Tennessee Sen. Steve Southland stripped him of his post as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee after opposing the 2024 Bill Lee’s 2024 bill aimed at slowing the development of farmland and forests. It was done.
Southland, a Republican in Morristown, said that the state will retain a lien on the property, so farmers who have accepted state funds for easements to maintain their property will be borrowed against mortgages. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do it. The bill never escaped the Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee in 2024.
Southland is now out of the loop, which has been removed as a chair and has not been working on the Agriculture Commission in the mortgage industry for more than 30 years.
However, when asked if he had concerns about this year’s version of the law, Southland said: If the farmer doesn’t want to borrow his property, that’s fine for me. ”
However, there has not been any major revisions in the law as Senate leaders overlooked Southland’s objections and received assurances from the lending industry that farmers could borrow against mortgages.
The Lee administration predicts passing Senate Bill 207 $25 million will be invested in grant funds processed by the state Department of Agriculture, paying farmers throughout the state for easements to protect their land from development. The funds should be repeated, but will be subject to Congressional approval.
The governor, who owns a cow farm in Williamson County, spoke about the initiative in a state speech Monday, saying Tennessee loses 10 acres of farmland every hour.
“When agriculture is our number one industry, this is an incredible number,” Lee said.
His bill creates a grant program for farmers volunteering to maintain their own land. The Agriculture Committee manages the fund.
Another provision designed for conservation groups is that “qualified easement holders” with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status will be subject to conservation easement through purchases, donations, or other types of transfers. It states that it may obtain and is not permitted to sell or transfer. , release of conservation easements or otherwise sell them.
Sen. Shane Reeves, the new chair of the Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, said Wednesday that he believes concerns over the bill have been resolved.
“There was a huge amount of work done on that,” Reeves said the government, the Farm Bureau and other groups were involved. “That’s no longer an issue.”
The state easement of farmland was to be temporary under the bill last year. But Reeves said they are permanent under a new iteration, and that farmers could still take out mortgages even if the state holds a lien.
“It seems pretty affordable to help farmers maintain their land and lose (10 acres) per hour,” Reeves said of the $25 million injection into the state fund.
He said the committee will consider the measure next week.
Sen. Page Wally, a member of the Agriculture Committee, dealt in 2024 and said he was “comfortable” with the bill after hearing from groups of stakeholders.
Banks and lending agencies have assured legislative leaders that the lien held by the state is not a “problem.”
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