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.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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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2 law is REPEALED and a new section 4-a is added to read as follows: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.