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Extended through Dec. 31: Conservation Easement Donation Enhanced Tax Incentive

Posted on December 17, 2014

As its final act before adjourning for the holidays, the Senate voted Tuesday night to extend dozens of expired tax incentives through the end of 2014. This includes the enhanced deduction for conservation easement donations. The president is expected to sign the bill.

The incentive has three components:

  • raising the deduction a landowner can take for donating a conservation easement from 30 percent of his or her income in any year to 50 percent;
  • allowing qualifying farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100 percent of their income;
  • extending the carry-forward period for a donor to take tax deductions for a voluntary conservation agreement from five to 15 years.

It is important to note that the incentive only applies to easements donated as early as 2006 and as late as Dec. 31, 2014. The Land Trust Alliance will continue to work to make this enhanced deduction permanent, but as it stands it will expire at the end of this year.

Filed Under: Public Policy Tagged With: conservation easement

Easement Incentive Expired

Posted on January 12, 2015

The enhanced deduction for conservation easement donations expired Dec. 31, 2014. Advocacy will continue to in an effort to make this enhanced deduction permanent.

The incentive raised the deduction a landowner can take for donating a conservation easement from 30 percent of his or her income in any year to 50 percent. It allowed qualifying farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100 percent of their income. And it extended the carry-forward period for a donor to take tax deductions for a voluntary conservation agreement from five to 15 years.

Filed Under: Public Policy Tagged With: conservation easement

HB1565 Passes, Signed by Governor

Posted on October 20, 2014

On October 15, 2014, by a vote of 118 to 79, the House gave final approval to House Bill 1565 (Hahn-R-Northampton) that would weaken DEP requirements for stream buffers in Special Protection Watersheds.  In September, the House passed an earlier version of the bill by the vote of 119 to 79.  The bill now goes to the Governor for his action.

Click Here to see how your House member voted. House action Wednesday followed a vote by the Senate Tuesday which approved the bill by a vote of 27 to 22.  Click Here to see how your Senate member voted.

Prior to its final Senate action, Sen. John Yudichak (D-Luzerne), Minority Chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, amended the bill to change the provisions of the bill to give applicants the option to install practices other than a stream buffer, but only if they can prove other practices are “substantively equivalent to” a stream buffer.

The amendment also changed the provision allowing the installation of a buffer in other areas, but “as close as feasible to the area of disturbance” to limit the replacement buffer to areas within the same watershed.

Update: Governor Corbett signed the bill into law on October 22, 2014.

Source: PA Environment Digest

Filed Under: Alert/Update, Public Policy Tagged With: governor, legislation, riparian buffer, water quality

PALTA Urges Senators to Oppose HB1565

Posted on October 8, 2014

October 8, 2014

The Pennsylvania Land Trust Association urges senators to oppose HB 1565. In a letter delivered to the senate today, PALTA wrote:

Enactment of this legislation would cause irreversible harm to Pennsylvania’s water quality and increase the destruction wrought by flooding.

The scope of the bill goes far beyond the supposed problems with the implementation of the regulations. The bill effectively eliminates the requirement of a riparian forest buffer, essentially replacing it with a grass buffer standard. The science is crystal clear and without challenge: grass buffers are grossly inferior to forested riparian buffers in keeping our water clean and minimizing flooding.

The pressing need and science that resulted in the establishment of the regulations has not changed. Riparian forest buffers are by far the most effective and least expensive approach to sustaining water quality and reducing the harm caused by erosion, sedimentation and flooding.

Download Letter

For more information, view the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association’s 10/6/2014 letter to the Senate as well as the many other communications posted at ConservateAdvocate.org.

Filed Under: Alert/Update Tagged With: legislation, riparian buffer, water quality

PALTA and Several Environmental Organizations Submit Comments Re: HB1565

Posted on September 19, 2014

The Pennsylvania Land Trust Association urged members of the state senate to oppose HB 1565 stating that “enactment of this legislation would cause irreversible harm to Pennsylvania’s water quality and increase the destruction wrought by flooding.”: The bill cannot be fixed because its central feature—the neutering of buffer requirements—is fundamentally wrong. 

Comments Regarding HB1565

  • Pennsylvania Land Trust Association (10/8/2014)
  • CBF statement (10/7/2014)
  • Pennsylvania Land Trust Association (10/6/2014)
  • Chesapeake Bay Foundation Letter to Senators (10/1/2014)
  • Former DEP Secretary David Hess (9/30/2014)
  • PA League of Women Voters (9/22/2014)
  • Trout Unlimited and Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited (9/22/2014)
  • Joint Letter of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, The Nature Conservancy and The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (9/14/2014)
  • Chesapeake Bay Foundation Testimony Re: HB1565 (1/29/2014)

Background

  • HB1565
  • More on Riparian Buffers

Filed Under: Advocacy Tagged With: legislation, riparian buffer, water quality

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Land Trusts, Trail Groups, Local Governments, and Other Landowners Get New Liability Protection

October 25, 2018

On October 24, 2018, Governor Wolf signed Act 98 into law. Act 98 amends the Pennsylvania Recreation Use of Land and Water Act (RULWA) to better protect from liability those who open their properties to the public for recreation without charge. Improvements to the law include: Explicitly listing paths, paved and unpaved trails, fishing and […]

Governor Signs HB 2468

June 25, 2018

Governor Wolf quietly signed HB 2468 (and several other bills) into law on Sunday, June 24. The bill is now Act 45 of 2018. A correction to the previous PALTA communication: Act 45 should apply retroactively to McCormick Farm, so, hopefully, the Cumberland Valley School District will cease its pursuit of the farm. The district […]

HB 2468 Is on Governor’s Desk

June 25, 2018

Friday evening, after the Senate passed HB 2468 (37-12), the House voted to concur (177-15) with the Senate’s changes to the bill. The governor is expected to sign the bill. This is a thrilling victory for conservation! This landmark, bipartisan legislation provides a crucial safeguard for conservation easements from the unnecessary exercise of eminent domain […]

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