Bill Text: NY S01231 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to the creation of the New York farm to school and school garden fund; allows individuals to make a gift on their personal tax form for such fund; provides such fund will be used to establish school gardens and purchase equipment and educational materials to promote students' consumption of local products conducted in cooperation with the department of agriculture and markets.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-08 - REFERRED TO FINANCE [S01231 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-S01231-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1231

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                     January 8, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced by Sens. MAY, HARCKHAM -- read twice and ordered printed, and
          when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance

        AN  ACT  to  amend the state finance law and the tax law, in relation to
          establishing the New York farm to school and school garden fund

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  The  state finance law is amended by adding a new section
     2  97-ii to read as follows:
     3    § 97-ii. New York farm to school and school garden fund. 1.  There  is
     4  hereby established in the joint custody of the state comptroller and the
     5  commissioner of taxation and finance a fund to be known as the "New York
     6  farm to school and school garden fund".
     7    2.  Such fund shall consist of all revenues received by the department
     8  of taxation and finance, pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  section  six
     9  hundred twenty-five-b of the tax law, and all other moneys appropriated,
    10  credited,  or transferred thereto from any other fund or source pursuant
    11  to law. Nothing in this section shall prevent the state from  soliciting
    12  and  receiving grants, gifts or bequests for the purposes of the fund as
    13  defined in this section and depositing them into the fund  according  to
    14  law.
    15    3. Moneys of the fund shall be expended for the purposes of establish-
    16  ing school gardens and purchasing equipment and educational materials to
    17  promote students' consumption of local products conducted in cooperation
    18  with the department of agriculture and markets. Such department shall be
    19  authorized  to  create  further  criteria  and limits on such funding if
    20  necessary. Moneys shall be paid out of the fund on the audit and warrant
    21  of the state comptroller on vouchers approved  by  the  commissioner  of
    22  agriculture  and  markets.  Any  interest received by the comptroller on
    23  moneys on deposit in the New York farm to school and school garden  fund
    24  shall be retained in and become part of such fund.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04061-01-5
        S. 1231                             2

     1    4.  On or before the first day of February each year, the commissioner
     2  of education shall provide a written report to the  temporary  president
     3  of  the  senate,  speaker  of  the assembly, chair of the senate finance
     4  committee, chair of the assembly ways and means committee, chairs of the
     5  senate  committees  on education and agriculture, chairs of the assembly
     6  agriculture and education committees,  the  state  comptroller  and  the
     7  public.  Such  report  shall  include  how  the  monies of the fund were
     8  utilized during the preceding calendar year, and shall include:
     9    (a) the amount of money dispersed from the fund and the award  process
    10  used for such disbursements;
    11    (b) recipients of awards from the fund;
    12    (c) the amount awarded to each;
    13    (d) the purposes for which such awards were granted; and
    14    (e) a summary financial plan for such monies which shall include esti-
    15  mates of all receipts and all disbursements for the current and succeed-
    16  ing  fiscal  years,  along with the actual results from the prior fiscal
    17  year.
    18    § 2. The tax law is amended by adding a new section 625-b to  read  as
    19  follows:
    20    §  625-b. Gift for the New York farm to school and school garden fund.
    21  An individual in any taxable year may elect to  contribute  to  the  New
    22  York  farm  to  school  and  school garden fund to help establish school
    23  gardens and purchase equipment  and  educational  materials  to  promote
    24  students'  consumption  of  local products. The contribution shall be in
    25  any whole dollar amount and shall not reduce the  amount  of  state  tax
    26  owed  by  such  individual.  The commissioner shall include space on the
    27  personal income tax return to enable a taxpayer to  make  such  contrib-
    28  ution. Notwithstanding any other provision of law all revenues collected
    29  pursuant  to  this  section  shall  be  credited to the New York farm to
    30  school and school garden fund and used only for those  purposes  enumer-
    31  ated in section ninety-seven-ii of the state finance law.
    32    §  3.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
    33  have become a law.