SB 24

Under current law, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer

Protection (DATCP) administers the Farmland Preservation Program, which

contains some of the requirements that a farmer must meet to qualify for the

farmland preservation tax credit. Under current law, one requirement for qualifying

for the farmland preservation tax credit is that the farmland must either be in a

farmland preservation zoning district under a certified farmland preservation

zoning ordinance or be covered by a farmland preservation agreement executed by

DATCP.

Under current law, in order to rezone land out of a farmland preservation

zoning district, a political subdivision must make several findings, including that the

land is better suited for a use not allowed in a farmland preservation zoning district.

Also under current law, a political subdivision with a certified farmland preservation

ordinance may not rezone land out of a farmland preservation zoning district unless

the person who requested the rezoning pays a conversion fee equal to the number of

acres rezoned multiplied by three times the per acre value of the highest value of

cropland in the city, village, or town in which the land is located, as determined by

the Department of Revenue for the purposes of use value assessment.

This bill eliminates the requirement that a person who requests that land be

rezoned out of a farmland preservation zoning district pay a conversion fee.

Under current law, DATCP administers a program under which it, in

conjunction with local governments and nonprofit conservation organizations,

purchases agricultural conservation easements from willing landowners. An

agricultural conservation easement requires that land covered by the easement be

kept in agricultural use. Under the program, DATCP pays up to 50 percent of the

cost of purchasing an easement and may pay up to the full amount of the related

transaction costs, such as the costs of land surveys and appraisals.

This bill eliminates the program for purchasing agricultural conservation

easements.