BOISE, Idaho 2/15/08 - A state House committee voted Feb. 5 to consider a bill that would offer income tax credits to farmers, ranchers and forest owners who protect their land for more than 30 years from subdivisions and urban growth.

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted 13-4 to further debate the measure, which would fund as much as $3 million worth of credits each year for landowners who agree to preserve their property with conservation easements.

A diverse coalition of ranchers, growers, loggers, sportsmen and conservationists supports the bill and has been trying for more than a year to sway lawmakers. Last summer, the coalition organized bus tours across the state and invited lawmakers to meet with farmers and ranchers interested in preserving their land.

The group also commissioned a poll in November that found 83 percent of Idaho voters supportive of using tax credits to encourage the protection of ranches, farms, private forests and open space.

“This is one thing Idahoans have said public money can and should be used for,” said Suzanne Budge, a lobbyist who presented the bill to lawmakers on Feb. 5. “This spans party affiliation and rural, urban, suburban (divides).”

The program would offer tax credits of as much as $500,000 for each qualified property, based on 50 percent of the fair market value of the land. Only landowners who donate a conservation easement on their property to a land trust or government entity would be eligible.

A nine-member advisory board appointed by the governor would approve applications and oversee the program.

In 2007, the coalition presented a similar bill to the Legislature, but it died in the same House committee.

Budge said the new bill contains some changes based on lawmaker response from the debate last year. One adjustment would prevent landowners from selling their tax credits, which would avoid the creation of a secondary market. Under the new bill, property owners would be eligible for a rebate for any part of the tax credit that exceeds their tax liabilities.

The other major change is an increase in the minimum term of a conservation easement from 15 years to 30 years. That’s designed to appease lawmakers worried that people could manipulate the system and profit off of it.

Republican lawmakers on the committee asked pointed questions about the new bill.

Committee Chairman Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot, asked about the possibility of landowners earning more than the value of their property by taking in both state and federal tax credits and selling their land at some point.

Budge noted that landowners must sacrifice more than they could possibly benefit when they donate conservation easements since the value of conserved land decreases significantly.