Senate File 346 - Introduced SENATE FILE 346 BY SORENSON A BILL FOR An Act relating to agricultural land acquired by the department 1 of natural resources, by providing for restrictions on the 2 acquisition of new land, directing the sale of existing 3 land, and authorizing the expenditure of sale proceeds for 4 the benefit of state parks. 5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 6 TLSB 2221XS (2) 84 da/nh

S.F. 346 Section 1. NEW SECTION . 455A.10A State fish and game 1 protection fund —— acquisition of land. 2 The department shall not use moneys from the state fish and 3 game protection fund to acquire any legal or equitable interest 4 in land except as provided in section 455A.14. 5 Sec. 2. NEW SECTION . 455A.14 Restrictions upon the 6 acquisition of land —— funding source. 7 1. The department shall not use moneys appropriated 8 directly from the general fund of the state to acquire any 9 legal or equitable interest in land. 10 2. Notwithstanding subsection 1, the department may use 11 moneys appropriated from the general fund of the state for the 12 express purpose of land acquisition to the extent expressly 13 required by statute. 14 3. Notwithstanding subsection 1, the department may use 15 moneys appropriated from a source other than the general 16 fund of the state to acquire a legal or equitable interest 17 in land, if authorized by statute, regardless of whether the 18 appropriated moneys originated from the general fund of the 19 state. However, this subsection applies only if all the 20 following conditions have been satisfied: 21 a. The land does not have an average corn suitability rating 22 ranging from forty to one hundred, based on the most current 23 soil maps for the county available at Iowa state university. 24 b. The department issues a statement justifying all reasons 25 for the land’s acquisition. The statement must be signed 26 by the director of the department and published in the Iowa 27 administrative bulletin at least sixty days prior to the 28 acquisition. A copy of the statement must also be delivered to 29 the fiscal services division of the legislative services agency 30 prior to publication. 31 Sec. 3. NEW SECTION . 455A.14A Sale of agricultural land 32 used for row crop farming. 33 1. The department shall sell all land that it owns if on 34 July 1, 2010, such land was leased for row crop farming and 35 -1- LSB 2221XS (2) 84 da/nh 1/ 3

S.F. 346 such land has an average corn suitability rating ranging from 1 fifty to one hundred, based on the most current soil maps for 2 the county available at Iowa state university. The sale of 3 such land shall be completed no later than June 30, 2014. 4 2. Any moneys received by the department from the sale of 5 land subject to subsection 1 shall be considered repayment 6 receipts as defined in section 8.2, and retained exclusively 7 by the department for purposes of maintaining, repairing, or 8 renovating state parks, including but not limited to structures 9 or infrastructure associated with state parks. The department 10 may also use the proceeds to purchase, maintain, or repair 11 equipment used at state parks, including but not limited to 12 lawn mowers. 13 3. The department shall submit a report to the general 14 assembly by January 1 of each year detailing its plans to sell 15 land described in subsection 1, its progress in completing 16 the sales, the proceeds received from the sales, and the 17 expenditure of those proceeds. 18 4. This section is repealed on July 1, 2015. 19 Sec. 4. Section 455A.19, subsection 1, paragraph a, Code 20 2011, is amended by adding the following new unnumbered 21 paragraph: 22 NEW UNNUMBERED PARAGRAPH . An appropriation made under 23 this paragraph “a” shall not be used to acquire any legal 24 or equitable interest in land except as provided in section 25 455A.14. 26 EXPLANATION 27 This bill restricts the department of natural resources’ 28 expenditure of moneys for the acquisition of land. The moneys 29 cannot derive directly from the general fund of the state, 30 unless expressly required by statute. In addition, conditions 31 are placed on the expenditure of moneys for land acquisition 32 deriving from another source. First, the land cannot have 33 an average corn suitability rating ranging from 40 to 100. 34 Second, the department must publish a statement justifying the 35 -2- LSB 2221XS (2) 84 da/nh 2/ 3

S.F. 346 acquisition in the Iowa administrative bulletin. The statement 1 must be signed by the director and delivered to the fiscal 2 services division of the legislative services agency prior to 3 publication. 4 The bill also requires the department to sell all land that 5 it owns which was leased for row crop farming, if such land 6 has an average corn suitability rating ranging from 50 to 100. 7 The sale of the land must be completed no later than June 30, 8 2014. The sale proceeds are to be used by the department for 9 purposes of maintaining, repairing, or renovating state parks. 10 The department must submit a report to the general assembly by 11 January 1 of each year detailing its progress in selling the 12 land and use of the sale proceeds. 13 A corn suitability rating (CSR) is an index used to score 14 different types of soil for potential row-crop productivity, 15 with the highest rating being 100. 16 -3- LSB 2221XS (2) 84 da/nh 3/ 3