SB4044sam001 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Sen. David Koehler

Filed: 2/25/2026

10400SB4044sam001 LRB104 17650 BDA 34668 a

AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 4044

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 4044 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Agricultural Land Conservation Act.

Section 5. Findings and intent. The General Assembly hereby reiterates the legislative findings and statement of intent set forth in Section 2 of the Farmland Preservation Act and further finds that:

(1) According to a 2024 report published by the Department of Agriculture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, midwestern states lost over 1.5 million acres of agricultural land to development between 2001 and 2021, with the highest losses occurring in Illinois.

(2) Each year in Illinois, thousands of acres of agricultural land are rezoned and developed into industrial, commercial, and residential areas.

(3) Soil and water conservation districts are units of local government, but they lack taxing authority.

(4) Soil and water conservation district employees serve as the critical infrastructure in every county in Illinois, administering vital State and federal conservation programs. They are on the front lines of addressing pressing environmental challenges, including improving water quality, enhancing soil health, and building resilience to the increasingly severe impacts of climate change. Their work is foundational to achieving environmental goals, and their presence on the ground ensures that these efforts reach the necessary scale.

(5) Unstable or intermittent funding threatens to undermine the capacity of soil and water conservation districts to deliver programs that support farmers, landowners, and communities across the State. Without adequate staffing, Illinois risks losing the ability to put federal funds earmarked for conservation and climate resilience onto the ground in Illinois. Moreover, it puts at risk the progress made in addressing water quality issues, mitigating flooding, and improving soil sustainability.

Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:

"Agricultural land" means land that is intensively used and managed for the production of food and fiber. "Agricultural land" includes cropland; hay land; pastures, including native pastures and rangeland; orchards; vineyards; areas that support wetland crops; other lands used to support the production of livestock; and small tree farms.

"Agrivoltaic system" means a ground-mounted photovoltaic solar energy system that meets the following criteria:

(1) the applicable farm plan and the system have been intentionally designed with agricultural producers, agrivoltaics experts, or both agricultural producers and agrivoltaics experts;

(2) the system is constructed, installed, and operated to achieve an integrated and simultaneous production of both solar energy and current or future marketable agricultural products, including all products and activities described in Section 3-35 of the Use Tax Act and apiaries if the apiary is paired with another qualifying marketable agricultural product, by an agricultural producer;

(3) the agricultural production of the system occurs on land beneath or between rows of solar panels; and

(4) the agricultural production of the system begins as soon as agronomically feasible and optimal for the agricultural producer after the commercial operation date of the solar panels and continues until decommissioning.

"Agrivoltaic system" does not include a system that has a pollinator habitat as the sole dual use of the system.

"Department" means the Department of Agriculture.

Section 15. Farmland Conversion Fee Fund. The Farmland Conversion Fee Fund is created as a special fund in the State treasury. Revenue generated from the Farmland Conversion Fees imposed under Section 20 shall be collected by the Department and deposited into the Farmland Conversion Fee Fund. Moneys in the Farmland Conversion Fee Fund may be expended and distributed by the Department exclusively for the following purposes:

(1) supporting educational and other programs that support healthy soil, clean water, and climate-smart agricultural practices;

(2) supporting operations funding for soil and water conservation districts;

(3) covering costs associated with administering the Act; and

(4) any other purpose that the Department determines is consistent with the purposes and intent of this Act.

Before expending moneys for any other purpose, the Department shall, subject to the availability of moneys in the Fund, ensure that during each State fiscal year: (i) $100,000 is distributed to the Department for the collection of fees and the administration of the program; and (ii) at least $4,000,000 is distributed to soil and water conservation districts in the State for the purposes of paragraph (2) of this Section. Any remainder may be expended by the Department for the purposes enumerated in this Section.

Beginning July 1, 2026, and every July 1 thereafter, the amounts described in items (i) and (ii) shall be annually increased by the annual unadjusted percentage increase (but not less than zero) in the consumer price index-u for the 12 months ending with the September preceding each November 1, including all previous adjustments. In this Section, "consumer price index-u" means the index published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor that measures the average change in prices of goods and services purchased by all urban consumers, United States city average, all items, 1982-84 = 100.

Section 20. Farmland Conversion Fees.

(a) Beginning January 1, 2027, if a person purchases or leases agricultural land for the purpose of developing or constructing a solar farm, a wind farm, an industrial park, a commercial area, or a single-family or multiple-family dwelling or for any other purpose that removes the agricultural land from production, then the person shall pay to the Department within 30 days of the purchase or lease of the agricultural land a Farmland Conversion Fee of $67 per acre.

(b) Revenue generated from Farmland Conversion Fees shall be collected by the Department and deposited into the Farmland Conversion Fee Fund.

(c) Conversion of agricultural land that will be removed from production is exempt from the Farmland Conversion Fee if it is removed from production for the personal use of a farmer or landowner or if it is one or more of the following types of agricultural land conversion:

(1) any conversion of land in which the primary function of the converted area supports agricultural infrastructure, such as livestock operations or grain elevators;

(2) any conversion of land done by a State agency;

(3) any conversion of land done for the creation of high-voltage transmission systems;

(4) any conversion of land whose primary purpose is the establishment of conservation practices; or

(5) any conversion of land done for the creation of one or more agrivoltaic systems.

(d) The Department shall adopt rules to implement and administer this Section.

Section 25. Enforcement. The Attorney General, in conjunction with the Department, shall enforce this Act. Any person who fails to pay a Farmland Conversion Fee shall be subjected to a penalty equivalent to 3 times the Farmland Conversion Fee due, plus interest calculated at a rate equal to the yield on 26-week United States Treasury bills most recently auctioned prior to the date of the determination of the repayment obligation to the Department.

Section 90. The State Finance Act is amended by adding Section 5.1036 as follows:

(30 ILCS 105/5.1036 new)

Sec. 5.1036. The Farmland Conversion Fee Fund.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.".