H.B. 804                                                 VETOES

3.   AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AND CONTRIBUTION TO
THE AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY; AND

4.   ANY OTHER UNIQUE COUNTY CONSIDERATIONS THAT
SUPPORT THE GOALS OF THE PROGRAM.

(3) (4) In making its recommendation, the county agricultural
preservation advisory board shall:

(i) Take into consideration criteria and standards established by
the Foundation under this subtitle, current local regulations, local patterns of land
development, the kinds of pressures to develop the subject land, State smart growth
goals, and any locally established priorities for the preservation of agricultural land;
and

(ii) Recommend for ranking any application that qualifies and
meets the priorities established by the county governing body for the preservation of
agricultural land.

(4) (5) The county agricultural preservation advisory board shall
provide a public hearing concerning any application to sell if such a hearing is
requested by a majority of the county agricultural preservation advisory board, or by
a majority of the county governing body, or by the applicant.

(5) (6) The board of trustees of the Foundation shall not approve any
application to sell which has not been approved by the governing body of the county
containing the subject land.

(f) (1) In determining which applications it shall approve for the purchase
of the easements offered for sale in each fiscal year under this section, the
Foundation:

(i) May approve only those applications in which the subject land
meets the criteria and standards established under §§ 2-509 and 2-513 of this
subtitle;

(ii) Except as provided in subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph, rank
the applications and submit offers to buy at the beginning of each offer cycle based on
the approved priorities established by each eligible county for the preservation of
agricultural land; and

(iii) For applications competing on a statewide basis. following the
initial round of offers, shall rank the applications and submit offers to buy in order of
priority, as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection.

(2) The Foundation shall adopt by regulation a standard priority ranking
system for additional offers to buy by which it shall rank each application. The system
shall be based on the following criteria as to the easements offered in any one county:

(i) The applications shall be assigned a rank in ascending order
with respect to the proportion obtained by dividing the asking price by the [State
easement] value CAP, CALCULATED AS PROVIDED IN § 2-511(A) OF THIS SUBTITLE.

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