Do you support this bill?

Senate Bill S5439

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Relates to establishing contractual requirements for logging agreements

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Judiciary Committee

Please enter your contact information

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

2025-S5439 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:
Senate Judiciary
Law Section:
General Obligations Law
Laws Affected:
Add §5-338, Gen Ob L

2025-S5439 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Enacts provisions to protect property owners from timber theft; establishes contractual requirements for logging agreements.

2025-S5439 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2025-S5439 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5439
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 21, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sen. OBERACKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
 
 AN  ACT  to amend the general obligations law, in relation to protecting
   property  owners  from  timber  theft  and  establishing   contractual
   requirements for logging agreements

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. The general obligations law is  amended  by  adding  a  new
 section 5-338 to read as follows:
   §  5-338.  AGREEMENTS  INVOLVING LOGGING AND TIMBER OPERATIONS. 1. ALL
 TIMBER OPERATIONS SHALL BE CONDUCTED UNDER A WRITTEN CONTRACT SIGNED  BY
 BOTH  THE PROPERTY OWNER AND THE LOGGER, OR AN AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE
 OF THE PERSON, FIRM, ENTITY OR CORPORATION CONDUCTING LOGGING OPERATIONS
 ON THE PROPERTY.
   2. THE CONTRACT SHALL INCLUDE:
   (A) AN EQUAL SPLIT OF PROCEEDS FROM TIMBER SALES;
   (B) PAYMENT FOR EACH TRUCKLOAD OF TIMBER BEFORE ANY  ADDITIONAL  LOADS
 ARE REMOVED; AND
   (C)  A  DETAILED  RECEIPT  FOR  EACH LOAD, SPECIFYING TREE SPECIES AND
 NUMBER OF LOGS TAKEN.
   3. (A) PAYMENTS UNDER THE CONTRACT SHALL BE MADE BY CHECK TO ENSURE  A
 CLEAR RECORD OF THE TRANSACTION.
   (B)  PROPERTY  OWNERS AND LOGGERS SHALL MAINTAIN RECORDS OF ALL TRANS-
 ACTIONS, INCLUDING SALES OF FIREWOOD, WITH RECEIPTS AND  LOGS  DETAILING
 THE TIMBER REMOVED.
   4.  ANY  PERSON,  FIRM, ENTITY OR CORPORATION CONDUCTING LOGGING OPER-
 ATIONS SHALL BE REQUIRED TO HAVE A MINIMUM OF  ONE  MILLION  DOLLARS  IN
 LIABILITY  INSURANCE.  DOCUMENTATION  OF  SUCH INSURANCE POLICY SHALL BE
 PROVIDED TO THE PROPERTY OWNER BEFORE LOGGING ACTIVITIES COMMENCE ON THE
 PROPERTY.
   5. A CONTRACT UNDER THIS SECTION SHALL REQUIRE THAT THE LOGGER SHALL:
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10109-01-5

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.