PRINTER'S NO. 586
No. 556 Session of 1997
INTRODUCED BY GREENLEAF, HELFRICK, KASUNIC, RHOADES AND HECKLER,
FEBRUARY 28, 1997
REFERRED TO AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS, FEBRUARY 28, 1997
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), entitled
2 "An act providing for and reorganizing the conduct of the
3 executive and administrative work of the Commonwealth by the
4 Executive Department thereof and the administrative
5 departments, boards, commissions, and officers thereof,
6 including the boards of trustees of State Normal Schools, or
7 Teachers Colleges; abolishing, creating, reorganizing or
8 authorizing the reorganization of certain administrative
9 departments, boards, and commissions; defining the powers and
10 duties of the Governor and other executive and administrative
11 officers, and of the several administrative departments,
12 boards, commissions, and officers; fixing the salaries of the
13 Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and certain other executive
14 and administrative officers; providing for the appointment of
15 certain administrative officers, and of all deputies and
16 other assistants and employes in certain departments, boards,
17 and commissions; and prescribing the manner in which the
18 number and compensation of the deputies and all other
19 assistants and employes of certain departments, boards and
20 commissions shall be determined," providing for prime
21 agricultural land.
22 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
23 hereby enacts as follows:
24 Section 1. The act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), known
25 as The Administrative Code of 1929, is amended by adding a
26 section to read:
27 Section 1716. Prime Agricultural Land.--(a) The Department
1 of Agriculture shall have the power, and its duty shall be to
2 develop a prime agricultural land policy for the Commonwealth.
3 The policy shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
4 (1) Protection of this Commonwealth's prime agricultural
5 land from irreversible conversion to uses that result in its
6 loss as an environmental or essential food production resource.
7 (2) Review of the Commonwealth's use of Federal and State
8 funds to ensure that the funds are not being used to encourage
9 the conversion of prime agricultural land to other uses when
10 feasible alternatives are available.
11 (3) Studies of prime agricultural land within this
12 Commonwealth, including studies which identify the nature and
13 the extent of prime agricultural land for the purpose of
14 determining how the land may be conserved.
15 (4) Review of projects that involve the condemnation of
16 prime agricultural land for highway or solid or liquid waste
17 facilities by the Agricultural Lands Condemnation Approval Board
18 under sections 306, 2002(a)(15) and 2003(e).
19 (b) Every Commonwealth agency shall cooperate with the
20 Department of Agriculture by providing assistance and
21 information necessary to develop the prime agricultural land
22 policy and to implement the policy.
23 (c) Before adopting the prime agricultural land policy, the
24 Department of Agriculture shall hold public hearings to receive
25 public comment on the content of the prime agricultural land
26 policy.
27 (d) The Department of Agriculture shall publish the prime
28 agricultural land policy developed under this section in the
29 Pennsylvania Bulletin.
30 (e) For the purposes of this section, "prime agricultural
19970S0556B0586 - 2 -
1 land" is land classified as prime, unique, or of State and local
2 importance, by the United States Department of Agriculture Soil
3 Conservation Service, as well as land characterized by active
4 agricultural use.
5 Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
A14L71JRW/19970S0556B0586 - 3 -