Committee advances bill to streamline agricultural land leases

The Senate Resources Committee on April 17 moved Senate Bill 208, a measure intended to make it faster and less expensive for farmers to lease state agricultural land and to help keep acreage in active production. Laura O'Shea, staff to Senator Jesse Bjorkman, summarized the bill for the committee.

"Senate bill 208 is intended to help get more agricultural land into production and help keep it in production," O'Shea said. "It does this in three ways: it creates a new program for the state of Alaska to make it faster and less expensive for farmers to lease land; it adds an optional merit-based test before selling agricultural land; and it gives the department civil-penalty authority for agricultural covenants."

The civil-penalty authority is presented in the bill as an interim enforcement step so departments do not have to move immediately to foreclosure when land is not being used as state law requires. Committee members did not raise additional questions during the floor of the committee. Senator Kawasaki moved the bill from committee with individual recommendations and an attached fiscal note; the chair stated there were no objections and transmittal documents will be signed at the end of the meeting.

The bill was described by its sponsor's staff as an effort to remove procedural barriers that delay putting state agricultural land into production. The committee record notes that the bill has been before the committee previously and that a committee substitute had been adopted at an earlier hearing; the version considered on April 17 was moved to advance the measure to the next step in the process.

The committee did not record a roll-call vote in the transcript; the chair said the bill "moves from committee" after no member objected. The bill's fiscal note is attached to the committee packet and transmittal paperwork will be completed following the meeting.