Senate Bill S3811

                                BILL NUMBER:S3811

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in
relation to the sale of state lands

PURPOSE:  The purpose of this bill is to ensure that the natural
resource value of state-owned land is fully identified and considered
before its sale.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:  This bill would add a new section 49-0217 to
the ECL to require that the State Land Acquisition Advisory Council
review any state-owned land prior to its sale. Such review would be
conducted to determine:

* if the land is within a resource protection area as designated by
the State Land Acquisition Plan (SLAP);

* if the land meets a category definition contained in the SLAP; or

* if it receives a minimum score, above the cutoff, using the
appropriate rating system as defined in the SLAP.

This bill would also require that if any of the above listed criteria
are met, the subject land would be transferred to the Department of
Environmental Conservation, and the Department would be required to
manage the land in accordance with the recommendations of the SLAP.
              

JUSTIFICATION:  The State Land Acquisition Plan was created in statute
to help identify and prioritize the State's natural resources The
State Land Acquisition Advisory Council was created to aid in the
formulation of this plan, and to make recommendations for land
acquisition that ensure a balance of statewide and regional
acquisition goals. In order to further the State's land preservation
goals, this bill would require the State Land Acquisition Advisory
Council to determine whether state-owned lands proposed for sale have
any value that would deem them worthy of resource protection by the
State. In the absence of such a provision, some of New York's most
precious open space will continue to be lost due to hasty and
shortsighted transactions that ignore the efforts of the state
(through the council and the acquisition plan) to preserve its most
valuable land resources.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:  2011-12: S.3495 Environmental
Conservation/A.9612 Environmental Conservation
2009-10: S.860 Environmental Conservation/A.1978 Environmental
Conservation
2007-08: S.4367 Environmental Conservation/A.2004 Passed Assembly
(2007-2008)
2005-06: S.6376 Environment Conservation/A.7083 Passed Assembly
(2005-2006)

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:  This bill could potentially result in a decrease
in revenue from the sale of State land. At the same time, however, the
bill could result in savings to the State by preventing the sale of
land with a high preservation value.


EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act shall take effect immediately.