State Legislative


Leg­isla­tive advo­ca­cy is a top pri­or­i­ty for Texas Forestry Asso­ci­a­tion. The Leg­isla­tive Com­mit­tee meets reg­u­lar­ly to dis­cuss ways to sup­port and devel­op state and fed­er­al leg­is­la­tion that is ben­e­fi­cial to the forestry com­mu­ni­ty. They main­tain a list of leg­isla­tive pri­or­i­ties and rela­tion­ships with state and fed­er­al leg­is­la­tors, reg­u­la­to­ry agen­cies and their staff, and con­duct tours when possible.


The Leg­isla­tive Com­mit­tee pro­tects and advances the for­est sector’s inter­ests regard­ing state and fed­er­al tax codes, includ­ing the Estate Tax and changes to the Spe­cial Use Val­u­a­tion for pri­vate tim­ber­land own­ers. In addi­tion, they advo­cate with nation­al orga­ni­za­tions to advance TFA’s posi­tions on fed­er­al issues, such as cli­mate change, tax reform, truck weights, pre­scribed fire, etc. TFA is an active mem­ber in the Texas Agri­cul­ture Coun­cil and oth­er statewide orga­ni­za­tions with sim­i­lar rur­al issues.

2023

Tim­ber Asset Pro­tec­tion Act (HB 1772) by Rep. Trent Ash­by, et al — Relat­ing to the doc­u­men­ta­tion required for the pur­chase of cer­tain tim­ber prod­ucts, cre­at­ing a crim­i­nal offense.

2021

Pre­scribed Burn­ing Lia­bil­i­ty Bill: HB 2004 by Rep. Trent Ash­by — Relat­ing to a lim­i­ta­tion on lia­bil­i­ty and sanc­tions in con­nec­tion with cer­tain pre­scribed burns.

Emi­nent Domain Reform — HB 2730 by Rep. Joe Deshotel — Relat­ing to the acqui­si­tion of real prop­er­ty by an enti­ty with emi­nent domain author­i­ty and the reg­u­la­tion of ease­ment or right-of-way agents.

Tort Reform ‑HB 19 by Rep. Jeff Leach — Relat­ing to civ­il lia­bil­i­ty of a com­mer­cial motor vehi­cle own­er or oper­a­tor, includ­ing the effect that changes to that lia­bil­i­ty have on com­mer­cial auto­mo­bile insurance.

2019

Tim­ber Tax Fair­ness Act – Rep. Trent Ash­by, et al — Relat­ing to the qual­i­fi­ca­tion of land for appraisal for ad val­orem tax pur­pos­es as tim­ber land or restrict­ed-use tim­ber land.

Trans­porta­tion Log Loader Act – SB 1364 by Sen. Nichols, Rep. Bailes — Relat­ing to the oper­a­tion of a vehi­cle trans­port­ing equip­ment used to load timber.