A bill by State Sen. Jean Leising (R-Oldenburg) to prevent an estimated $57 million property tax increase on Indiana farmers is headed to the governor’s desk after being approved 97-0 by the Indiana House of Representatives.

According to Leising, new soil productivity factors used for farmland assessment in Indiana could cause a 25 percent average increase in property tax payments for Indiana’s 62,000 farmers, depending on which counties they call home.

Her legislation, Senate Bill 319, would delay for an additional year the implementation of the new soil productivity factors proposed by the Department of Local Government Finance. That means the soil productivity factors used for the March 1, 2011, assessment date will be used again for the March 1, 2013, assessment date. It would also require the DLGF, with the Purdue University College of Agriculture, to submit a report on proposed soil productivity factors to the General Assembly for consideration by Nov. 1, 2013.

“I strongly believe this is the most important piece of legislation the General Assembly will pass for our farmers this year,” Leising said. “This summer’s drought had our rural residents and legislators on edge about the state of Indiana agriculture — one of the founding blocks of our economy. Any relief we can give to these families at this time will help them to recover, and we need to look at long-term common-sense changes to Indiana’s farmland property tax structure.”

Leising added that SB 319 was a product of the General Assembly’s 2012 Interim Study Committee on Agriculture, a panel she chaired. Indiana Farm Bureau supports the legislation.

SB 319 is the first bill to be passed by both houses of the General Assembly this year and likely to be the first piece of legislation signed by Gov. Mike Pence.