Bill Text: NY A09403 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Enacts the "urban farming land initiative act"; requires each land bank to utilize ten percent of the acreage of its properties for the purpose of urban agriculture or community gardens.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-06 - referred to local governments [A09403 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A09403-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          9403

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      March 6, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A. SANTABARBARA -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Local Governments

        AN ACT to amend the  not-for-profit  corporation  law,  in  relation  to
          enacting the "urban farming land initiative act"

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

     1    Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
     2  the "urban farming land initiative act".
     3    §  2. Section 1608 of the not-for-profit corporation law is amended by
     4  adding a new paragraph (k) to read as follows:
     5    (k)(i) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, each  land  bank
     6  shall  utilize  ten  percent  of  the  acreage of its properties for the
     7  purpose of urban agriculture  or  community  gardens.  A  land  bank  is
     8  authorized  to  enter into contracts and any other instruments necessary
     9  to effectuate this paragraph.
    10    (ii) For the purposes of this paragraph:
    11    (1) "community garden" shall mean land bank property upon which  citi-
    12  zens  of  the  municipality  in  which the land bank is located have the
    13  opportunity to garden but they do not individually own; and
    14    (2) "urban farming" shall mean the production of agricultural products
    15  such as produce and animal products; this  may  include  growing  crops,
    16  animal  husbandry, beekeeping, aquaculture or aquaponics, vertical farm-
    17  ing,  and  non-food  products  such  as  producing  seeds,   cultivating
    18  seedlings, and growing flowers.
    19    §  3.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
    20  have become a law.



         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD14131-01-4