Bill Text: NY S02531 | 2015-2016 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Establishes a farm drain tile financial assistance program.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 3-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-06-15 - referred to agriculture [S02531 Detail]

Download: New_York-2015-S02531-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         2531--B
                               2015-2016 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                    January 26, 2015
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by Sens. RITCHIE, GALLIVAN, MARCHIONE, VALESKY -- read twice
          and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
          on Environmental Conservation -- recommitted to the Committee on Envi-
          ronmental Conservation in accordance with Senate Rule  6,  sec.  8  --
          committee  discharged,  bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
          recommitted to said committee -- committee discharged,  bill  amended,
          ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
        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     2  law is REPEALED and a new section 4-a is added to read as follows: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:
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05618-04-6
        S. 2531--B                          2
     1    a.  the  name  and location of the farm operation and the tracts to be
     2  improved through subsurface drainage;
     3    b.  identification  of the best management practices to be implemented
     4  to reduce the risk of nutrients exiting tile lines;
     5    c. a cost estimate for the proposed project;
     6    d. the source of funds available to the district to pay for its  share
     7  of the eligible costs;
     8    e. information sufficient to demonstrate that the criteria in subdivi-
     9  sion one of this section have been met; and
    10    f.  such  further  information  as  may  thereafter be required by the
    11  committee to determine funding prioritization in the event that applica-
    12  tions for funding exceed amounts  available  for  the  purpose  of  this
    13  section.
    14    3.  Eligible  costs  that  may  be funded pursuant to this section are
    15  consultant/contractor  services,  engineering  costs,  legal   services,
    16  equipment/materials, and other direct expenses related to project imple-
    17  mentation.
    18    4. State assistance payments pursuant to this section shall be up to a
    19  maximum  of  seventy-five  percent  of the eligible costs, not to exceed
    20  fifty thousand dollars per annum to any single agricultural producer.
    21    5. The committee may adopt rules and regulations necessary to effectu-
    22  ate the purposes of this section.
    23    § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
    24  have become a law.