Ag committee works on beekeeping ag land designation

WORLAND — While only three more months left in his final term as state senator, Sen. Gerald Geis (R-Worland) has been busy as the co-chairman of the Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee.

The committee met for two days in May and another two days in September to go over interim study work. The committee was tasked with four priorities and Geis said the committee will have a few bills drafted for introduction for the 2017 session including changes to ag land designation for beekeeping and pine bark beetle funding.

The four topics for consideration for the committee were the Food Freedom Act, beekeeping and the agriculture industry, forest health and pine beetle, livestock investigators and noxious weeds and pests on state and federal lands.

During the meeting in May, Brenda Arnold, Property Tax Division Administrator, Department of Revenue, provided the committee with an overview of the current laws regarding the classification and valuation of agricultural land in Wyoming. According to the committee’s minutes, “She described the requirement in the taxation statutes for agricultural land to be used for ‘agricultural purpose’ and listed the qualifications for land to be valued as agricultural land. Ms. Arnold explained the difference between how the Department of Revenue classifies agricultural and non-agricultural lands, by taking into account whether the land is being used for its ability to produce an agricultural product, and whether the use of the land is for a commercial purpose. She explained how land would be taxed differently based on whether it was classified as agricultural or non-agricultural, with agricultural land being assessed at lower rates.”

The minutes continue, “Ms. Arnold also described how other states have dealt with the issue of property taxation related to beekeeping. The most recent state to pass laws related to beekeeping was Texas in 2012. There, Texas law was changed to allow beekeeping as a qualification for agricultural land valuation if the land met certain size and agricultural use requirements.”

The committee then approved a motion at the May meeting to draft legislation similar to the Texas law.

According to the draft legislation, added to the definition of agriculture purpose would be “raising or keeping bees for the production of human food or other agricultural products, provided that the land used is not less than five nor more than 20 acres.”

Food Freedom Act

The Food Freedom Act, which was legislation that failed during the 2016 session, would allow the selling of certain cooked meat products at farmers markets and other specified areas. During the May meeting Wyoming Department of Ag Director Doug Miyamoto said the department has communicated with the Food Safety and Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) about whether the bill would comply with federal meat inspection laws. He said, according to the committee minutes that the FSIS has taken the position that the bill would likely not meet federal requirements. Thus, Geis said, the committee will not be sending any bills forward regarding the Food Freedom Act.

The committee has also drafted legislation to allocate $500,000 from the emergency fire suppression account for pine bark beetle mitigation projects, Geis said.

With work on the interim projects nearly complete, Geis said the committee will meet once more in November to go over the omnibus water bill projects with the Alkali Creek near Hyattville and Beaver Creek dam near Shell on the construction list. He said the budget cuts don’t impact the water projects as the money is already in the account, it’s just a matter of allocating the funds.

Budget

For the past 23 years, Geis has been attending legislative sessions in Cheyenne. Come January, Geis said he thinks he’ll miss not going, “but I’ll have to wait and see.”

He said the next few years for Wyoming will be tough due to the declining revenues. He said he’s not sure he agrees with Gov. Matt Mead about no more cuts coming. He said he anticipates there will be less funding for cities, towns and counties.

Geis added that he was surprised that a special session was called to discuss revenue options and budget cuts.