agreements and the costs for appraisals of eligible properties, and $3,000,000 of funding for each county to be applied in a 1:1 match of county funds for the purchase of preservation easements. SB 190 Section 133 Date effective: 7/1/2005 Maine An Act To Establish the Agricultural Water Management and Irrigation Fund This bill establishes a fund in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources that would accept money from any source for the purpose of improving the adoption of irrigation for agricultural businesses. LD 961 Date effective: 5/20/2005 Maryland Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Program - Installment Purchase Agreements , Schedule of Installments, and Termination of Easements Authorizing the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation to purchase agricultural easements through installment purchase agreements; requiring that the Foundation make annual payments of interest on the outstanding balance; requiring the Foundation to pay the balance at the end of the term; requiring the agreement to contain the terms; providing that an easement purchased under an installment purchase agreement cannot be terminated. Annotated Code of Maryland; Agriculture: Section 2-505, 2-509(a), 2-501(k), and 2-514 Date effective: 4/27/2004 Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation - Grants - Installment Purchase Programs Authorizing the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation to make grants to purchase easements on specified properties to counties with approved installment purchase programs; authorizing the Foundation to approve only installment purchase programs that purchase easements using installment purchase agreements with specified characteristics; providing that an easement purchased using a specified grant may not terminate. Annotated Code of Maryland; Agriculture: Section 2-510.1 Date effective: 4/27/2004 Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Act Establishing the Maryland Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation for specified purposes; authorizing the Corporation to acquire and dispose of property, to finance specified projects, to issue, redeem, and secure bonds and debt, including revenue bonds and refunding bonds. Annotated Code of Maryland; Governor: Executive and Administrative Departments: Section 13-501 13-515 Date effective: 5/26/2004 New Hampshire An Act Relative to the Land and Community Heritage Program Amends existing New Hampshire law relating to the Land and Community Heritage Program by defining "easement interests" to include term easements held for a specific period of time, not necessarily in perpetuity. HB 544 Date effective: 6/17/2006 New Jersey An Act Concerning County and Municipal Open Space Trust Funds Allows county or municipality to deposit funds from any source into open space trust funds and enter agreements with non-profit land trusts. S1890 Date effective: 6/29/2005 New York An Act to Amend the Tax Law, in Relation to Establishing a Conservation Easement Tax Credit Establishes a conservation easement tax credit for land subject to a conservation easement for twenty-five percent of school district, county and town property taxes. A4463A Date effective: 2006 An Act to Amend the Real Property Tax Law in Relation to Including Indoor Exercise Arenas for Training and Exercising Horses This act incorporates the buildings and structures for the equine industry to be included in the real property tax law. A05448A Date effective: 9/19/2005 An Act to Amend the General Municipal Law and the Tax Law This bill, if passed, would authorize cities or towns to impose a tax on real estate transfers and authorizes municipalities to create community preservation funds. The funding would be used to preserve community character through preserving land, such as viable agricultural lands. A3574/S2070 Currently in legislature Pennsylvania An Act Amending the Agricultural Area Security Law This bill would further providing for statement of legislative findings, for definitions, for limitation on certain
governmental actions, for purchase of agricultural conservation easements, for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Fund, for legislative report and for the Land Trust Reimbursement Program; providing for acquisitions by donation; and abrogating a regulation. SB 723 Date Passed: 5/15/2006 Rhode Island An Act Relating to Levy and Assessment of Local Taxes This act exempts greenhouses constructed or repaired at a rate of fifty percent (50%) of its values from taxation if used for agriculture or as a farm. HB 7357 Date Passed: 7/10/2006 Vermont An Act Relating to Creation of Designated Growth Centers and Downtown Tax Credit Program This act is designed to assist communities in accommodating growth and development while supporting the economic vitality of the state's downtowns, village centers, and new town centers and maintaining the rural character and working landscape of the surrounding countryside. To accomplish this purpose, the act expands upon the existing program that offers incentives for communities that undergo the process of becoming designated "downtowns," "village centers," or "new town centers" by creating a new category of "designated growth centers." S142 Date effective: 5/24/2006 | 
