Senate Bill S4960A

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S4960A

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the tax law, in relation to establishing an
agricultural crop loss personal income tax credit

 PURPOSE :

To provide a personal income tax credit for agricultural crop losses

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :

Section 1 amends the tax law by adding a new subsection establishing
the Agricultural crop loss tax credit. The amount of the credit shall
be equal to 35% of the average value of the unit production for New
York State and reported by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics
Service in a given year, multiplied by acreage in production.

Section 2 is the effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Agriculture, by the nature of its business, is extremely dependent
upon weather and pricing. We have seen the impacts of weather on farm
business during Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, and Superstorm
              

Sandy, where farms lost a year's worth of forage, fruit and produce.
Weather events combined with the strong cyclical nature of commodity
pricing, makes pecuniary gains extremely difficult for agricultural
businesses.

At the beginning of the 2012 growing season, New York State's farmers
experienced widespread damage and loss to their crops as a result of
an extremely rare severe frost event. Upon initial notification,
elected officials and farm organizations immediately requested that
the Governor contact the USDA Secretary of Agriculture and ask that a
disaster declaration be issued for counties where farmers experienced
damage to their crops. In doing so, farmers in counties that receive
such a designation would be eligible for low-cost loans if their
losses exceed the established threshold, as evaluated by the USDA's
Farm Service Agency.

The preliminary damage assessment estimate indicated that New York
experienced one of the worst statewide, multi-crop losses ever
witnessed in the State. Cornell's Lake Erie Regional Research
Laboratory estimated crop loss for grapes was between 40%-50%;
cherries at 100%, peaches at 90%, and apples at 50%. While the level
of crop loss varies based on the region of the State, elevations and
the crop's stage of growth, there is no doubt that there is a high
probability that many farmers will face severe economic losses.

Catastrophic losses like this are becoming more prevalent as traumatic
weather events become more frequent and more extreme. This legislation
is vitally important as it allows the state's farm operations and
their families an opportunity to be economically viable, despite these
weather events. Furthermore, this bill will allow farmers to offset
the losses they sustain. For all of these reasons it is imperative
that this bill is enacted.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2015: Investigations and Government Operations Committee

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

To be determined.
 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.