Bill Text: NY S05481 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Preserves premium reimbursement eligibility for organizations which are unable to have fairs or expositions due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO AGRICULTURE [S05481 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S05481-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          5481

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                      March 8, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced by Sen. OBERACKER -- 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 preserv-
          ing  premium reimbursement eligibility for fairs and expositions which
          are unable to have events due to the outbreak of COVID-19

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

     1    Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 286 of the agriculture and markets
     2  law,  as  amended by chapter 600 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read
     3  as follows:
     4    1. (a) There shall be appropriated annually  for  the  department  [of
     5  agriculture and markets] an amount of money sufficient to pay and satis-
     6  fy  the  reimbursement  moneys herein specified and which money shall be
     7  disbursed by the commissioner on behalf of the state for  the  promotion
     8  of  agriculture  and domestic arts, to duly incorporated agricultural or
     9  horticultural corporations as defined in section fourteen  hundred  nine
    10  of  the  not-for-profit  corporation  law,  the county extension service
    11  association in the county of Orange, the American institute in the  city
    12  of  New York, the Goshen Historic Track, Inc., the Genesee Valley Breed-
    13  ers' Association, Inc. and  county  extension  service  associations  in
    14  proportion  to the actual premiums paid during the previous year includ-
    15  ing premiums paid for trials or tests of speed and endurance of  harness
    16  horses.
    17    (b)  Notwithstanding  any  other provision of law to the contrary, the
    18  annual appropriation made for the two thousand twenty-one--two  thousand
    19  twenty-two  state  fiscal  year  for  the  department for the purpose of
    20  paying and satisfying reimbursement moneys shall be in proportion to the
    21  actual premiums paid during two thousand nineteen.
    22    § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 286 of the agriculture and  markets  law
    23  is amended by adding a new paragraph (d) to read as follows:

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06604-01-1
        S. 5481                             2

     1    (d)  Notwithstanding  any  other provision of law to the contrary, all
     2  organizations otherwise eligible to receive moneys appropriated  by  the
     3  state  pursuant  to paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subdivision shall not
     4  be deemed ineligible for premium reimbursement because of a  failure  to
     5  hold  a  fair or exposition during the previous calendar year due to the
     6  COVID-19 pandemic.
     7    § 3. Subdivision 4 of section 286 of the agriculture and markets  law,
     8  as  amended  by  chapter  600 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as
     9  follows:
    10    4. Any organization that shall fail or neglect to hold an annual  fair
    11  or  exposition  and  file  its  annual report for two consecutive years,
    12  shall forfeit any privileges or money to which it may otherwise be enti-
    13  tled pursuant to the provisions of this article. In computing such peri-
    14  od of two consecutive years, no year shall  be  counted  in  which  such
    15  failure  was deemed by the commissioner to be attributable to a cause or
    16  condition with respect to which the organization  or  its  directors  or
    17  officers  had  no  control, including but not limited to the outbreak of
    18  novel coronavirus, COVID-19, or for any other reason which  the  commis-
    19  sioner deems justified.
    20    §  4. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any moneys
    21  appropriated in the state fiscal year 2020-2021 pursuant to section  286
    22  of  the  agriculture and markets law which have not been disbursed shall
    23  be reappropriated  for  the  same  purpose  in  the  state  fiscal  year
    24  2021-2022.
    25    § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.