How You Can Help

Unless Congress acts, the easement incentive will expire December 31, 2009!  You can take action today by asking your Members of Congress to cosponsor new legislation in the 111th Congress to make the easement incentive permanent. Click here for a list of current cosponsors.

You can reach any Member of Congress by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Don't just leave a message at the front desk--as an organization representing hundreds of constituents, you can ask to speak with the staffer who handles tax issues. Make sure they know of any prior relationship your land trust has had with the office.

Fact Sheets You Can Adapt and Forward:

• General Fact Sheet on the Easement Incentive
• Estate Tax Fact Sheet -- A more technical piece about how the easement incentive and other estate tax incentives for conservation fit into estate tax reform.
  
• Results of the Tax Incentive Impact Survey
• Formatted Cosponsor List (or print our Co-sponsor Map)
  
• Letters of Support
• For more outreach tools and templates visit our Grassroots Toolkit.
  
  

Talking points for Members of Congress who have not yet cosponsored:

Remember, last year's cosponsors need to sign on in the new Congress, and they won't remember unless you ask!

• Tell them how important this tax incentive is to land conservation in your local community and to your conservation work.
• Tell them how the tax incentive helps the local family farmers, ranchers, and moderate-income level families protect their land. If any landowners in your area have benefited from the easement incentive, share their stories!
• Urge Representatives to cosponsor the Conservation Easement Incentive Act, H.R. 1831, introduced by Reps. Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Eric Cantor (R-VA). They can sign on by contacting Jonathan Birdsong in Rep. Thompson's office at 5-3311 or Wyatt Stewart in Rep. Cantor's office at 5-2815.
• Urge Senators  to cosponsor the Rural Heritage Conservation Extension Act, S. 812, introduced by Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA). They can sign on by contacting Tiffany Smith of the Finance Committee at 4-4515.
• If they cosponsored identical language in the 110th Congress, be sure to thank them when asking for their support again.
• Ask for the staffer’s email address and offer to send a fact sheet on the easement incentive.
• A phone call is best, but you can send a letter if you prefer. Click here for advice and examples.
  
  

Talking points for Members of Congress who have already cosponsored:

• Please call or write your Senator or Representative right away with a heartfelt thank you for co-sponsoring! See sample letter here.
• Tell them how this incentive allows more landowners to choose conservation in your area. Share specific examples if possible! 
• Tell them this bill has now been co-sponsored by a majority of the House and remind them that the easement incentive will expire December 31st, so it’s particularly important that this provision is enacted into law this year!
  
• It’s even more important to thank them publicly! You can use our newsletter article template and sample press release to use to thank them for cosponsoring the bill!  Don’t forget to send them a copy. 
• Click here for a dozen more ways to say thank you.
• Want an example? See a letter from the Montana Land Association of Land Trusts thanking Senator Tester or  read the press release sent by Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy thanking Congressman Schuler.
• Offer to take the Congressperson or their staff on a site visit to see conserved land and meet landowners.  Offer to provide any information they need about conservation easements or land conservation efforts in your local area.

Hot Topic

Listen to the July 23, 2009 conference call discussing our strategy and how you can help make the easement incentive permanent.

Speakers: the Land Trust Alliance's Rand Wentworth, President; Mary Pope Hutson, Executive Vice President; and Russell Shay, Director of Public Policy, plus 40 minutes of Q&A from the audience.

Topics covered include:
• Background on the incentive and its importance
• Update of what is happening in Congress
• Update of what the Alliance is doing
• Land trust successes and challenges reaching their Representatives

Next Steps

These stand-alone bills are important for demonstrating broad bipartisan support, but ultimately our success will likely depend on attaching the easement incentive to another piece of legislation (estate tax, energy bill, etc). Please check our ADVOCATES alerts for the latest specific and time sensitive things you can ask your Members of Congress to do.

Your congressional office wants to hear from you, and there couldn't be a more important time to ask them for their help! You can also help by sharing our grassroots tax incentive fact sheet with your partners and individual members, urging them to weigh in with your Congressional delegation.

Questions? Call the Alliance at 202-638-4725, or e-mail policy@lta.org