HB 4622

Amends the Wrongful Tree Cutting Act. Provides that if a tree along a fence line abutting a roadway is on a property that was formerly used as farm land and is now owned or managed by the Department of Transportation and encroaches onto, over, or beneath a neighboring parcel that is currently used for farming, the parcel owner may petition the Department of Transportation to remove the tree if the tree's growth is affecting crop growth or otherwise hindering the parcel owner's economic use of the land to the extent that the problem can only be effectively remediated by removing the tree. Permits the neighboring parcel owner to remove the tree at the parcel owner's own expense without any obligation to compensate the Department of Transportation for the tree's removal if the Department of Transportation does not either remove the tree, grant the neighboring parcel owner permission to remove the tree, or explain in writing why the tree cannot in good faith be removed within 60 days. Provides that if the Department of Transportation cannot in good faith remove the tree within 60 days, the maximum delay allowed is an additional 60 days for it to remove the tree. Provides that if a neighboring parcel owner has been given authority to remove a tree, the parcel owner is immune from a claim of damages to the property, except in the cases of gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.