Bill Text: IL HB3556 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Reinserts the provisions of the introduced bill with the following changes. Deletes provisions creating the Black Farmer Restoration Program. Provides that fee title acquisition grants to private landowners, socially disadvantaged farmers, and limited resource farmers shall be made from moneys in the Black Farmer Restoration Program Fund. Provides that the Programs created by the Act are subject to appropriation. Provides that subject to appropriation and in partnership with the University of Illinois Extension, the Department of Agriculture shall establish the Farm Conservation Corps to provide residents between the ages of 18 and 29 from socially disadvantaged groups the academic, vocational, and social skills necessary to pursue long-term and productive careers in agriculture. Provides that not less than 75% (rather than 25%) of funds shall be provided to applicants that lease or sell to socially disadvantaged farmers. Defines "limited resource farmer". Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-05-22 - Added as Alternate Co-Sponsor Sen. Laura Fine [HB3556 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB3556-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 HB3556 Introduced , by Rep. Sonya M. Harper SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
New Act
30 ILCS 105/5.990 new
Creates the Black Farmer Restoration Program Act. Creates 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. Creates the Black Farmer Restoration Fund as a special fund in the State treasury. Provides that the Fund shall consist of gifts, grants, donations, and appropriations which must be made to support the Program. Provides that expenditures from the Fund must be used exclusively to pay costs, fees, and expenses necessary to administer the Program. Establishes requirements and limitations for the Program. Establishes the Farm Conservation Corps to provide training in an on-field environment for socially disadvantaged residents. Provides that the Director shall make publicly available annual reports describing data on the recipients of the Department programs, including assistance from farm subsidy programs, and the amounts of the assistance, delineated by the race, ethnicity, and gender of the recipients. Defines terms. Effective immediately.
LRB103 30147 RLC 56571 b
A BILL FOR
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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:
(1) was born in this State;
(2) is at least 21 years of age;
(3) has previously identified as Black or African
American; and
(4) has at least one parent of African ancestry.
"Qualified entity" means an organization:
(1) that has a fiscal sponsor who is exempt from
taxation pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal

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Revenue Code of 1986;
(2) that has a minimum of 3 years of experience
providing agricultural services, business assistance,
legal assistance, or advocacy services to socially
disadvantaged farmers; and
(3) in which at least one-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:
(1) 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;
(2) provides a course of study that is equivalent to
no less than 30 academic credit hours of study, which may
be provided as direct in-field instruction;
(3) focuses on low capital-intensive techniques and
technologies; and
(4) studies local and regional food systems and the
market opportunities those systems present.

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Section 10. Black Farmer Restoration Program. The Black
Farmer Restoration Program is created within the Illinois
Department of Agriculture to support current Black farmers and
to encourage the growth of Black farmers into the field of
agriculture. The Black Farmer Restoration Fund is created as a
special fund in the State treasury. 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

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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

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Corps to provide residents between the ages of 18 and 29 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 $250,000 operated by:
(1) socially disadvantaged farmers;
(2) beginning farmers; or
(3) farmers operating certified organic farms.
Section 25. Data collection and reporting.
(a) Generally. The Director shall make publicly available
annual reports describing data on the recipients of the
Department programs, 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

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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

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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

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to carry out the provisions of this Act.
Section 90. The State Finance Act is amended by adding
Section 5.990 as follows:
(30 ILCS 105/5.990 new)
Sec. 5.990. The Black Farmer Restoration Fund.