The Oregon Senate earlier this month passed a bill that would increase penalties for landowners who knowingly allow illegal cannabis cultivation on their property, KPIC reports. The legislation would end special tax assessments for properties found to unlawfully allow unlicensed cannabis cultivation.
Special tax assessments are levied on property owners in a specific geographic area that fund local infrastructure projects or public improvements that primarily benefit those properties.
State Sen. David Brock Smith (R) told KPIC that the legislation is designed to “disincentive … farmland owners from allowing or accepting payment or leasing land” for unlawful cannabis cultivation.
“Those landowners need to be better stewards of their land and knowing what they’re allowing to be grown on it. It is their responsibility and this [bill] just puts that into the forefront for them to take responsibility of that land that they own.” — Smith to KPIC
Douglas County Commissioner Chris Boice, who helped craft the language of the bill along with the Oregon Farm Bureau, told KPIC that there is a host of issues associated with unlicensed cannabis grows, including the unregulated use of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers near
