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

New York Assembly Bill 7017

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.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-2)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-06-04 - REFERRED TO RULES [A07017 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A07017-Amended.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         7017--A

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      May 10, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  SIMON,  THIELE,  GUNTHER,  ZINERMAN, SAYEGH,
          L. ROSENTHAL, McDONOUGH, K. BROWN -- read once  and  referred  to  the
          Committee  on Environmental Conservation -- recommitted to the Commit-
          tee on Environmental Conservation in accordance with Assembly Rule  3,
          sec.  2  --  committee  discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
          amended and recommitted to said committee

        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. Short title. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as
     2  the "monarch 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.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05049-02-4

        A. 7017--A                          2

     1    § 3. The environmental conservation law is amended  by  adding  a  new
     2  section 11-0541 to read as follows:
     3  § 11-0541. Monarch preservation plan.
     4    Beginning  within  one year of the effective date of this section, the
     5  department shall take feasible actions to conserve  monarch  butterflies
     6  and the unique habitats they depend upon for successful migration. These
     7  actions  may  include,  but  are  not limited to, habitat restoration on
     8  department and state owned  lands,  education  programs,  and  voluntary
     9  agreements  with  private  landowners.  The  department may partner with
    10  federal agencies,  state  agencies,  nonprofit  organizations,  academic
    11  programs,  private landowners, and other entities that undertake actions
    12  to conserve monarch butterflies and aid their successful migration. When
    13  undertaking actions to conserve monarch butterflies and  their  habitats
    14  pursuant  to  this  section, the department shall use the best available
    15  science and consider, as appropriate and feasible, all of the following:
    16    1.  restoring  or  revegetating  monarch  caterpillar  habitat   using
    17  regionally  or  locally  appropriate  native milkweed species and native
    18  nectar plant species;
    19    2. controlling nonnative weed species that  threaten  native  milkweed
    20  species,  and  controlling pests and disease, using current best manage-
    21  ment practices consistent with  integrated  pest  management  principles
    22  that pose low risk to monarch butterflies and their habitat;
    23    3.  controlling  pest  management  practices  that  may  be harmful to
    24  monarch butterflies, their food or their habitat;
    25    4. incorporating diverse tree species,  structures,  and  arrangements
    26  when  restoring  or  establishing  winter habitat sites to match monarch
    27  butterfly preferences for temperature, light, moisture, wind, and  other
    28  microclimate characteristics; and
    29    5.  increasing the number of partnerships and making the most of part-
    30  nerships to use residential and institutional landscaped areas, agricul-
    31  tural non-cropped  lands,  transportation  corridors,  and  conservation
    32  easements to create, restore, or enhance monarch butterfly habitat.
    33    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.