Senate Bill S848

                                BILL NUMBER:S848                 REVISED 07/16/12

TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to regu-
lation of the sale and analysis of fertilizer

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill would provide the New York State Department of Agriculture and
Markets with authority to make a standard label for all fertilizers and
regulate its sale.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends the Agriculture and Markets Law by adding a new Section
145-a, prohibiting municipal governments from adopting any regulations
on labeling and sale of fertilizer that are different from or in addi-
tion to any such requirement adopted in accordance with Article 10;
renders any local legislation in violation of this section void and
unenforceable; and does not preempt or otherwise limit the authority of
any county or municipality to adopt and enforce zoning regulations, fire
codes, building codes or wasted disposal restrictions.

The bill does not change the Department of Environmental Conservation's
sole authority under NYS Environmental Law Section 17-2105 to regulate
application of fertilizer, however, it does create, under the regulation
of the Department of Agriculture and Markets, a standard of state law
for labeling and sale that would not be preempted by local law.
              

Section 2 sets the effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:
Municipal governments are beginning to pass local laws regulating the
sale and labeling of fertilizers with the belief that application of
them is harmful to the environment and, specifically, that restricting
fertilizer use will improve the quality of drinking water. This theory
is unsupported by science and, in fact, has been proven to be incorrect.
In fact, these local regulations may even do more harm than good.

Properly applied, fertilizer is of no threat to the environment and, in
residential settings, promotes fuller thicker lawns. A Pennsylvania
State University study showed thick lawns slow the velocity of run-off
and allow water to infiltrate the ground 15 times greater than a patchy,
weed-infested lawn. An average lawn allows a run-off rate of about a
half-gallon of water per minute during peak rainfall, as opposed to a
rate of 7.5 gallons per minute from a lawn that is thinly seeded and
bare. Research has also shown that the amount of phosphorous in run-off
from lawns without phosphorous fertilizer was significantly higher than
from lawns fertilized with phosphorous - the exact opposite of the
intended effect of these local regulations.

In addition, allowing for varied local regulations would create a patch-
work of differing fertilizer labeling and sale requirements from munici-

pality to municipality that would make it very difficult - and costly -
for businesses to achieve compliance. This would drive landscapers and
fertilizer applicators out of business while driving the cost of ferti-
lizer applications up, placing an undue share of the burden on the
consumer. Most importantly, the local governments considering these
regulations often do not have the scientific or environmental expertise
to create and enforce local fertilizer regulations, nor have they
considered the cost of the program, which very likely could cause local
tax increases.

This legislation, therefore, provides pre-emptive responsibility for the
regulation of the sale and labeling of fertilizer to the one agency in
the state with the expertise required to do so - the New York State
Department of Agriculture and Markets.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2009,2010: S.247S/A.6039  Referred to Agriculture
2007,2008: S.8493/A.11521 Referred to Rules

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the state. Additionally, this legislation
could serve to avert unforeseen tax increases on the local level.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.