Bill Text: NY S01435 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Establishes a farm drain tile financial assistance program; provides for farm drain tile financial assistance to aid farmers in adding drain tile to their fields.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-01-29 - REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE [S01435 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S01435-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          1435
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                     January 9, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sens.  RITCHIE,  GALLIVAN,  MARCHIONE  -- read twice and
          ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on
          Environmental Conservation
        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  soil  and  water conservation districts law, in
          relation to farm  drain  tile  financial  assistance;  and  to  repeal
          section 4-a of such law relating thereto
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Section 4-a of the soil and  water  conservation  districts
     2  law is REPEALED and a new section 4-a is added to read as follows:
     3    §  4-a.  Farm  drain tile financial assistance program.  1. Subject to
     4  the availability of funds, financial assistance  is  available  to  farm
     5  operations,  as  defined in section three hundred one of the agriculture
     6  and markets law, to fund the implementation of subsurface tile  drainage
     7  projects that meet the following criteria:
     8    a.  the  farm  operation must participate in the Agricultural Environ-
     9  mental Management (AEM) program as set forth in article eleven-A of  the
    10  agriculture  and  markets  law, having completed at least an AEM Tier 3A
    11  nutrient management plan for their entire crop production land base;
    12    b. the project must be for the construction or improvement of  subsur-
    13  face  drain  tile,  nutrient management and best management practices to
    14  reduce the risk of nutrients exiting tile lines;
    15    c. the project  must  be  implemented  by  a  district,  or  group  of
    16  districts acting jointly, and such district or districts must have funds
    17  available to pay for its/their share of the eligible project costs.
    18    2. Applications for matching grants shall contain the following infor-
    19  mation:
    20    a.  the  name  and location of the farm operation and the tracts to be
    21  improved through subsurface drainage;
    22    b. identification of the best management practices to  be  implemented
    23  to reduce the risk of nutrients exiting tile lines;
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD07353-01-7
        S. 1435                             2
     1    c. a cost estimate for the proposed project;
     2    d.  the source of funds available to the district to pay for its share
     3  of the eligible costs;
     4    e. information sufficient to demonstrate that the criteria in subdivi-
     5  sion one of this section have been met; and
     6    f. such further information as  may  thereafter  be  required  by  the
     7  committee to determine funding prioritization in the event that applica-
     8  tions  for  funding  exceed  amounts  available  for the purpose of this
     9  section.
    10    3. Eligible costs that may be funded  pursuant  to  this  section  are
    11  consultant/contractor   services,  engineering  costs,  legal  services,
    12  equipment/materials, and other direct expenses related to project imple-
    13  mentation.
    14    4. State assistance payments pursuant to this section shall be up to a
    15  maximum of seventy-five percent of the eligible  costs,  not  to  exceed
    16  fifty thousand dollars per annum to any single agricultural producer.
    17    5. The committee may adopt rules and regulations necessary to effectu-
    18  ate the purposes of this section.
    19    §  2.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
    20  have become a law.