(1) The general assembly finds, determines, and declares that: (a) Colorado's conservation easement program is an important preservation tool used to balance economic needs with natural resources such as land and water preservation. Colorado's conservation easement tax credit and the federal tax deduction have allowed many farmers and ranchers the opportunity to donate their development rights to preserve a legacy of open spaces in Colorado for wildlife, agriculture, and ranching. (b) Citizens throughout Colorado believe good, sound conservation practices are important to Colorado's quality of life, agriculture, and natural heritage; (c) Colorado's conservation easement tax credit program was designed to give landowners an incentive to conserve and preserve their land in a predominantly natural, scenic, or open condition; (d) Creating a division of conservation within the department of regulatory agencies will keep a firewall between professional evaluation and professional discipline, while creating a division to ensure this program allows landowners to exercise their private property rights while protecting taxpayers from the fraud and abuse that existed in the program prior to 2009; (e) Establishing the division of conservation to administer the conservation easement tax credit program will: (I) Allow the division to continue to certify conservation easement holders to identify fraudulent or unqualified organizations and prevent them from holding conservation easements for which tax credits are claimed in the state; (II) Allow the conservation easement oversight commission to advise the division and the department of revenue regarding conservation easements for which a tax credit is claimed and to review applications for conservation easement holder certification; (III) Ensure that the division and the department of revenue are sharing relevant information concerning conservation easement appraisals in order to ensure compliance with accepted appraisal practices and other provisions of law; and (IV) Ensure that the fees paid by taxpayers are adequate to pay for the administrative costs of the division and the conservation easement oversight commission in administering the requirements of this article 15, but not so high as to act as a disincentive to the creation of conservation easements in the state.
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