Tax break for seniors, farm plan protection pass Legislature unanimously

OLYMPIA – Seniors and disabled retirees gained a tax break on properties that cannot be subdivided, and farmers won protection from undue scrutiny under two measures that passed unanimously today in the House of Representatives.

Having already passed the Senate without being amended, the tax break measure will go directly to the governor’s desk. The farm bill was amended in the House and must go back for another vote in the Senate, where its approval is all but assured.

“These are two common-sense bills that will help people stay in their homes and help farms stay in business,” said Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, who sponsored both measures. “The first one protects seniors who are being taxed off their land, and the second helps farmers who want to do the right thing in sensitive areas.”

The first measure, Senate Bill 6338, eases property taxes on seniors and other retirees in rural areas where zoning ordinances bar them from subdividing properties of five or fewer acres. This bill extends the current property tax exemption for one-acre properties to up to five acres for land that cannot be subdivided.

The exemption applies to anyone who:

• is 61 years old or older in the year of application, or is retired due to disability, or is a veteran of the United States armed forces with a 100 percent service-connected disability; and
• has a disposable income of $35,000 or less.

The second measure, SB 6617, will make it easier for farmers to submit plans voluntarily to help them become better stewards of their lands and the environment without having to make the plans public. Such plans are filed with local conservation districts – non-regulatory agencies that provide technical assistance and make conservation and environmental improvement programs available to rural residents.

SB 6617 changes the laws for submitting farm plans by:

• Clarifying that farm plans that are not required for regulatory purposes are not subject to public disclosure unless the farmer volunteers to allow it; and
• Directing conservation districts to inform farmers, before the preparation of a farm plan, of the information that is subject to public disclosure;
• Specifying that farm plans used for permit purposes under federal or state water quality laws are subject to the specific disclosure provisions that apply to those programs.

Haugen said the farm bill restores a working relationship between conservation districts and rural residents who had stopped working with them for fear of excessive disclosure of their farm plans.

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