PDA Issues Correction to Clean and Green

Written by M. Sean High

On August 22, 2015, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) issued a corrective amendment to the Pennsylvania Code to remedy § 137b.24 of the Preferential Assessment of Farmland and Forest Land under the Clean and Green Act.  The corrective amendment, published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin Volume 45, number34, stated that PDA had “discovered a discrepancy between the agency text of 7 Pa. Code § 137b.24 (relating to ineligible land)…and the official text as published at 31 Pa.B. 1701 (March 31, 2001)…” 

According to the official text published in 31 Pa.B.1701, the first sentence of the Pennsylvania Code under “ineligible land” should have stated: “A landowner seeking preferential assessment under the act shall include ineligible land on the application if the ineligible land is part of a larger contiguous tract of eligible land, and the use of the land which causes it to be ineligible exists at the time the application is filed.” (Emphasis added).  Instead, the first sentence of 7 Pa. Code § 137b.24 “Ineligible land” had stated: “A landowner seeking preferential assessment under the act shall include ineligible land on the application if the eligible land is part of a larger contiguous tract of eligible land, and the use of the land which causes it to be ineligible exists at the time the application is filed.” (Emphasis added).  The corrective amendment to Pennsylvania Code § 137b.24 now properly reflects the official text published in 31 Pa.B. 1701.

The corrective amendment to Pennsylvania Code § 137b.24 became effective upon the August 22, 2015 publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.