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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 29, 2014 12:10 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Judith L. Schwank and Sen. Elder A. Vogel, Jr. |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Clean and Green - agriculture related enterprises |
| In the near future Senator Vogel and I will be introducing legislation which will amend Pennsylvania’s Clean and Green program. The legislation is based on a situation in Berks County where a Clean and Green farm owner rented a building to a landscaper to store tools and mowers. Local agricultural preservation boards, who do not rule on Clean and Green criteria, consider landscaping a rural enterprise and an ag-related business, and such properties are subject to preferential treatment under their program. However, under Clean and Green, preferential treatment only applies if the rural enterprise i.e. landscaping business, is owned and operated by the landowner. In the case of the Berks County farmer, he found himself subject to conflicting interpretations and was informed by the local assessment office he was in violation of Clean and Green. My legislation would simply amend the language to allow a landowner to lease an area, subject to existing language and terms, to a third-party rural enterprise as currently defined. Since its inception state, counties and local governments have spent over $1 billion to help preserve farmland through the Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program. Counties and the state have also been partners in implementing the Clean and Green program which has helped farmers reduce their property tax burden. This minor revision will ensure that our investment will continue to benefit farmers and assist beginning farmers who lease farms under Clean and Green. |
Introduced as SB1288