Bill Text: NJ A5325 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires Department of Agriculture to create webpage listing certain services for farmers; requires hyperlink on farmland assessment application forms.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-01-29 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Agriculture Committee [A5325 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-A5325-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman ANNETTE QUIJANO
District 20 (Union)
SYNOPSIS
Requires Department of Agriculture to create webpage listing certain services for farmers; requires hyperlink on farmland assessment application forms.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act requiring the Department of Agriculture to provide certain information on its website, supplementing Title 4 of the Revised Statutes, and amending P.L.1964, c.48.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. (New section) No later than 180 days after the enactment of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill), the Department of Agriculture shall establish and maintain an Internet website that lists all the services to farmers provided by the department or any other State agency, including Rutgers, the State University. The website shall, where practicable, provide a hyperlink for each service to a webpage that provides more information about the service.
2. Section 14 of P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.14) is amended to read as follows:
14. a. Application for
valuation, assessment and taxation of land in agricultural or horticultural use
under P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.) shall be on a form prescribed
by the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury,
in consultation with the State Board of Agriculture, and provided for the use
of claimants by the governing bodies of the respective taxing districts. The
form of application shall provide for the reporting of information pertinent to
the provisions of Article VIII, Section 1, paragraph 1(b) of the Constitution,
as amended, and P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.) . The form shall
include a plain language recitation and explanation of the guidelines
describing generally accepted agricultural and horticultural practices
developed and adopted pursuant to subsection a. of section 1 of P.L.2013, c.43
(C.54:4-23.3d) that may be used by municipal tax assessors, county assessors,
county tax administrators, and other appropriate local government officials to
assist them in determining whether land may be deemed to be in agricultural
use, horticultural use, or actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural
use pursuant to the "Farmland Assessment Act of 1964," P.L.1964, c.48
(C.54:4-23.1 et seq.). The applicant shall include with the form of
application, in a manner prescribed by the director, proofs of sales of
agricultural or horticultural products, and of any other payments, fees, or
imputed income received from the agricultural or horticultural use of the land,
in the prior year, or clear evidence of anticipated yearly gross sales,
payments, fees, or imputed income, amounting to at least $1,000 for the first
five acres, or in the case of woodland subject to a woodland management plan
pursuant to
section 3 of P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.3) amounting to at least $500 for the first five acres, or in either case amounting to such sums as may be established by the State Farmland Evaluation Committee pursuant to subsection a. of section 5 of P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.5).
In the case of land that is the subject of a forest stewardship plan approved by the Department of Environmental Protection pursuant to section 3 of P.L.2009, c.256 (C.13:1L-31) which is fully implemented, and otherwise qualifies under the "Farmland Assessment Act of 1964," P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.), for valuation, assessment and taxation as land in agricultural or horticultural use pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.3), no proofs required pursuant to this subsection of gross sales, payments, fees, or imputed income, or of clear evidence of anticipated yearly gross sales, payments, fees, or imputed income, need be included with the form or otherwise submitted. However, the applicant shall include documentation demonstrating implementation of the forest stewardship plan, including documentation of scheduled activities, a forest inventory and yield parameters to document forest productivity, and inspections performed, in accordance with rules and regulations adopted for the forest stewardship program by the Department of Environmental Protection.
b. A certification by the landowner that the facts set forth in the application are true may be prescribed by the director to be in lieu of a sworn statement to that effect. Statements so certified shall be considered as if made under oath and subject to the same penalties as provided by law for perjury.
In addition, for a gross and intentional misrepresentation on the application, the landowner shall be subject to a civil penalty of up to $5,000. Any such civil penalty may be imposed and collected by the municipality, the county, or the State, with costs, in a summary proceeding pursuant to the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.). The Superior Court and the municipal court shall have jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999" in connection with this subsection. One-half of any civil penalties so collected by a municipality or county shall be dedicated and used by the municipality or county in administering and enforcing the provisions of the "Farmland Assessment Act of 1964," P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.) in the municipality or county. The remaining one-half of any civil penalties so collected by a municipality or county shall be paid by the municipality or county to the State, and together with any civil penalties so collected directly by the State, shall be dedicated and used by the Department of Agriculture and the Division of Taxation in administering and enforcing the provisions of P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.) .
c. Any landowner, except those who have submitted a woodland management plan or a forest stewardship plan pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.3), who is an applicant for valuation, assessment and taxation pursuant to P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.) for lands not previously qualified under P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.) shall submit with the application a map of land use classes and soil groups that conforms with standards established by the Division of Taxation in consultation with the State Board of Agriculture.
d. For any landowner whose farm management unit is less than seven acres in size, the landowner shall submit with the application form a narrative describing the agricultural or horticultural uses on the farm management unit, the number of acres that will be actively devoted to those uses, and a sketch of the location on the farm management unit of those uses. For the purposes of this subsection, "farm management unit" means a parcel or parcels of land, whether contiguous or noncontiguous, together with agricultural or horticultural buildings, structures and facilities, producing agricultural or horticultural products, and operated as a single enterprise.
e. The director, after consultation with the State Board of Agriculture, shall include with each application a letter or other document explaining any changes to the law, rules, regulations, and guidelines on the valuation, assessment and taxation of land pursuant to P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.) that have occurred in the prior tax year and which shall be newly in effect in the tax year for which the application is being submitted.
f. The director shall devise a form for the extension of filing time for the valuation application, which form shall include the name and address of the applicant, the reason for the extension, and a space for the approval or rejection of the assessor.
g. The director shall include, in boldfaced type, the web address of the webpage created by the Department of Agriculture pursuant to section 1 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) on the application form for valuation, assessment, and taxation of land in agricultural or horticultural use under P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.), along with an explanation of the webpage and its potential utility to farmers.
(cf: P.L.2013, c.43, s.4)
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would require the Department of Agriculture, no later than 180 days after the bill is enacted, to create and maintain a webpage that provides a list of all services to farmers provided by the department or any other State agency, including Rutgers, the State University. The webpage would be required to include links to other webpages that provide more information about the available services, where practicable.
The bill would also require the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury to include the web address of the webpage created by the Department of Agriculture pursuant to the bill on the application form for farmland property tax status under the "Farmland Assessment Act of 1964," P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.). The director would also be required to include an explanation of the webpage and its potential utility to farmers on the application form.
