Bill Text: NY A04945 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced


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: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to agriculture [A04945 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A04945-Introduced.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          4945
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    February 5, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  M.  of A. GUNTHER, DiPIETRO -- read once and referred to
          the Committee on Agriculture
        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     2  law is REPEALED and a new section 4-a is added to read as follows: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;
    24    c. a cost estimate for the proposed project;
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03676-01-9

        A. 4945                             2
     1    d. the source of funds available to the district to pay for its  share
     2  of the eligible costs;
     3    e. information sufficient to demonstrate that the criteria in subdivi-
     4  sion one of this section have been met; and
     5    f.  such  further  information  as  may  thereafter be required by the
     6  committee to determine funding prioritization in the event that applica-
     7  tions for funding exceed amounts  available  for  the  purpose  of  this
     8  section.
     9    3.  Eligible  costs  that  may  be funded pursuant to this section are
    10  consultant/contractor  services,  engineering  costs,  legal   services,
    11  equipment/materials, and other direct expenses related to project imple-
    12  mentation.
    13    4. State assistance payments pursuant to this section shall be up to a
    14  maximum  of  seventy-five  percent  of the eligible costs, not to exceed
    15  fifty thousand dollars per annum to any single agricultural producer.
    16    5. The committee may adopt rules and regulations necessary to effectu-
    17  ate the purposes of this section.
    18    § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
    19  have become a law.
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