Proposed legislation unveiled Thursday that would restrict tax breaks for agricultural land is crafted in a way to keep a powerful potential opponent on the sidelines, The Denver Post reports.

Backers of the bill say they are doing all they can to keep from angering agricultural interests, which killed past reform efforts.

State Rep. Tom Massey, a Republican from Poncha Springs, is sponsoring the legislation.

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Watch legislators debate HB10-1195 here. Source: State Bill Colorado

By Debi Brazzale, COLORADO NEWS AGENCY

A sales-tax break that was suspended earlier this year–prompting some Coloradans to cross state lines to buy farming and ranching products–will be given a second look by lawmakers when they convene in January.

The sales-tax exemption on agricultural compounds, pesticides and bull semen was scotched by lawmakers last spring at the prompting of Gov. Bill Ritter as part of a package of bills nixing tax breaks on a range of business activities. The legislation was intended to help bridge budget gaps amid slumping state revenue, but it was dubbed “the Dirty Dozen” by an angry business community and dissenting GOP lawmakers.

The ag sales-tax exemption had buoyed an array of products used by farmers and ranchers across Colorado, and its removal under House Bill 10-1195, was vigorously opposed by the agricultural community as well as most GOP lawmakers before it was passed by majority Democrats and signed into law by the governor.

Sterling farmer and GOP state Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg said today he will be sponsoring legislation to repeal HB 1195 as a matter of first priority.

“That’ll be my focus right off the bat,” said Sonnenberg.

The issues came up in a discussion at the Capitol at a hearing for the state Department of Agriculture before the budget-writing Joint Budget Committee. Rep. Cheri Gerou, a Republican from Evergreen who serves as Vice Chair of the committee, asked Commissioner of Agriculture John Stulp if he had heard any complaints from the agriculture community about the end of the sales-tax exemption. Stulp said he had, but he defended the move to curtail the exemption.

“It’s part of the governor’s message of a shared sacrifice,” said Stulp. The sales tax, while I might not like it, is a part of being a citizen of Colorado and contributing to the cause because I like to have good roads and I like to have good school systems.”

Sonnenberg said that the agriculture industry is the only industry in Colorado that is being taxed on products used for production.

“IBM doesn’t pay sales tax on motherboards or hard drives when they put a computer together, but now agriculture is being told that, ‘As you produce food, we’re going to tax part of your areas where you have a cost of production,’ ” said Sonnenberg.

Yet, the sales tax may have produced less-than-anticipated revenue, says Sonnenberg, who says he has observed a trend among farmers and ranchers of avoiding the tax altogether.

“The fact of the matter is many of them are going out of state to buy their chemicals and their feed additives,” said Sonnenberg. “What we did with that tax is hurt Colorado businesses, local co-ops, and chemical dealers–because they lost the sale.”

Stulp, a farmer and rancher himself, said he understands the dynamics at play.

“Farmers and ranchers are always concerned about their bottom line,” said Stulp. “We are the one industry that does not have the ability to pass the cost on. It’s one of the dilemmas in agriculture.”

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Gov. Bill Ritter Monday vetoed his first bill of the 2010 legislative session, shooting down House Bill 1101 (pdf), which would have removed the current requirement that county clerks thoroughly vet anyone seeking a farm vehicle registration, The Colorado Independent reports.

Sponsored in the House by Rep. Randy Baumgardner, R-Hot Sulphur Springs, and in the Senate by Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, the bill was meant to make it easier for farmers and ranchers to obtain cheaper farm truck registrations exempt from state emissions standards.

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Senators have had enough talk about shepherds for the year, The Durango Herald reports.

A bill that would have set up a task force to listen to the troubles of immigrant sheepherders died Thursday.

House Bill 1407 began as an effort by two Denver Democrats – Rep. Daniel Kagan and Sen. Pat Steadman – to make working conditions better for Peruvian immigrants who are hired to tend sheep on the Western Slope.

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STATE BILL COLORADO

Here’s the audio of the 4/21/2010 House Agriculture Committee meeting.

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Agricultural lands are a small step away from rarely being declared as ‘blight’. A bill that would impose stricter requirements for declaring agricultural lands blight has passed both the House and the Senate, and is awaiting Gov. Bill Ritter’s signature, the Aurora Sentinel reports. The bill would make it more difficult for a developer to use a partially public-financing method to fund a project.

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A bill to strictly limit the inclusion of prime agricultural land in urban renewal authorities got its first hearing in the Senate this week, but HB 1107 is still a work in progress and will get another hearing on Monday, the Fort Morgan Times reports. The Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee on Wednesday took testimony on the bill sponsored by Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora. Due to time constraints, the committee delayed action on amendments and a vote on the bill until Monday.

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Urban renewal zones carved out of open farmland, such as the one at east Loveland’s Centerra development, would be mostly disallowed under provisions of a measure passed Monday by the Colorado House of Representatives, The Loveland Reporter-Herald reports. The bill that now moves to the Colorado Senate targets communities such as Timnath that have taken advantage of state law permitting declarations that farmland is “blighted” in establishing vast urban renewal districts. In the case of Timnath, an urban renewal authority covers the entire town, or more than 5,000 acres of land.

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A bill that proposes to raise the minimum standard for training of animal control officers and limits their authority over livestock drew hours of passionate testimony Wednesday in the House Agriculture Committee, The Pueblo Chieftain reports. Introduced by state Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, HB1124 would also change the rules governing bonds required of people accused of animal cruelty. Those bonds pay for the care of animals while they are in the care of agencies that house them while the cases involving them are adjudicated.

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