Bill would let owners donate managed or reserved forest land to state without land-use-change tax

A short-form bill presented to the Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry committee would allow owners of managed or reserved forest land held in fee simple to donate those parcels directly to the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR) without triggering the land use change tax, according to committee discussion.

Mac, a staff member, said the proposed amendment would add a section to the current-use statute allowing an owner of managed or reserved forest land in fee simple to donate the land to FPR “without having to enter into a conservation agreement and without being subject to the land use change tax if they were donating land to the state.” He noted the bill would also amend the definition of “development” to exclude such gifts under the new section 3763b and said the act would take effect July 1, 2025.

Why it matters: the change would remove a current discretionary acceptance step by the governor and require the commissioner of FPR to accept an absolute, unconditional gift that meets specified criteria, potentially increasing state-held forest parcels in priority forest blocks while creating a revenue impact for local taxing…