Eminent domain, water rights and agricultural land valuation and sales tax exemptions were on the agenda when Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) President Russell Boening and State Director Ronnie Muennink recently met with Speaker of the Texas House Joe Straus.
Eminent domain reform is needed, the TFB officers stressed. The leaders added that fairness is missing from the equation and that some condemning entities take property from property owners using lowball offers. Legislation to address the out-of-pocket court fees landowners face for those lowball offers is imperative.
Boening and Muennink also discussed water rights for the drought-prone state and TFB’s recent win in a water rights lawsuit against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
Agricultural land valuation and sales tax exemptions were also discussed. Leaders of the state’s largest farm and ranch organization stressed that protection of these tax considerations is critical in today’s difficult farm economy.