Ag Committee OKs Clarification to Clean and Green Law, Causer Says

HARRISBURG – Working to ensure the state’s Clean and Green program works as it was intended, the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, chaired by Rep. Martin Causer (R-Turtlepoint), today approved legislation to clarify the 40-year-old law.

House Bill 806 specifically prohibits counties from taxing Clean and Green properties at a rate greater than fair market value.

“Clean and Green was created in 1974 to give preferential assessment to farm and forest lands to encourage the protection of those lands,” Causer said. “In counties that have not conducted a reassessment in quite some time, the use values suggested by the Department of Agriculture for Clean and Green properties is, in some cases, exceeding fair market value of the land.

“That has resulted in some Clean and Green properties being taxed at a rate higher than a normal assessment, and that is counter to the purpose of the law.”

The bill passed the committee unanimously and now goes to the full House for consideration.