Establishes the New York state youth in agriculture and entrepreneurship summer employment program to provide students with the opportunity to be educated on the agricultural industry and alternative career paths and to provide agricultural work experience and entrepreneurship work experience.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5123
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 2, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LUPARDO -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Agriculture
AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to estab-
lishing the New York state youth in agriculture and entrepreneurship
summer employment program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The agriculture and markets law is amended by adding a new
2 article 29-A to read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 29-A
4 NEW YORK STATE YOUTH IN AGRICULTURE AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMER
5 EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM
6 Section 525. Legislative intent and findings.
7 526. Definitions.
8 527. New York state youth in agriculture and entrepreneurship
9 summer employment program.
10 528. Commissioner's power and duties.
11 § 525. Legislative intent and findings. The legislature hereby finds
12 that diversifying the agricultural industry addresses issues of food
13 insecurity and food access in the state. The legislature further finds
14 that there are certain culturally significant foods in the state and
15 seeks to encourage the continuance of production of such foods and to
16 generate an interest in the production of such foods by future gener-
17 ations of persons working in agriculture. The legislature hereby estab-
18 lishes the New York state youth in agriculture and entrepreneurship
19 summer employment program to allow students the opportunity to be
20 educated on the agricultural industry and alternative career paths and
21 to attain entrepreneurial experience. The legislature also establishes
22 this program to subsidize youth employment for farms and farmers'
23 markets that could otherwise participate in the program if the wages
24 were not a hardship. It is the intention of the legislation that the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04207-01-3
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1 New York state youth in agriculture and entrepreneurship summer employ-
2 ment program serves as a stepping stone for such youth in careers in
3 agriculture and entrepreneurship, as well as to provide farmers means to
4 participate in the program.
5 § 526. Definitions. As used in this section:
6 1. "Minority or socially disadvantaged" means a group whose members
7 have been subjected to racial, ethnic, or gender prejudice because of
8 their identity as members of a group without regard to their individual
9 qualities or citizenship status. These groups include, but are not
10 limited to, the following:
11 (a) African Americans;
12 (b) Native Indians;
13 (c) Alaskan Natives;
14 (d) Hispanics;
15 (e) Asian Americans; and,
16 (f) Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
17 2. "Low income or economically disadvantaged" means having a family
18 income that does not exceed one hundred fifty percent of the federal
19 poverty level, including being a child of a working migratory family or
20 an agricultural worker who is employed by more than one agricultural
21 employer during the course of a year and whose income varies according
22 to weather conditions and market stability.
23 3. "Qualifying business" means a farmers market, mobile market, commu-
24 nity supported agriculture, cooperative, or any other type of business
25 structure that provides New York grown and raised foods directly to
26 consumers as approved by the commissioner.
27 4. "Qualifying farm" means a small to medium-sized farm or urban farm
28 participating in a qualifying business.
29 5. "Agricultural work" means work performed maintaining crops or tend-
30 ing livestock.
31 6. "Entrepreneurship work experience" means experience that aims to
32 develop skills deemed necessary to succeed in the design, launch and
33 running of a new business.
34 7. "Subsidized employment" means any employment through the New York
35 state youth in agriculture and entrepreneurship summer employment
36 program for which any costs associated with participation in the
37 program, including wages and transportation, are paid by the state or by
38 the federal government.
39 § 527. New York state youth in agriculture and entrepreneurship summer
40 employment program. 1. There is hereby established in the department the
41 New York state youth in agriculture and entrepreneurship summer employ-
42 ment program to provide students with the opportunity to be educated on
43 the agricultural industry and alternative career paths and to provide
44 agricultural work experience and entrepreneurship work experience.
45 2. The commissioner shall establish application criteria that require
46 qualifying businesses and qualifying farms to provide unsubsidized or
47 subsidized employment as follows:
48 (a) Unsubsidized employment:
49 (i) demonstrate that such business or farm can provide students with
50 both agricultural work experience and entrepreneurship work experience;
51 (ii) pay wages to eligible students in an amount that is above minimum
52 wage;
53 (iii) provide transportation to and from the qualifying business or
54 qualifying farm or to provide transportation compensation to the eligi-
55 ble student; and
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1 (iv) provide eligible students with a minimum of sixteen hours and a
2 maximum of no more than forty hours of work per week.
3 (b) Subsidized employment:
4 (i) demonstrate that such business or farm can provide students with
5 both agricultural work experience and entrepreneurship work experience;
6 (ii) establish a hardship to pay wages to eligible students in an
7 amount that is above minimum wage;
8 (iii) demonstrate a hardship to provide transportation to and from
9 the qualifying business or qualifying farm or a hardship to provide
10 transportation compensation to the eligible student; and
11 (iv) provide eligible students with a minimum of sixteen hours and a
12 maximum of no more than forty hours of work per week.
13 § 528. Commissioner's powers and duties. The commissioner shall have
14 the following powers and duties with regards to the New York state youth
15 in agriculture and entrepreneurship summer employment program:
16 1. to promulgate grants as necessary to achieve the legislative intent
17 of this program as set forth in this article.
18 2. to apply for federal grants to help fund the program.
19 3. in consultation and cooperation with the commissioner of social
20 services, the commissioner of education, and the president of the higher
21 education services corporation, to perform outreach to ensure the
22 program is known and available to students who are socially disadvan-
23 taged or economically disadvantaged.
24 4. to establish a website for the program which includes a portal
25 where students may apply for jobs and where qualifying businesses and
26 qualifying farms may connect and which provides promotional materials
27 about the program in a pdf format that is easily accessible and print-
28 able by organizations and the general public.
29 5. to include annual outreach campaigns that start at least three
30 months prior to the date when applications for the summer program are
31 first able to be submitted. Such campaigns shall include outreach to
32 schools, non-profit organizations, qualifying businesses and qualifying
33 farms. Such outreach shall be performed in a variety of methods, includ-
34 ing a social media campaign.
35 6. to create an informational packet for students on agricultural
36 opportunities in higher education including, but not limited to, infor-
37 mation on the availability of scholarships, student loan forgiveness,
38 and government assistance to create and establish farms.
39 7. to establish a subsidized employment program for qualifying farms
40 and qualifying businesses that could otherwise participate in the
41 program if paying wages were not a hardship.
42 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
43 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
44 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
45 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
46 completed on or before such effective date.
