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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 1063
January Session, 2019
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A TASK FORCE TO IMPROVE FARMLAND
AVAILABILITY FOR BEGINNING FARMERS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (Effective from passage) (a) There is established a task force 1
to study issues relating to farmland access for new and beginning 2
farmers. In undertaking such study, the task force shall examine the 3
affordability of such farmland access, including, but not limited to, the 4
cost to purchase or rent such farmland in urban, rural and suburban 5
areas of the state, the availability of such farmland in such settings and 6
the accessibility of farm financing and farm worker housing. 7
Additionally, in examining such issues, the task force shall consider 8
the accessibility of such farmland for historically underrepresented 9
populations in the state's farming community, review the effectiveness 10
of current programs to create such accessibility and consider programs 11
of other states aimed at creating such accessibility. 12
(b) The task force shall consist of the following members: 13
(1) Two appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives, 14
one of whom shall be a beginning farmer and one of whom shall be a 15
farmer with not less than ten years of farming experience; 16
(2) Two appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate, one 17
of whom shall be from an organization that works on behalf of starting 18 Substitute Bill No. 1063
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farmers and one of whom shall be from a financial institution that 19
lends money to farmers in the state; 20
(3) One appointed by the majority leader of the House of 21
Representatives, who shall be a member or representative of an 22
organization that advocates for equal human rights and racial justice; 23
(4) One appointed by the majority leader of the Senate, who shall be 24
a representative of an organization that links beginning farmers with 25
farmland in urban, rural and suburban areas of the state; 26
(5) One appointed by the minority leader of the House of 27
Representatives, who shall be from a state or municipal planning 28
organization; 29
(6) One appointed by the minority leader of the Senate, who shall be 30
a representative of a group that advocates for farmland preservation 31
and accessibility, including, but not limited to, urban farming; 32
(7) The Commissioner of Agriculture, or the commissioner's 33
designee; 34
(8) The Commissioner of Economic and Community Development, 35
or the commissioner's designee; and 36
(9) A representative of The University of Connecticut's Agricultural 37
Extension, who shall be appointed by the director of such extension. 38
(c) Any member of the task force appointed under subdivision (1), 39
(2), (3), (4), (5) or (6) of subsection (b) of this section may be a member 40
of the General Assembly. 41
(d) All appointments to the task force shall be made not later than 42
thirty days after the effective date of this section. Any vacancy shall be 43
filled by the appointing authority. 44
(e) The speaker of the House of Representatives and the president 45
pro tempore of the Senate shall select the chairpersons of the task force 46 Substitute Bill No. 1063
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from among the members of the task force. Such chairpersons shall 47
schedule the first meeting of the task force, which shall be held not 48
later than sixty days after the effective date of this section. 49
(f) The administrative staff of the joint standing committee of the 50
General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to agriculture 51
shall serve as administrative staff of the task force. 52
(g) Not later than January 1, 2020, the task force shall submit a 53
report on its findings and recommendations to the joint standing 54
committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters 55
relating to agriculture, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-56
4a of the general statutes. The task force shall terminate on the date 57
that it submits such report or January 1, 2020, whichever is later. 58
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
ENV Joint Favorable Subst.