SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE, No. 3446

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JANUARY 8, 2026

      The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports favorably a Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 3446.

      As substituted and reported, this bill would establish the “Farmland and Woodland Tax Assessment Integrity and Investment Act,” which would require the State Farmland Evaluation Committee (committee) to adjust the minimum gross sales, payments, fees, and imputed income requirements, and the anticipated yearly gross sales, payments, fees, and imputed income requirements necessary to deem land, five acres in area and over five acres, to be actively devoted to agricultural and horticultural use.

      The bill raises the civil penalty for second and subsequent offenses of gross and intentional misrepresentation on an application for valuation, assessment, and taxation of land in agricultural and horticultural use to $15,000 for a second offense and up to $20,000 for a third or subsequent offense, and ensures that any civil penalties collected will be retained by the municipal, county, or State entity to which it was allocated.

      This bill establishes an application portal through which taxpayers may apply for the valuation, assessment, and taxation of land in agricultural and horticultural use. Furthermore, this bill includes the State Forester, selected from the list of Approved Consulting Foresters maintained by the Department of Environmental Protection, as a member of the committee, and requires the committee to prepare an annual report to the Governor and State Board of Agriculture.

FISCAL IMPACT:

      This bill has not been certified as requiring a fiscal note.