August 2005

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Guest Commentary

John Gamper is director of taxation and land use for the California Farm Bureau Federation. This article originally ran in the CFBF’s Ag Alert. The Williamson Act is named after John Williamson, who served in the state Assembly, chairing the Agriculture Committee.

The California Land Conservation Act of 1965, more popularly known as the Williamson Act, looks pretty good on its 40^th birthday. You might even say that it is aging gracefully. At its inception, the law saved many family farmers and ranchers from having to sell their land because they could not afford the property taxes based on what the county assessor determined to be the land’s “highest and best use.”

In its formative years, the new law grew slowly in popularity as coffee shop talk overcame landowner reluctance to sign long-term land use contracts with their county government in return for property tax relief. The county Farm Bureaus and local Cattlemen’s Associations were also instrumental in spreading the word that the law really did provide needed protection from confiscatory property tax policies. Today, the Williamson Act still enjoys broad popularity among all involved – state and local government officials as well as landowners.

Over 16.5 million acres of farm and ranch land are enrolled in the program, including nearly 6 million acres of California’s prime farmland. By any measure the participation of 55 percent of all agricultural land and 71 percent of our prime soil means that the Williamson Act has grown and matured into one of the most successful government programs in the state’s history.

That aside, the program has developed more than a few wrinkles. Some have added character to the Farm Bureau and the Legislature as we have worked together to protect the integrity of the Williamson Act from potential abuse by land speculators and some unenlightened local officials who would willingly trade the long-term health of the act for short-term fiscal gratification.

Other infirmities have presented more difficult challenges for the vitality of the Williamson Act. The parcelization of contracted land is like a slow growing cancer that could eventually kill the program. There is growing concern that large-lot home sites on Williamson Act land, with little or no agricultural activity, will eventually imperil its political viability and jeopardize continued state funding for the all-important state subventions. Known disparagingly as “starter castles” or “McMansions,” these estates could be the final nails in the coffin of California’s premier land conservation program.

Another life threatening complication is the double whammy effect of federal monetary policy. The Federal Reserve’s effort in recent years to ratchet down long-term interest rates has created two very significant problems: an increase in Williamson Act land values, due to the statutory link to 30-year Treasury bonds in the capitalization of income formula, thus reducing or eliminating the property tax relief,; and the incredible balloon in housing prices that allows suburban homeowners to sell out and buy their own piece of Green Acres, often in an agricultural preserve.

Another major concern of the Farm Bureau and the Department of Conservation is the acquisition of Williamson Act land by public agencies, especially those with a goal to stop agriculture all together for the “protection” of natural resources. In recent years, the amount of contracted land acquired by public agencies has increased dramatically. The Wildlife Conservation Board is perhaps our greatest threat.

Hopefully the Williamson Act will survive to 80 years and beyond by simply remembering why the law was enacted in the first place: to preserve the maximum amount of the limited supply of agricultural land that is necessary to the conservation of the state's economic resources not only to the maintenance of the agricultural economy of the state, but also for the assurance of adequate, healthful and nutritious food for future residents of this state and our nation.

As we celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the Williamson Act let’s all vow to continue to work hard to protect the health of a program that has served the agricultural community so well. Happy Birthday to California land conservation.