By Valley Ag Voice Staff
The cancellation of Williamson Act contracts is being contemplated by California legislators through Assembly Bill 2528. If passed, AB 2528 would amend existing law — the California Land Conservation Act of 1965 or the Williamson Act — which authorizes a city or county to enter contracts with agricultural landowners to preserve it for agricultural use.
The Williamson Act historically has protected and incentivized prime agricultural land.
The bill would authorize landowners to petition to cancel a Williamson Act of farmland security zone contract in land that meets certain criteria including a lack of access to sufficient water to support irrigated agricultural use. Then, the landowner would be subject to a land use entitlement for specified energy that uses less water than the agricultural use on land — solar.
If passed, the bill would prohibit a cancellation fee. Solar developers would be entitled to access the land free of the protections offered under the Williamson Act and Farmland Security Zones by allowing a contract cancellation without fee and without the assurance that the land can return to future agricultural purposes.
Agricultural groups such as the California Farm Bureau have advocated against the bill.
