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State Representative Paul Anderson
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4317
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
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Green Acres passes muster
Neighbors-
Many property owners in District 13A will be pleased to know a bill passed the House this week to help restore the Green Acres land program. Green Acres fixes were included in a tax conformity bill (HF392) which passed the House 130-3. Gov. Tim Pawlenty is expected to approve the bill in the days to come.
It’s not the full repeal many legislators wanted, but this is an improvement, at the very least buying time as more proposals are offered to get Green Acres back to what it was before the Legislature made some damaging changes in 2008.
This year’s legislation restored some key elements of Green Acres: the seven-year payback period was changed back to three years; in most cases RIM and CREP land is allowed to remain in Green Acres; land may be sold or transferred to a landowner’s child without penalty; and the deadline for full compliance was pushed back to 2013.
The Green Acres program has been in place for more than 40 years. It allows farmers and landowners to keep their family farms in a tax classification where farms could be valued at their agricultural value. This shields landowners from rising valuations due to developmental pressures. Last year’s alterations left many farmers in crisis mode as they faced huge tax liabilities. Many rural folks feared the new tax hits would force them to sell land that had been in the family for generations.
We began work to correct the problems on the first day of the current legislative session. More than 20 different Green Acres bills were drafted in the Legislature. Some bills were created to fix specific components and others were authored to fully repeal the 2008 changes.
But none of the stand-alone bills made it through the traditional legislative channels. Instead, a vehicle to restore the program came when the Senate passed Green Acres “fixers” as part of a federal tax conformity bill.
The Senate made steps in the right direction, but work still was needed in specific areas - a grandfather clause, tax payback penalties and land transfer rules - before many legislators would get on board. That is when the conference committee made its improvements and the bill received widespread support.
Legislators likely will continue working to repeal the 2008 changes in their entirety, but at least we’ve taken steps in the right direction. You can find all the details of the Green Acres legislation by logging on to www.house.mn and entering HF392 into the “Get Bill” box.
Sincerely,
Paul
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