Bill Text: NY A07017 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Enacts the monarch preservation plan requiring the department of environmental conservation to take feasible actions to conserve monarch butterflies and the unique habitats they depend upon for successful migration and develop a grant program.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-2)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to environmental conservation [A07017 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A07017-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          7017

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      May 10, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Environmental Conservation

        AN ACT to amend the  environmental  conservation  law,  in  relation  to
          enacting the monarch preservation plan

          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  "monarch
     2  preservation plan".
     3    §  2. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds that over the
     4  past several decades, the number of monarch butterflies in North America
     5  has steeply declined. The great migration of the  eastern  monarchs  has
     6  been  named  a  "threatened  phenomenon"  by the International Union for
     7  Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).  As  of  2014,  the
     8  monarch  population has declined from approximately one billion butterf-
     9  lies to 35 million, around 90% since 1990.
    10    Major threat to  monarchs  include  habitat  loss  and  fragmentation,
    11  changes  in  climate  and  extreme  weather, pesticides, herbicides, and
    12  genetically modified crops, invasive species, disease and natural preda-
    13  tors.
    14    Actively restoring native milkweed and nectar plants, and other polli-
    15  nator habitat,  and  ensuring  that  key  habitats  are  protected  from
    16  destruction,  are  critical to ensuring the survival of monarch butterf-
    17  lies and can also help facilitate conservation of other essential polli-
    18  nators.  Enhancing pollinator populations can result in  improved  poll-
    19  ination   services  for  neighboring  land,  including  agriculture  and
    20  wildlife ecosystems.
    21    § 3. The environmental conservation law is amended  by  adding  a  new
    22  section 11-0541 to read as follows:
    23  § 11-0541. Monarch preservation plan.
    24    1.  Within one year of the effective date of this section, the depart-
    25  ment shall take feasible actions to conserve monarch butterflies and the

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05049-01-3
        A. 7017                             2

     1  unique habitats they depend upon for successful migration. These actions
     2  may include, but are not limited to, habitat restoration  on  department
     3  lands,  education  programs, and voluntary agreements with private land-
     4  owners.  The  department  may partner with federal agencies, state agen-
     5  cies, nonprofit organizations, academic  programs,  private  landowners,
     6  and  other  entities that undertake actions to conserve monarch butterf-
     7  lies and aid their successful migration,  including  the  Monarch  Joint
     8  Venture.  When  undertaking  actions to conserve monarch butterflies and
     9  their habitats pursuant to this section, the department  shall  use  the
    10  best available science and consider, as appropriate and feasible, all of
    11  the following:
    12    a.   restoring  or  revegetating  monarch  caterpillar  habitat  using
    13  regionally or locally appropriate native  milkweed  species  and  native
    14  nectar plant species;
    15    b.  controlling  nonnative  weed species that threaten native milkweed
    16  species, and controlling pests and disease, using current  best  manage-
    17  ment  practices  consistent  with  integrated pest management principles
    18  that pose low risk to monarch butterflies and their habitat;
    19    c. controlling pest  management  practices  that  may  be  harmful  to
    20  monarch butterflies, their food or their habitat;
    21    d.  incorporating  diverse  tree species, structures, and arrangements
    22  when restoring or establishing winter habitat  sites  to  match  monarch
    23  butterfly  preferences for temperature, light, moisture, wind, and other
    24  microclimate characteristics; and
    25    e. increasing the number of partnerships and making the most of  part-
    26  nerships to use residential and institutional landscaped areas, agricul-
    27  tural  non-cropped  lands,  transportation  corridors,  and conservation
    28  easements to create, restore, or enhance monarch butterfly habitat.
    29    2. a. The  monarch  butterfly  and  pollinator  rescue  program  ("the
    30  program") is hereby established and shall be administered by the depart-
    31  ment.    Funding  for the program shall be made available to the program
    32  from the conservation fund established by section  eighty-three  of  the
    33  state  finance  law and from the habitat conservation and access account
    34  established by section eighty-three-a of the state finance law.
    35    b. The program shall provide grants, within appropriations  and  funds
    36  designated therefore, for projects to recover and sustain populations of
    37  monarch  butterflies  and  other  pollinators.   Eligible recipients for
    38  grants under the program include private landowners, nonprofit organiza-
    39  tions, resource conservation districts,  or  public  agencies.    Before
    40  disbursing a grant pursuant to this section, the department shall devel-
    41  op  and  adopt  project selection and evaluation guidelines. Such guide-
    42  lines shall include monitoring and reporting requirements to help assess
    43  grant outcomes, and requirement that the project demonstrates the  clear
    44  potential  to  contribute  to  the  conservation and recovery of monarch
    45  butterflies. These guidelines shall be made public within six months  of
    46  the  enacted date.   To achieve the purposes of the program, the depart-
    47  ment may do all of the following:
    48    (i) provide grants for the restoration or enhancement  of  appropriate
    49  breeding  and  migration habitat for monarch butterflies and pollinators
    50  on private and public lands;
    51    (ii) provide technical assistance to grant recipients, including farm-
    52  ers and ranchers, regarding restoration  and  enhancement  of  breeding,
    53  migration, and other appropriate monarch butterfly habitat;
    54    (iii) award grants pursuant to this section;
    55    (iv)  provide  grants  for seasonal or temporary habitat improvements;
    56  and
        A. 7017                             3

     1    (v) provide block grants in which suballocations are made by the grant
     2  recipient, with the approval of the department.
     3    3.   An application for a grant for a project under this section shall
     4  include:
     5    a. a statement of the purpose of the project;
     6    b. the name of the entity with overall responsibility for the project;
     7    c. a description of:
     8    (i) the qualifications of the entity that will conduct the project;
     9    (ii) methods for project implementation and outcome assessment; and
    10    (iii) anticipated outcomes;
    11    d. information that demonstrates the clear potential of the project to
    12  contribute to the conservation and recovery of  the  monarch  butterfly;
    13  and
    14    e. assurances that the conservation effort will not include the use of
    15  glyphosate or neonicintinoid pesticides.
    16    4.  The  commissioner  shall annually solicit applications for project
    17  for funding under this section and review each proposal  on  a  timeline
    18  that  recognizes  the  urgency  of  the  declining monarch population to
    19  determine whether the proposal meets the criteria specified in  subdivi-
    20  sion three of this section.
    21    5.  The fact that a project applicant or landowner does not enter into
    22  a voluntary agreement  to  protect  monarch  butterflies  shall  not  be
    23  grounds  for denying a permit or agreement or requiring additional miti-
    24  gation beyond what would be required to mitigate project  impacts  under
    25  other applicable laws.
    26    6. Not later than December thirty-first of each year, the commissioner
    27  shall  prepare  a report detailing the progress of the monarch preserva-
    28  tion plan and the monarch butterfly and pollinator rescue  program,  the
    29  status  of  the eastern monarch butterfly, a summary of the projects for
    30  which the commissioner has provided funding, and an evaluation of  those
    31  projects,  as  well  as  any planned or anticipated regulatory or policy
    32  changes which may affect the monarch management.   The report  shall  be
    33  delivered  to  the chairpersons of the assembly and senate committees on
    34  environmental conservation.
    35    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.