NY State Senate Bill 2017-S368

Senate Bill S368

2017-2018 Legislative Session

Relates to the wood products development council and contracts for timber or other forest products

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Agriculture Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2018	referred to agriculture
Jun 21, 2017	recommitted to rules
Mar 21, 2017	ordered to third reading cal.439 committee discharged and committed to rules
Mar 07, 2017	reported and committed to finance
Jan 04, 2017	referred to agriculture

Votes

- Mar 21, 2017 - Rules Committee Vote
  S368
  
  14
  
  Aye
  
  10
  
  Nay
  
  1
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Rules Committee Vote: Mar 21, 2017
      
      aye (14)
      
      Bonacic
      
      DeFrancisco
      
      Flanagan
      
      Griffo
      
      Hannon
      
      Lanza
      
      Larkin
      
      Little
      
      Marcellino
      
      Ranzenhofer
      
      Robach
      
      Savino
      
      Seward
      
      Valesky
      
      nay (10)
      
      Breslin
      
      Carlucci
      
      Dilan
      
      Gianaris
      
      Kennedy
      
      Krueger
      
      Montgomery
      
      Parker
      
      Squadron
      
      Stewart-Cousins
      
      aye wr (1)
      
      LaValle
  Mar 7, 2017 - Agriculture Committee Vote
  S368
  
  7
  
  Aye
  
  3
  
  Nay
  
  1
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Agriculture Committee Vote: Mar 7, 2017
      
      aye (7)
      
      Funke
      
      Gallivan
      
      O'Mara
      
      Ranzenhofer
      
      Ritchie
      
      Seward
      
      Valesky
      
      nay (3)
      
      Brooks
      
      Comrie
      
      Serrano
      
      aye wr (1)
      
      Montgomery

co-Sponsors

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2017-S368 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A5196
Current Committee:: Senate Agriculture
Law Section:: Agriculture and Markets Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §225, Ag & Mkts L; amd §9-0505, En Con L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2009-2010: A11715
2011-2012: S2485, A444
2013-2014: S1361, A9230
2015-2016: S1211, A7381

2017-S368 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Directs the wood products development council to work to improve public understanding of the timber industry and authorizes the department of environmental conservation to execute contracts for timber or other forest products valued at under $50,000 without approval from the state comptroller.

2017-S368 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S368

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to the
wood products development council; and to amend the environmental
conservation law, in relation to contracts for timber or other forest
products

 PURPOSE :

This bill would ease burdensome contracting requirements currently
required in order to gain permission from the Department of
Environmental Conservation (DEC) to harvest timber on state lands.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 - Amends subdivision 2 of section 225 of the agriculture and
markets law is amended to clarify that the New York State Wood
Products Council should work to enhance the timber industry in New
York State

Section 2 - Amends section 9-0505 of the environmental conservation
law to allow the DEC to have sole contract authority over forestry
projects on non-protected state lands that have a timber value under
$50,000.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Currently, any contract of more than $10,000 to harvest timber on
non-protected state lands must be approved by DEC and the State
Comptroller's office. This dual review procedure can be overly time
consuming and many times pushes the date for project initiation back
by months as the contract wends its way through the bureaucracy of two
state agencies. This frustration is compounded by the fact that the
current contract threshold is very low and requires extremely small
forestry projects to be held up without need.

This new legislation would provide breathing room for the forestry
industry and DEC by increasing the threshold for dual oversight over
forestry projects from $10,000 to $50,000. As a result, any project
with a contract of under $50,000 would be needed to be approved by
only DEC.

This proposal essentially mirrors language put forth by DEC in the
Governor's 2010/2011 Executive Budget proposal.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2015-16: S.1211 Passed Senate; A.7381 Referred to Agriculture
2014: S. 1361 Referred to Agriculture; A. 923 Referred to Agriculture
2013: S. 1361 Passed Senate; A. 923 Referred to Agriculture
2011-12:  S. 2485 Passed Senate; A. 444 Referred to Agriculture

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.

2017-S368 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    368
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 4, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens. LITTLE, AKSHAR, MARCHIONE, SEWARD, VALESKY -- read
   twice and ordered printed, and when printed to  be  committed  to  the
   Committee on Agriculture
 
 AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to the wood
   products development council; and to amend the environmental conserva-
   tion law, in relation to contracts for timber or other forest products
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 225 of the agriculture and markets
 law, as added by chapter 325 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read  as
 follows:
   2.  The  council  shall work with wood-using manufacturers to increase
 the economic contributions and employment opportunities related  to  the
 practice of forestry and manufacture of wood products in New York state.
 The  council  shall  give  priority  to increasing private investment in
 working forests; maintaining access to working and family forests; coor-
 dinating policy and permitting issues with state agencies, academia  and
 the  private  sector;  working  to  improve  public understanding of and
 appreciation for forestry, THE TIMBER INDUSTRY and forest products;  and
 increasing export and market opportunities for New York forest products.
 The council shall deliver an annual report outlining its work and making
 recommendations with regard to economic development and marketing initi-
 atives  and  research  and  development  initiatives consistent with the
 purposes of the council. The report shall be delivered to the  governor,
 the  speaker of the assembly, the temporary president of the senate, the
 minority leader of the assembly and the minority leader of the senate.
   § 2. Section 9-0505 of the environmental conservation law  is  amended
 by adding a new subdivision 5 to read as follows:
   5.  NOTWITHSTANDING SUBDIVISION THREE OF SECTION ONE HUNDRED TWELVE OF
 THE STATE FINANCE LAW, IF THE VALUE OR ESTIMATED  VALUE  OF  THE  TREES,
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD00288-01-7

 S. 368                              2
 
 TIMBER  OR OTHER FOREST PRODUCTS DOES NOT EXCEED FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS,
 THE CONTRACT MAY BE EXECUTED BY THE DEPARTMENT AND SHALL  BE  VALID  AND
 ENFORCEABLE  WITHOUT  FIRST  BEING APPROVED BY THE STATE COMPTROLLER AND
 FILED IN HIS OR HER OFFICE.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S368

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Sponsored By

Betty Little

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Agriculture Committee

co-Sponsors

Fred Akshar

John J. Bonacic

Kathleen A. Marchione

James L. Seward

2017-S368 (ACTIVE) - Details

2017-S368 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2017-S368 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2017-S368 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments