Bill Amendment: IL SB4044 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: LAND CONSERVATION ACT

Status: 2026-05-26 - Added as Co-Sponsor Sen. Karina Villa [SB4044 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-SB4044-Senate_Amendment_001.html

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Sen. David Koehler

Filed: 2/25/2026

 

 

 

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AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 4044
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 4044 by replacing
everything after the enacting clause with the following:
"Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Agricultural Land Conservation Act.
Section 5. Findings and intent. The General Assembly
hereby reiterates the legislative findings and statement of
intent set forth in Section 2 of the Farmland Preservation Act
and further finds that:
(1) According to a 2024 report published by the
Department of Agriculture at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, midwestern states lost over 1.5 million
acres of agricultural land to development between 2001 and
2021, with the highest losses occurring in Illinois.
(2) Each year in Illinois, thousands of acres of
agricultural land are rezoned and developed into

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industrial, commercial, and residential areas.
(3) Soil and water conservation districts are units of
local government, but they lack taxing authority.
(4) Soil and water conservation district employees
serve as the critical infrastructure in every county in
Illinois, administering vital State and federal
conservation programs. They are on the front lines of
addressing pressing environmental challenges, including
improving water quality, enhancing soil health, and
building resilience to the increasingly severe impacts of
climate change. Their work is foundational to achieving
environmental goals, and their presence on the ground
ensures that these efforts reach the necessary scale.
(5) Unstable or intermittent funding threatens to
undermine the capacity of soil and water conservation
districts to deliver programs that support farmers,
landowners, and communities across the State. Without
adequate staffing, Illinois risks losing the ability to
put federal funds earmarked for conservation and climate
resilience onto the ground in Illinois. Moreover, it puts
at risk the progress made in addressing water quality
issues, mitigating flooding, and improving soil
sustainability.
Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:
"Agricultural land" means land that is intensively used

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and managed for the production of food and fiber.
"Agricultural land" includes cropland; hay land; pastures,
including native pastures and rangeland; orchards; vineyards;
areas that support wetland crops; other lands used to support
the production of livestock; and small tree farms.
"Agrivoltaic system" means a ground-mounted photovoltaic
solar energy system that meets the following criteria:
(1) the applicable farm plan and the system have been
intentionally designed with agricultural producers,
agrivoltaics experts, or both agricultural producers and
agrivoltaics experts;
(2) the system is constructed, installed, and operated
to achieve an integrated and simultaneous production of
both solar energy and current or future marketable
agricultural products, including all products and
activities described in Section 3-35 of the Use Tax Act
and apiaries if the apiary is paired with another
qualifying marketable agricultural product, by an
agricultural producer;
(3) the agricultural production of the system occurs
on land beneath or between rows of solar panels; and
(4) the agricultural production of the system begins
as soon as agronomically feasible and optimal for the
agricultural producer after the commercial operation date
of the solar panels and continues until decommissioning.
"Agrivoltaic system" does not include a system that has a

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pollinator habitat as the sole dual use of the system.
"Department" means the Department of Agriculture.
Section 15. Farmland Conversion Fee Fund. The Farmland
Conversion Fee Fund is created as a special fund in the State
treasury. Revenue generated from the Farmland Conversion Fees
imposed under Section 20 shall be collected by the Department
and deposited into the Farmland Conversion Fee Fund. Moneys in
the Farmland Conversion Fee Fund may be expended and
distributed by the Department exclusively for the following
purposes:
(1) supporting educational and other programs that
support healthy soil, clean water, and climate-smart
agricultural practices;
(2) supporting operations funding for soil and water
conservation districts;
(3) covering costs associated with administering the
Act; and
(4) any other purpose that the Department determines
is consistent with the purposes and intent of this Act.
Before expending moneys for any other purpose, the
Department shall, subject to the availability of moneys in the
Fund, ensure that during each State fiscal year: (i) $100,000
is distributed to the Department for the collection of fees
and the administration of the program; and (ii) at least
$4,000,000 is distributed to soil and water conservation

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districts in the State for the purposes of paragraph (2) of
this Section. Any remainder may be expended by the Department
for the purposes enumerated in this Section.
Beginning July 1, 2026, and every July 1 thereafter, the
amounts described in items (i) and (ii) shall be annually
increased by the annual unadjusted percentage increase (but
not less than zero) in the consumer price index-u for the 12
months ending with the September preceding each November 1,
including all previous adjustments. In this Section, "consumer
price index-u" means the index published by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor that
measures the average change in prices of goods and services
purchased by all urban consumers, United States city average,
all items, 1982-84 = 100.
Section 20. Farmland Conversion Fees.
(a) Beginning January 1, 2027, if a person purchases or
leases agricultural land for the purpose of developing or
constructing a solar farm, a wind farm, an industrial park, a
commercial area, or a single-family or multiple-family
dwelling or for any other purpose that removes the
agricultural land from production, then the person shall pay
to the Department within 30 days of the purchase or lease of
the agricultural land a Farmland Conversion Fee of $67 per
acre.
(b) Revenue generated from Farmland Conversion Fees shall

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be collected by the Department and deposited into the Farmland
Conversion Fee Fund.
(c) Conversion of agricultural land that will be removed
from production is exempt from the Farmland Conversion Fee if
it is removed from production for the personal use of a farmer
or landowner or if it is one or more of the following types of
agricultural land conversion:
(1) any conversion of land in which the primary
function of the converted area supports agricultural
infrastructure, such as livestock operations or grain
elevators;
(2) any conversion of land done by a State agency;
(3) any conversion of land done for the creation of
high-voltage transmission systems;
(4) any conversion of land whose primary purpose is
the establishment of conservation practices; or
(5) any conversion of land done for the creation of
one or more agrivoltaic systems.
(d) The Department shall adopt rules to implement and
administer this Section.
Section 25. Enforcement. The Attorney General, in
conjunction with the Department, shall enforce this Act. Any
person who fails to pay a Farmland Conversion Fee shall be
subjected to a penalty equivalent to 3 times the Farmland
Conversion Fee due, plus interest calculated at a rate equal

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to the yield on 26-week United States Treasury bills most
recently auctioned prior to the date of the determination of
the repayment obligation to the Department.
Section 90. The State Finance Act is amended by adding
Section 5.1036 as follows:
(30 ILCS 105/5.1036 new)
Sec. 5.1036. The Farmland Conversion Fee Fund.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.".