Bill Text: NY S09295 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

---

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: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-05-12 - REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION [S09295 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S09295-Introduced.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          9295

                    IN SENATE

                                      May 12, 2022
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen. HOYLMAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed 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
    26  unique habitats they depend upon for successful migration. These actions
    27  may include, but are not limited to, habitat restoration  on  department
    28  lands,  education  programs, and voluntary agreements with private land-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD15883-01-2
        S. 9295                             2

     1  owners. The department may partner with federal  agencies,  state  agen-
     2  cies,  nonprofit  organizations,  academic programs, private landowners,
     3  and other entities that undertake actions to conserve  monarch  butterf-
     4  lies  and  aid  their  successful migration, including the Monarch Joint
     5  Venture. When undertaking actions to conserve  monarch  butterflies  and
     6  their  habitats  pursuant  to this section, the department shall use the
     7  best available science and consider, as appropriate and feasible, all of
     8  the following:
     9    a.  restoring  or  revegetating  monarch  caterpillar  habitat   using
    10  regionally  or  locally  appropriate  native milkweed species and native
    11  nectar plant species;
    12    b. controlling nonnative weed species that  threaten  native  milkweed
    13  species,  and  controlling pests and disease, using current best manage-
    14  ment practices consistent with  integrated  pest  management  principles
    15  that pose low risk to monarch butterflies and their habitat;
    16    c.  controlling  pest  management  practices  that  may  be harmful to
    17  monarch butterflies, their food or their habitat;
    18    d. incorporating diverse tree species,  structures,  and  arrangements
    19  when  restoring  or  establishing  winter habitat sites to match monarch
    20  butterfly preferences for temperature, light, moisture, wind, and  other
    21  microclimate characteristics; and
    22    e.  increasing the number of partnerships and making the most of part-
    23  nerships to use residential and institutional landscaped areas, agricul-
    24  tural non-cropped  lands,  transportation  corridors,  and  conservation
    25  easements to create, restore, or enhance monarch butterfly habitat.
    26    2.  a.  The  monarch  butterfly  and  pollinator  rescue program ("the
    27  program") is hereby established and shall be administered by the depart-
    28  ment.  Funding for the program shall be made available  to  the  program
    29  from  the  conservation  fund established by section eighty-three of the
    30  state finance law and from the habitat conservation and  access  account
    31  established by section 83-a of the state finance law.
    32    b.  The  program shall provide grants, within appropriations and funds
    33  designated therefore, for projects to recover and sustain populations of
    34  monarch butterflies and other  pollinators.    Eligible  recipients  for
    35  grants under the program include private landowners, nonprofit organiza-
    36  tions,  resource  conservation  districts,  or public agencies.   Before
    37  disbursing a grant pursuant to this section, the department shall devel-
    38  op and adopt project selection and evaluation  guidelines.  Such  guide-
    39  lines shall include monitoring and reporting requirements to help assess
    40  grant  outcomes, and requirement that the project demonstrates the clear
    41  potential to contribute to the  conservation  and  recovery  of  monarch
    42  butterflies.  These guidelines shall be made public within six months of
    43  the enacted date.  To achieve the purposes of the program,  the  depart-
    44  ment may do all of the following:
    45    (i)  provide  grants for the restoration or enhancement of appropriate
    46  breeding and migration habitat for monarch butterflies  and  pollinators
    47  on private and public lands;
    48    (ii) provide technical assistance to grant recipients, including farm-
    49  ers  and  ranchers,  regarding  restoration and enhancement of breeding,
    50  migration, and other appropriate monarch butterfly habitat;
    51    (iii) award grants pursuant to this section;
    52    (iv) provide grants for seasonal or  temporary  habitat  improvements;
    53  and
    54    (v) provide block grants in which suballocations are made by the grant
    55  recipient, with the approval of the department.
        S. 9295                             3

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