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Read. Follow. Verify.Pennsylvania House Bill 177 establishes Keystone Opportunity Dairy Zones to provide tax exemptions for dairy processors
Last action · March 10, 2025: Referred to AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS, March 10, 2025Sponsors: John Lawrence and 10 others
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What This Bill Would Do
House Bill 177 authorizes the creation of up to 30 Keystone Opportunity Dairy Zones across Pennsylvania to support the dairy industry through state and local tax exemptions, deductions, abatements, and credits for up to 10 years. Qualified dairy processing businesses and resident workers within these zones must meet specific job creation, capital investment, and compliance standards to receive tax relief. The legislation takes effect immediately upon enactment.
Dairy processors and agricultural landowners located within designated zones will pay zero real property taxes and receive credits against state corporate net income, personal income, and sales and use taxes, while local governments and school districts must forgo property and local business tax revenues on those parcels.
- Pennsylvania has a long-standing agricultural tradition and ranks as a prominent producer of milk and dairy products in the United States. context
- Keystone Opportunity Zones are an established Pennsylvania economic development program offering state and local tax relief to designated distressed or developing properties. context
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Dairy farmers
Dairy farmers benefit from coordinated economic development efforts intended to ensure the long-term viability and continuation of the state's dairy market.
Qualified businesses
Dairy processing businesses located within authorized zones receive exemptions from corporate net income tax, sales and use tax, and local business privilege taxes.
Zone residents
Residents domiciled within a zone receive exemptions from personal income tax on compensation, net gains, rents, dividends, and interest.
Political subdivisions
Counties, cities, boroughs, townships, and school districts within a zone are required to provide 100% real property tax abatements and local tax exemptions.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What qualifies a business as a small-scale dairy processing facility under this bill?
How long do the tax benefits in a keystone opportunity dairy zone last?
What happens if a qualified business leaves the zone early?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
1 action- Mar 10, 2025HouseCommitteeReferred to AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AFFAIRS, March 10, 2025
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Show 6 more sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Targeted Agricultural Enterprise Zones
The bill adapts traditional geographic tax-abatement frameworks specifically tailored for the dairy processing and farming sector.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.palegis.us
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance75How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy25Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz30Current news / social attention level
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