House Resources passes agricultural land lease bill unanimously

The House Resources Committee voted unanimously Friday to advance Senate Bill 208, legislation designed to expand access to state agricultural land leases, after a brief consideration that included no questions or additional testimony.

The bill creates a new leasing program for state land used for agriculture. It offers 10-year initial terms, five-year renewals, possible purchase eligibility after seven years of agricultural use, and below-market agricultural fees. The legislation also gives the Department of Natural Resources authority to make appraisals and surveys optional unless the commissioner determines they are needed in writing. It authorizes civil penalties for agricultural covenant violations rather than only land repossession as a remedy.

The committee adopted committee substitute work order 34-LS0832/L to align the House version with the Senate version that had already passed. "There's no changes between the House and Senate version," a committee co-chair said.

Senator Jesse Bjorkman sponsored the Senate bill. The House Resources Committee had heard an identical companion bill, House Bill 296, sponsored by Vice Chair Donna Mears, the previous week.

"Today we will have Senate Bill 208 from Representative, Senator Bjorkman on agricultural land leases. This is a companion bill to House Bill 296 from Vice Chair Mears that we heard last week," a committee co-chair said at the start of the hearing.

After adopting the committee substitute with no objections and hearing from Bjorkman's staff, the committee moved the bill forward with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes. "Seeing none, committee substitute for Senate Bill 208 passes from committee," the co-chair said.

LegiScan records show the bill was referred to House Resources on January 21 and to House Rules on May 6, nine days before Friday's committee vote. The unanimous passage advances the bill along that existing referral path to the Rules Committee.