Please contact your Massachusetts State Senator ASAP and ask him/her to support Amendment #1 to the State Operating Budget, which would increase the annual cap for the Conservation Land Tax Credit (CLTC) program. Filed by Senator Bruce Tarr, Minority Leader, this amendment is identical to the one that was adopted unanimously, through roll call vote, in the House just a few weeks ago.
Senate budget debate begins the week of May 20th, so the land community needs to make contact now. The sooner you can make your call, the more momentum we can build for the amendment!
All it takes is a quick call or email to their office (under five minutes). Contact information for your legislator (searchable by municipality) can be found here. For a fact sheet on the CLTC program, the latest numbers, and proposed changes, please click here. Below is a sample call "script" and email that you can send to your State Senator (feel free to augment it with the additional information in the fact sheet or a story about a landowner you worked with who has been able to take advantage of, or is on the wait list for, the tax credit).
Dear Senator ________: As part of [land conservation organization] in your district, I am contacting you to ask you to co-sponsor and support Amendment #1 to the Senate budget for the Conservation Land Tax Credit program, filed by Senator Bruce Tarr, the Minority Leader. The amendment would increase the annual cap to eliminate the backlog of this successful program and enable our organization to collaborate with private landowners to conserve land for farming, forestry, wildlife and clean water.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Your Name and Org/Group [Give your home address or org address, whichever is in their district]