HB 1488 - Support VA Property Rights & Transparency

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Support Virginia Property Rights & Transparency - Contact Senate Ag Committee

UPDATE 2/17/15:
HB 1488 passed the full Senate and is enroute to the Governor's desk

Paris Barns dispute with PEC

Virginians who purchase a farm with an agricultural easement have an expectation to be able to farm without being terrorized and abused by a Virginia Land Trust. The bi-partisan legislation (HB 1488) provides some land owner protections.

Sign this EMAIL petition:
I urge you to vote YES on the Conservation Easements bill, HB 1488, to protect the property rights of Virginia landowners.

Add your own comments and follow up with phone calls to members of the Virginia Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee. You can also post comments at RichmondSunlight.com for the bills.

Talking Points:

$100 million dollars each year of Virginia tax dollars pays for the Virginia Conservation Program; however, non-government organizations, like The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), have no oversight, accountability, transparency or standards.

Many farmers innocently place their properties in agricultural easements or purchase farms with pre-existing agricultural easements only later to find out they can't even have a dog house. Virginia's most famous farmer, Joel Salatin, wrote a very good article "Beware of those sincere sounding conservation easements" discussing the horrors of having a conservation easement.

These easements are intended for the public good and are a government created program that uses tax dollars and "tax credits". Virginia is one of the few states that can "sell" tax credits. Yet despite this public program, there is no transparency or standards.

With one of these easements that are "forever"(and forever is a long time), anything can happen and change and terms can be interpreted differently.

Currently if a dispute arises, the only option for a land owner is full blown litigation that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take years. There is also NO TRANSPARENCY.

HB 1488 provides a land owner with a forum to have a dispute heard or a question asked for clarification. Makes sense, right? Not only is it good public policy but it provides for protections and accountability that currently do not exist.

Updated 2/9/15

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