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GREAT NEWS! On Thursday, May 22nd, the Senate voted to overturn the
President's veto of the Farm Bill, following a similar action by the House.
Despite an earlier procedural glitch, the final bill emerged as expected with
our conservation tax incentive now enacted for two more years. This puts back in
place the incentive that had expired January 1st with the exact same terms that
is, raising the deduction for donated conservation easements form 30 to 50% of
adjusted gross income and extending the time period for using the deduction from
6 to 16 years.
This Farm Bill is not perfect, but it contains these top land trust
priorities
Extends the tax incentive for conservation
easement donations until December 31, 2009! This two-year extension
is retroactive to January 1 and includes no other substantive changes.
Provides a total of $733 million over 5
years for the Farmland Protection Program. It also clarifies
the eligibility of land trusts to participate directly and specifies the
following funding levels: $97M in FY08, $121M in FY09, $150M in FY10,
$175M in FY11 and $200M in FY12.
We are very grateful to our elected officials for moving this legislation
forward. Had they not, the bill would have reverted to its 1946 version.
STATE
Environmental Protection Fund
The North Shore Land Alliance applauds Governor Paterson and the Legislature
for enacting the 2008-2009 New York State budget which includes the most funds
ever for New York State Parks and open space protection. The new State budget
includes an unprecedented $95 million for badly needed repairs and improvements
at State Parks.
Further, the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), a dedicated fund for
critical environmental programs, contains record amounts for open space and
farmland protection. The EPF now totals $255 million, $66.575 million of which
will be available for land acquisition, up from $55 million last year and $30
million for farmland protection, up $2 million. The EPF also includes $1.57
million, or a 57% increase, in funding for the for the New York State
Conservation Partnership Program that is administered by the Land Trust Alliance
Northeast Program.
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