Back in August of 2013, Fauquier County farmer Martha Boneta found herself at the center of the Pitchfork Protest. She was fined for selling her organic foods and soaps on her Paris, Virginia farm even though she had a business license. The Fauquier County zoning commission even fined her for hosting a birthday party for eight 10-year-old girls without a permit.
Last week Delegate Bob Marshall of the 13th District presented House Bill 1219, which seeks to protect property owners from undue fines.
“Local officials who abuse zoning authority powers to cower citizens into submission and deprive land owners of Constitutional rights in the enjoyment of their land must be subject to fines and actual damages they cause including attorney fees,” Marshall noted in support of his HB 1219 just introduced in the Virginia General Assembly.
Marshall introduced his bill in direct response to incidents precipitated by Fauquier County officials who fined Virginia citizen farmer, Martha Boneta.
Boneta gained national attention after she was cited and threatened with $5,000 per day fines for hosting events without a permit, such a birthday party, and advertising pumpkin carvings. Virginians rallied at two ‘pitchfork’ protests in support of Boneta.
Marshall wanted to make sure these political tactics could not be levied against Virginia farmers again, so he put forth a bill to protect them.
“I am convinced this harassment will continue until local officials realize they can be held liable in the form of fines and other costs,” he said.
H.B. 1219 provides that local governments violating constitutional rights through zoning shall pay their victims (1) the amount of the fines they sought to impose, and (2) actual damages including attorney fees. Local government officials who intentionally violate this law would also be liable.
“I am confident that I would not have been bullied by my county government had this bill been in place earlier, and I ask all Virginians to contact their delegates and senators to support H.B. 1219, which protects all of us,” Boneta said.
Constitutional lawyer Mark Fitzgibbons said, “There is great but underutilized precedent for remedies against government officials who abuse their power to violate the rights of citizens. H.B. 1219’s remedies mean Virginians don’t need to go broke protecting their rights on their own property.”
In addition to authorizing private citizens to files suits for damages, H.B. 1219 allows the Virginia Attorney General to intervene on behalf of victims. It also provides whistleblower protections for government employees who expose violations of this law.
The Farm Bill Defeated in the Senate
On behalf of Martha Boneta and other “Pitchforkers,” the “Boneta Bill,” HB 1430, or Farm Bill, which would put the burden of proving farm-use is not farming on the accusers, passed through the state house, only to be defeated in the Senate last year.
Some who opposed the bill to expand famers’ rights thought it took too much power away from the local jurisdiction and felt the issue should be remedied at the county level.
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