Bill Text: NY A01780 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Imposes a highway use fee on outdoor advertising; establishes a New York state urban reforestation fund from fees imposed on outdoor advertising; makes provisions supporting urban forestry.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to transportation [A01780 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A01780-Introduced.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1780

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 20, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of A. McMAHON, DAVILA, GUNTHER, SIMON, GIBBS -- read
          once and referred to the Committee on Transportation

        AN ACT to amend the highway law, the state finance law and the  environ-
          mental  conservation law, in relation to imposing a highway use fee on
          outdoor advertising, establishing a New York state urban reforestation
          fund and making provisions supporting urban forestry

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

     1    Section  1.  This  act  shall  be known and may be cited as the "urban
     2  reforestation act".
     3    § 2. Legislative findings  and  intent.  The  legislature  finds  that
     4  planting trees in urban areas helps to preserve the environment, promote
     5  health,  mitigate air pollution and enhance the urban environment. Trees
     6  absorb pollution, produce oxygen, and provide shade and block winds in a
     7  manner that conserves both costs and energy.  Tree-lined  streets  offer
     8  aesthetic  appeal, improve property values and provide tangible physical
     9  benefits to improve the  pedestrian  experience.  The  legislature  also
    10  finds  that  the  stated  purposes  of  article  53 of the environmental
    11  conservation law relating to urban forestry could be better achieved  if
    12  a method of funding existed exclusively for such purpose.
    13    Therefore,  it  is  the  intent of this act to create a New York state
    14  urban reforestation fund, which shall be  a  source  of  money  used  to
    15  promote  the  planting, conservation and maintenance of trees in certain
    16  urban areas of this state in order to produce important economic,  envi-
    17  ronmental  and  physical  benefits. This fund shall be a source of money
    18  used exclusively for the purposes of urban forestry as provided in arti-
    19  cle 53 of the environmental conservation law.
    20    § 3. Section 88 of the highway law is amended by adding a new subdivi-
    21  sion 5-a to read as follows:
    22    5-a. (a) There is hereby imposed on outdoor  advertising  signs  which
    23  are  visible  from  interstate  and  primary  system  highways, a fee as

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06176-01-3

        A. 1780                             2

     1  provided in this subdivision. Official signs, on-premises signs,  direc-
     2  tion  signs,  and  signs  owned by persons with five or fewer billboards
     3  shall be exempt from such a fee.
     4    (b)  In  cities  with  a  population of one million or more, such fees
     5  shall be collected by the city annually.  In  all  other  areas  of  the
     6  state,  such  fee  shall be collected by the commissioner as part of the
     7  process of regulation of outdoor advertising.
     8    (c) All billboard faces visible from  interstate  and  primary  system
     9  highways shall pay an annual fee of one thousand dollars.
    10    (d)  The state commissioner of transportation, and cities with a popu-
    11  lation of one million or more shall deposit the revenue collected pursu-
    12  ant to this subdivision in the New York state urban  reforestation  fund
    13  pursuant to section ninety-one-h of the state finance law.
    14    (e)  Any person who violates any provision of this subdivision, or any
    15  rule, regulation, or order promulgated pursuant thereto shall be  liable
    16  for  a  minimum  civil penalty of five hundred dollars and an additional
    17  civil penalty of one hundred dollars a day for  each  day  during  which
    18  each  such  violation  continues.  Every  civil penalty that is assessed
    19  pursuant to this section shall be credited to the department  of  trans-
    20  portation  to  aid  in  implementation  and  enforcement of this section
    21  including implementation of the permit registration program,  inspection
    22  and removal of illegal outdoor advertising.
    23    §  4. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 91-h to
    24  read as follows:
    25    § 91-h. New York state urban reforestation fund. 1.  There  is  hereby
    26  established  in  the  joint  custody  of  the  state comptroller and the
    27  commissioner of taxation and finance a fund to be known as the New  York
    28  state urban reforestation fund.
    29    2.  Such  fund  shall consist of all fees, revenues, fines and forfei-
    30  tures collected pursuant to subdivision five-a of  section  eighty-eight
    31  of  the  highway  law and required to be deposited to this fund, and all
    32  other moneys credited or transferred thereto  from  any  other  fund  or
    33  source pursuant to law.
    34    3. Moneys of the fund shall be available only for the payment of state
    35  aid  pursuant to the provisions of title three of article fifty-three of
    36  the environmental conservation law for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  the
    37  provisions of such title.
    38    §  5. Section 53-0303 of the environmental conservation law is amended
    39  by adding eight new subdivisions 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 to read
    40  as follows:
    41    8. "Professional forester" means an individual who has graduated  from
    42  a  school of forestry recognized or accredited by a professional associ-
    43  ation of foresters or by a state or federal entity so authorized; or one
    44  who possesses qualifications for the practice  of  forestry  essentially
    45  equivalent to those possessed by a graduate of a school of forestry in a
    46  curriculum  of  forest  management recognized or accredited by a profes-
    47  sional association of foresters or by state or federal entities.
    48    9. "Conservation" means planned management of  natural  resources  for
    49  the benefit of society to prevent exploitation, destruction or neglect.
    50    10. "Inventory" means a survey of natural resources in a defined area,
    51  including location, condition, size, and species of trees and associated
    52  vegetation as well as potential planting sites.
    53    11. "Management planning" means the organized compilation of inventory
    54  data with an action plan aimed at improving tree resources.
    55    12.  "Tree  maintenance"  means  providing  care  to tree resources to
    56  assure the health of the urban tree resource.

        A. 1780                             3

     1    13. "Planting" means the act of establishing trees at a site,  includ-
     2  ing site preparation, and installation of the tree.
     3    14.  "Pruning"  means the cutting of tree limbs to improve tree health
     4  and form by removing dead, diseased and damaged wood.
     5    15. "Removal" means the cutting of selected trees that are  hazardous,
     6  dead, diseased or in some other way becoming a danger to public welfare.
     7    §  6.  The  environmental  conservation law is amended by adding a new
     8  section 53-0309 to read as follows:
     9  § 53-0309. Urban reforestation assistance.
    10    1. In cities with a population of one million or more, the commission-
    11  er shall award grants annually to such cities in an amount equal to  the
    12  monies collected by the city, excluding funds kept by the department for
    13  the  purpose of administering the urban reforestation act, and deposited
    14  into the urban reforestation fund. Monies shall be  awarded  exclusively
    15  for  establishment of an urban forestry plan and urban forestry planning
    16  capability which includes the services of a professional forester and/or
    17  licensed landscape architects, undertaking and maintaining an inventory,
    18  and undertaking tree planting, maintenance, removal and pruning.
    19    2. In cities with a population of less than one million and more  than
    20  twenty  thousand,  the commissioner shall award grants from funds appro-
    21  priated and available from the New York  urban  reforestation  fund,  as
    22  follows:  annually,  fifty  percent  of  the  funds  available  shall be
    23  distributed proportionally according to population density  to  be  used
    24  for  establishment of an urban forestry plan and urban forestry planning
    25  capability which includes the services of a professional forester and/or
    26  licensed landscape architects, undertaking and maintaining an   invento-
    27  ry,  and  undertaking tree planting, tree maintenance, removal and prun-
    28  ing, forty percent of the funds available shall be distributed for urban
    29  areas subject to a completed urban forestry plan for activities pursuant
    30  to such plan based on need and merit and up to ten percent of the  funds
    31  available  shall  be  available  to  the  department  to cover the costs
    32  incurred in administering the provisions of this title.
    33    § 7. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
    34  have become a law.
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