A budget trailer bill, which provides $10 million to restore funding for the Williamson Act, has been signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Williamson Act is a partnership between landowners, counties, and the state, which means money for Yolo County.

Under the act, landowners agree to forego the possibility of developing their land in return for lower property taxes while the counties agree to give up a portion of their property tax revenue in return for the advantages of keeping rural land in agricultural production.

The bill signed by Schwarzenegger provides funding for AB2530 by Assemblyman Jim Nielsen. The bill was signed into law at the end of September and will go into effect Jan. 1.

"I am pleased the Governor has signed the budget trailer bill that contains $10 million funding for the Williamson Act and the language needed for county assessors to implement my AB 2530, the Williamson Act protection legislation the governor signed a week ago," said Nielsen. "California agricultural lands remain protected and California farmers will continue to be able to farm. This is especially important to future generations."

AB 2530 allows counties to voluntarily implement new contracts that are 10 percent shorter in return for a ten percent reduction in the landowner's property tax relief. The adoption of the new shorter contracts require a majority vote of the board of supervisors and only be allowed in years when counties receive replacement of less than one-half of their foregone general fund property tax revenue from the program.

Yolo County's Senior Deputy County Counsel Phil Pogledich has previously said signing the legislation could pan out to roughly $500,000 a year for Yolo County -- an amount that is still less than half of the $1.1 million the county received before the governor line item-vetoed all but $1,000 of the Williamson Act for the 2009-10 budget.