CCFB News» April 2019

Farm Bureau established the following legislative priorities:

• Work with the large number of new legislators elected to the General Assembly in order to educate and share the importance of agriculture to the state of Illinois. As well as to build working relationships with newly elected constitutional officers and their new staffs.
• Support a viable and independent Illinois Department of Agriculture.
• Maintain funding at adequate levels for agricultural programs within the current tax structure. 
• Maintain a balanced process for siting livestock farms through the Livestock Management Facilities Act (LMFA) that protects both the environment and farmers’ ability to raise livestock.
• Support state tax policies that build a positive business climate; this includes supporting agricultural sales tax incentives, the Farmland Assessment Law, and a flat state income tax rate.
• Implement transparency and efficiency in the Illinois Endangered Species Act that will incentivize farmers to be involved in habitat conservation and species’ protection. 
• Oppose an increase to Illinois’ minimum wage that is believed to be inflationary and would negatively impact Illinois’ business climate.
• Implement the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act in Illinois to preserve landownership and avoid forced sales in tenancy-in-common property, resulting in lost land ownership.