The Assembly version of the proposed changes to the MFL is AB402, and has been assigned to the Assembly Forestry Committee. You can track its progress here or by RSS. As of today, Government Accountability Board records [link now broken] indicate that two groups have lobbied on the Assembly bill so far: Plum Creek Timber Company, […]
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On Nov 1, the Assembly Forestry Committee will take public testimony on AB342. The Legislative Reference Bureau summarizes the bill as follows: This bill exempts an owner who withdraws land from the MFL Program from the payment of withdrawal taxes and fees if the owner withdraws the land for the purpose of constructing a human […]
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Department of Revenue’s Fiscal estimates (pdf) of the MFL changes (SB161) are available. Note that these are an incomplete assessment as the MFL is largely under the Department of Natural Resources’ purview. DOR’s fiscal analysis only deals with changes in the reallocation of the closed area fee.
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The current version of the MFL changes moving through the legislature (SB161) would both (1) increase the amount landowner would pay to close land under the MFL and (2) shift which government units ultimately receive those closed area fees. In this post, I want to focus on (2), perhaps I’ll find time to discuss the […]
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The MFL changes are finally hitting the mainstream media. This article appeared in the State Journal over the weekend. [Note: The Legislative Council Study has entered the Senate as SB161.] Lawmakers eye changes for managed forestland law (WSJ) Leasing would seem to be would seem to the hot topic. I was contacted by another outlet […]
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The proposed changes to the MFL have entered the Wisconsin State Senate as Senate Bill 161 [link broken] (includes progress and link to full text). The progress of the Bill can also be tracked by an rss feed [link broken]. At this point, the bill is in the Senate Agriculture, Forestry, and Higher Education committee [link broken] with no […]
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Proposed legislative changes to the MFL: Implications for current, new, and renewing landowners A recently completed Legislative Council Special Committee has recommended seven changes to the Managed Forest Law. This Forestry Fact (#108) reviews those changes with a focus on their potential implications for woodland owners. It is available for download here as a pdf.
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The proposed changes* to the Managed Forest Law (MFL), if passed as is (unlikely), would offer landowners new tools, higher taxes for new participants, and greater flexibility. Below I describe the likely effects for both existing and new/renewing participants of the proposed changes. PLEASE RECALL THAT THESE HAVE YET TO PASS–just felt I needed to […]
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Richard Wedepohl (WWOA member very knowledgeable about property taxes) found an error in the Forestry Fact 107 on the proposed changes to the MFL. He noted that I had a spurious list of the Council on Forestry’s concerns related to the MFL that I failed to check with the original. I corrected that and added […]
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Recent UWEX press release describes proposed changes to MFL; Thank you Meg!
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