HB3501 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB102 15209 KMF 22444 b

102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
HB3501

Introduced 2/22/2021, by Rep. Sonya M. Harper

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Black Farmer Restoration Program Act. Creates the Black Farmer Restoration Program. Provides that the Department of Agriculture shall establish the Black Farmer Restoration Fund to purchases farmland on the open market and grant it to eligible individuals. Establishes requirements and limitations for the Program. Establishes the Farm Conservation Corps to provide training in an on-field environment for socially disadvantaged residents. Establishes the Equity Commission to study to study historical and continuing discrimination by the Department against Black farmers and ranchers that is fostered or perpetuated by the laws, rules, policies, or practices of the Department and to recommend actions to end the systematic disparities in treatment of Black farmers and ranchers, particularly by the Department. Provides for the collection and reporting of specified data regarding the Program and related conditions. Defines terms. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning agriculture.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Black Farmer Restoration Program Act.

Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Agricultural easement" means a nonpossessory interest of a holder in real property imposing limitations on the use of the property strictly to agricultural purposes. An agricultural easement does not prevent a property owner from constructing, improving, or maintaining a primary residence or housing for farmworkers on the land.

"Director" means the Director of Agriculture.

"Department" means the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

"Eligible individual" means a resident of this State who:

was born in this State;

is at least twenty-one years of age; has previously identified as Black or African American; and

has at least one parent of African ancestry.

"Qualified entity" means an organization: that has a fiscal sponsor who is exempt from taxation pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986;

that has a minimum of three years of experience providing agricultural services, business assistance, legal assistance, or advocacy services to socially disadvantaged farmers; and

in which at least half of the members of the organization's board of directors are Black.

"Socially disadvantaged farmer" means a farmer who is a member of a socially disadvantaged group.

"Socially disadvantaged group" means a group of people whose members have been subject to racial or ethnic prejudice because of their identity as a member of a group without regard to their individual qualities.

"Training" means a program of training approved by the Director that:

provides an eligible individual with the basic skills to operate a farm profitably with a primary focus on regenerating the soil, ecosystem, and local community;

provides a course of study that is equivalent to no less than thirty academic credit hours of study, which may be provided as direct in-field instruction;

focuses on low capital-intensive techniques and technologies; and

studies local and regional food systems and the market opportunities those systems present.

Section 10. Black Farmer Restoration Program. There is hereby created the Black Farmer Restoration Program within the Illinois Department of Agriculture to support current Black farmers and to encourage the growth of Black farmers into the field of agriculture. There is established in the State treasury a separate and distinct fund known as the Black Farmer Restoration Fund. The Fund shall consist of gifts, grants and donations, and appropriations which must be made to support the Program. Expenditures from the Fund must be used exclusively to pay costs, fees, and expenses necessary to administer the Program.

Section 15. Department and Director responsibilities.

(a) The Department shall:

(1) purchase, from willing sellers, available agricultural land within this State at a price no greater than fair market value; and

(2) convey grants of the purchased land to eligible individuals at no cost to the eligible individual.

(b) A land grant to an eligible individual may not exceed one hundred acres.

(c) Eligible individuals:

(1) An eligible individual seeking a land grant shall submit an application on a form and in a manner approved by the Director that must include a legal description of the eligible agricultural land.

(2) The Director shall give priority to applications to:

(A) socially disadvantaged farmers;

(B) eligible individuals with a family history of land dispossession;

(C) eligible individuals with experience in agriculture, including experience obtained through the provisions of this article; and

(D) eligible individuals who are veterans.

(3) The Director may grant an application submitted by a qualified entity on behalf of one or more eligible individuals seeking a land grant. An application submitted by a qualified entity for more than one hundred acres must include a proposal for how the land will be subdivided and separately conveyed to multiple eligible individuals.

(d) Granted land.

(1) The Director shall attach an agricultural easement to the land before it may be conveyed to the eligible individual or qualified entity.

(2) The recipient of the land grant may sell the land but the Department has the right of first refusal to purchase the land at the appraised value of the land to convey to another eligible individual pursuant to the provisions of this article.

Section 20. Farm Conservation Corps.

(a) The Department shall establish the Farm Conservation Corps to provide residents between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine from socially disadvantaged groups the academic, vocational, and social skills necessary to pursue long-term and productive careers in agriculture.

(b) The members of the Farm Conservation Corps shall serve as on-farm apprentices, at no cost, to farms with an annual gross farm income of less than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars operated by:

(1) socially disadvantaged farmers;

(2) beginning farmers; or

(3) farmers operating certified organic farms.

Section 25. Equity Commission.

(a) Establishment.

(1) Generally. There is established in the Department of Agriculture the Equity Commission, the purposes of which are:

(A) to study historical and continuing discrimination by the Department against Black farmers and ranchers that is fostered or perpetuated by the laws, rules, policies, or practices of the Department; and

(B) to recommend actions to end the systematic disparities in treatment of Black farmers and ranchers, particularly by the Department.

(2) Membership.

(A) Composition. The Commission shall be composed of 9 members, to be appointed by the Director, of whom:

(i) three shall be Black farmers or ranchers with not less than 10 years of experience in farming or ranching;

(ii) three shall be employees or board members of nonprofit organizations that have not less than 7 years of experience providing meaningful agricultural, business assistance, legal assistance, or advocacy services to Black farmers or ranchers; and

(iii) three shall be faculty or staff from Chicago State University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, or Southern Illinois University.

(B) Date. The appointments of the members of the Commission shall be made not later than 90 days after the effective date of this Act.

(3) Term; vacancies.

(A) Generally. A member of the Commission shall be appointed for the life of the Commission.

(B) Vacancies. A vacancy in the Commission: (i) shall not affect the powers of the Commission; and (ii) shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment.

(4) Meetings.

(A) Initial meeting. Not later than 30 days after the date on which all members of the Commission have been appointed, the Commission shall hold the first meeting of the Commission.

(B) Frequency. The Commission shall meet at the call of the Chairperson.

(C) Quorum. A majority of the members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number of members may hold hearings.

(5) Chairperson and Vice Chairperson. The Commission shall select a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson from among the members of the Commission.

(b) Duties.

(1) Study. The Commission shall study discrimination against Black farmers and ranchers by the Department, including by conducting investigations of the prevalence of discrimination against Black farmers and ranchers in Department offices and programs.

(2) Recommendations. The Commission shall develop recommendations for ending the systematic disparities in treatment of Black farmers and ranchers, particularly by the Department.

(3) Outreach. In studying the matters under paragraph (1) and developing recommendations under paragraph (2), the Commission shall:

(A) consult with the Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Research Center; and

(B) hold town hall meetings with socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, researchers, and civil rights advocates.

(4) Report. On or before January 1, 2024, the Commission shall provide to the Governor and the General Assembly a detailed report that describes:

(A) the findings of the study under paragraph (1); and

(B) the recommendations developed under paragraph (2).

(c) Powers of Commission.

(1) Hearings. The Commission shall hold open, televised, and public hearings, during which the Commission may sit and act at such times and places, take such testimony, and receive such evidence as the Commission considers advisable to carry out this section.

(2) Information from State agencies.

(A) Generally. The Commission may secure directly from a State agency such information as the Commission considers necessary to carry out this Section.

(B) Furnishing information. On request of the Chairperson of the Commission, the head of any State agency shall furnish the information to the Commission.

(3) Gifts. The Commission may accept, use, and dispose of gifts or donations of services or property.

(d) Compensation and expenses; support.

(1) Compensation and expenses. Members shall serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for reasonable expenses incurred in the performance of their duties from funds appropriated for that purpose.

(2) Support. The Department house the Commission and shall provide suitable meeting facilities to the Commission, together with such personnel and administrative assistance as the Commission may require.

(e) Repeal. This Section is repealed January 1, 2025.

Section 30. Data collection and reporting.

(a) Generally. The Director shall make publicly available annual reports describing data on the recipients of Department, including assistance from farm subsidy programs, and the amounts of the assistance, delineated by the race, ethnicity, and gender of the recipients.

(b) Research of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. The Department shall conduct research on the status of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, including, but not limited to:

(1) the share of land ownership of those socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers as compared to all farmers and ranchers, delineated by the race, ethnicity, and gender of the landowners;

(2) the share of the amount of assistance those socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers receive from the Department as compared to all farmers and ranchers, delineated by the race, ethnicity, and gender of the recipients;

(3) the share, status, and receipt of loans by socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers as compared to all farmers and ranchers, delineated by the race, ethnicity, and gender of the recipients; and

(4) an assessment of the reasons for disparities in land ownership, assistance from the Department, and loans for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers compared to all farmers and ranchers.

(c) Research of farmworkers. The Department shall conduct research on the demographics and status of farmworkers, including, but not limited to:

(1) the races, ethnicities, ages, localities, wages and benefits, and working conditions of farmworkers;

(2) the economic contributions of farmworkers to the Illinois economy; and

(3) satisfaction of farmworkers with their employment.

(d) Census of agriculture. The Department shall:

(1) investigate historical changes in reporting methodology and misreporting of Black farmers and ranchers in the census of agriculture;

(2) develop procedures to ensure that census of agriculture surveys accurately capture the status of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers engaged in urban agriculture; and

(3) conduct, concurrently with each census of agriculture, a review to assess:

(A) the outreach and methodologies used in conducting the census of agriculture; and

(B) how such outreach and methodologies have affected the counting of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.

(e) Corporate ownership of farmland. The Department shall annually conduct, and annually make publicly available reports describing, in-depth research and analysis of corporate (domestic and foreign) land investment and ownership in Illinois, with specific attention given to the impact of corporate land investment and ownership on:

(1) land consolidation trends in Illinois and in the United States;

(2) challenges and opportunities for new and beginning farmers and ranchers accessing land for farming or ranching;

(3) challenges and opportunities for members of socially disadvantaged groups accessing land for farming or ranching; and

(4) crop selection and production trends.

Section 35. Rulemaking. The Department shall adopt rules to carry out the provisions of this Act.

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