Manifolds, Manolos, and Manure
Farm Bureau Continues Legislative Efforts on Behalf of Members
As the state legislative session remains in full swing, Farm Bureau continues working on behalf of farmers and landowners throughout Cook County and Illinois. Farm Bureau’s efforts focus on preserving agriculture and the economic well-being of farmers throughout Illinois. Issues include:
Family Farm Preservation Act
Senate Bill 1688 sponsored by Senator Koehler and House Bill 2677 sponsored by Representative Chung reforms the Illinois Estate Tax. Illinois family farm estates are unique in that the vast majority of each estate’s value is not in liquid assets. Under current law, most farm estates must plan for the estate tax given the low threshold of $4 million. Worse yet, the entire estate is subject to taxation if the $4 million threshold is exceeded. Beneficiaries typically must then sell off parts of the family farm or incur tremendous debt to pay the tax.
Senate Bill 1688 and House Bill 2677 contain the Family Farm Preservation Act, an Illinois Farm Bureau legislative initiative.
The legislation makes the following changes for estates that claim the Internal Revenue Service Agricultural Special Use Valuation Rule for Illinois Estate Tax purposes:
- Increases Illinois’ threshold to $6 million (was $4 million).
- Makes the existing threshold an actual exemption in which only the dollars over $6 million are taxed, as opposed to the current law where the entire estate is taxed if the $4 million threshold is breached.
- Ties the $6 million exemption to inflation.
- Allows any unused exemption amount to be transferred to the surviving spouse, thus increasing exemption amount for a family.
- Updates the agricultural special-use valuation, for Illinois estate tax purposes, to reflect modern farm estates and farm family descendants.
This has been a politically challenging issue to tackle because it directly impacts revenue collected by the state. Early 2025 estimates projected a $3.2 billion deficit for Illinois in 2025. Despite this, Farm Bureau will continue to push for the changes to the Estate Tax to be included in the final budget negotiations, which will likely occur at the end of May.
Nuisance Deer
The second issue is an initiative of Farm Bureau. Senate Bill 2160 sponsored by Senator Joyce would give landowners more tools to control deer population on their own properties, encourage hunters to take more antlerless deer during regular hunting seasons, and expand deer donation around the state.
If passed, the process for receiving Deer Removal Permits (DRPs) for deer causing damage to property would be standardized. Landowners would be able to transfer DRPs to anyone with a hunting license to dispatch deer on their behalf. Furthermore, the time a landowner would have to fill DRPs would be extended. This legislation would also create the Hunter Food Bank Fund, which would support grants awarded to food banks to pay processers for donated deer.
Food Deserts
House Bill 1607 sponsored by Representative Harper creates the Commission on Eliminating Food Deserts. The Commission is tasked with reviewing the effectiveness of current State-led efforts to eliminate food deserts and advising the General Assembly on policy, funding, initiatives, and best practices for the elimination of food deserts in Illinois. The Farm Bureau is supportive of the initiative.
Farm Bureau will continue working on behalf of all Farm Bureau members. Members with questions or concerns regarding priority issues are encourages to contact Bona Heinsohn at [email protected].