AB 530

Under current law, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) administers

the managed forest land (MFL) program, which exempts an owner of land that is

designated MFL from payment of municipal property taxes on the land in exchange

for a lower payment per acre. In exchange, the owner must comply with certain

forestry practices and must allow the public on the land for hunting, fishing, and

other outdoor recreational activities unless the landowner elects to pay an extra

amount per acre to keep a limited number of acres closed. In addition, an owner of

MFL must pay a withdrawal tax and a withdrawal fee when the owner withdraws

the land from the program before the order designating the land as MFL expires.

Orders are for 25 or 50 years.

Under current law, an owner is exempt from paying the withdrawal tax and the

withdrawal fee if the owner withdraws the MFL to transfer the land for a public road

or a utility right-of-way or to the federal or state government or a local governmental

unit for a conservation purpose such as a park or public forest. This bill expands this

exemption to include withdrawals to convert MFL to agricultural land if the land has

been MFL for at least five years. The bill incorporates the definition of "agriculture

land" that exists under current law for property tax assessment purposes.

"Agricultural land" is land that is devoted primarily to agricultural use, as defined

by rule by the Department of Revenue. "Agricultural use," in turn, is defined in this

rule to include land that is enrolled in certain federal agriculture programs and land

that is subject to the stream bank protection program administered by DNR. Under

the bill, MFL that is converted to agricultural land is subject to the same public

recreational access requirements until the date that the MFL order would have

expired (original expiration date).

The bill provides that if the owner stops using the land for agricultural use

before the original expiration date, the owner must pay the withdrawal tax and the

withdrawal fee that would have been payable at the time of the conversion, and the

land is no longer subject to the public recreational access requirements.