2013 senate agriculture committee annual report

8/13/2019 2013 Senate Agriculture Committee Annual Report

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report of the

standing committee

on agriculture

Senator Patty Ritchie, Chair

December 2013


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2013 Senate Committee onAgriculture Members

Senator Patty RitchieChair

Senator Patrick Gallivan

Senator Thomas F. OMara

Senator Michael H. Ranzenhofer

Senator James L. Seward

Senator Catharine Young

Senator Terry W. Gipson (Ranking Member)

Senator Velmanette Montgomery

Senator Jos M. Serrano

Senator Cecilia F. Tkaczyk

STAFF

Theodore T. Kusnierz, Chief of Staff/Committee Director

Patricia McMurray, Committee Clerk

Sheila OSullivan, CounselJames Salamy, Legislative Director

BreAnna Avery, Legislative Assistant

Senator David J. Valesky


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December 2013

Senator Dean G. Skelos

Republican Conference Leader

Senator Jeff Klein

Independent Democratic Conference Leader

Te Capitol

Albany, NY 12247

Dear Leaders Skelos and Klein:

It is my pleasure to present the annual report o the New York State Senate StandingCommittee on Agriculture detailing the activities o the Committee in 2013.

As you know, agriculture is the leading industry in New York State. Our 36,000 amilyarms work daily to generate over $5.7 billion worth o agricultural products annually.Tey accomplish this by utilizing 23 percent o the states land area, or 7 million acres,to produce a diverse array o ood products.

In an effort to address a number o key agricultural issues, the Committee reported 30bills, o which five were signed into law, and eight await action by Governor Cuomo.

Highlights o the 2013 Legislative Session include approval o a 2% cap on annualincreases in agricultural assessments and adoption o a budget that significantly in-creased unding or key agricultural programs.

I wish to thank my colleagues on the Committee or their support and commitment toimportant agricultural issues throughout 2013, which allow our amily arms to keepNew York a leading agricultural state.

Sincerely,

Senator Patty Ritchie

Chair, Senate Agriculture Committee

SENATORPATTYRITCHIE

SENATEAGRICULTURECOMMITTEE


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Farming is changing. Increased consumer demand or quality, resh, local, diverseand interesting oods is creating new opportunities or arm businesses, while risingexpenses or eed, ertilizer, labor and uel continue to add to the challenges alreadyhardworking armers ace.

New York armers are seizing these opportunitiesdiscovering new products andmarkets to satisy consumer tastesand rising to the challenges to keep New YorksNumber One industry growing and vibrant.

Te State Senate Agriculture Committee is working more closely than ever with

armers and industry to remove obstacles to New Yorks growing arm economy, andhelping secure agriculture as a way o lie in communities across our state.

Number o amily arms in New York36,352

Average arm size, in acres194

Value o arming to NYs economy$5.2 billion

Number o maple taps in NYS2 million

Number o armers markets600

(Source: USDA Census of Agriculture)

GROWN IN NEW YORK:2013 Annual Report of the Senate Agriculture Committee

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

Leading NY Farm Products

Dairy

Apples

Corn

Cabbage

Beans

Squash


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Senate Agriculture

Committee Highlightsfor 2013

Ritchie Renamed Chair of AgricultureCommittee

In January 2013, Senator Patty Ritchie once again was named Chair

o the Senate Agriculture Committee and, or the third year in a row, was named tothe New York Farm Bureaus Circle o Friends. Raised on her amilys dairy arm,and representing a largely rural district, Senator Ritchie has long been amiliar withissues acing arm communities and arm amilies. Senator Ritchie first was electedto the Senate in 2010, and named Chair o the Agriculture Committee in 2011.

Priority One: Tax and Regulatory Relief

Recognizing that the high cost o taxes and government regulation create astranglehold on hardworking armers, the Senate Agriculture Committee once againraised tax and regulatory relie to the top o its legislative agenda in 2013.

2% Ag Tax Cap

A highlight was enactment o a twopercent cap on annual agricultural landassessments. According to the FarmBureau, New York armers currentlypay an average $38.41 per acre inland taxes, compared to just $12.34nationally. And assessments were

increasing as much as 10 percent everyyear. Te tax cap, sponsored by SenatorRitchie and signed into law by theGovernor, puts a stop to runaway assessments, and helps strengthen armersbottom line.


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Cutting red tape

Te coalition steering the State Senate made a prioritythis year o identiying crippling government red tapethat raises the cost o doing business, with a specialpanel o Senators named to find 1,000 outdated andunnecessary rules and regulations that could be targetedor elimination. Senator Ritchie hosted one o the panelsvery first public hearings in Watertown, ocusing on agricultural regulationsthat should be included in the panels findings. An action report is due inearly 2014.

Senate Grown in New York plan

Te State Senates commitment to agriculture was reinorced with the introductiono the only comprehensive plan to assist armers, and help strengthen New Yorksrural economy. Backed by the New York Farm Bureau and other agriculture groups,the Grown in New York plan included specific legislative proposalsincluding

legislative proposalsincluding lower taxes andless red tape, increasedbudget unding and ideas toreturn idled armlandtoexpand markets or New

York products, improvearmers bottom linesand invest in the utureo agriculture. Manycomponents o the planwere enacted into law.

The Senate made New York Agriculture a priority for legislative action in 2013


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Protectingpetsand

peopleResponding to a growingincidence o wildlierabies, and in the wake obudget cuts by some localgovernments, SenatorRitchie and the SenateAgriculture Committeeled the effort to restorestate budget unding or

rabies treatment andprevention programs.Funding included supportor Cornells wildliebaiting program and, inCentral and Northern

New York, to provide six rabies clinics that inoculated more than 1,000 amily petsto help prevent spread o the disease which, while rare, is always atal in humans.Some communities o the state are seeing the highest rates o wildlie rabies inseveral years.

Te State Budget also included unding to continue efforts to reduce the risk tohumans rom Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), a serious disease thats spread byinected mosquitoes, and has killed five Central New Yorkers over the past threedecades. Funding included in the Agriculture budget provided additional assistanceto local mosquito control efforts in inected counties, educational initiatives andreduced cost vaccines or horses.

Senator Ritchie met with membersof her local Agriculture Advisory Council. Comprising farmers and ag

experts, the Council provides insight into current farm issues.


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Listening to farmers

Senator Ritchie continued her efforts to recruit working armers

as experts in identiying opportunities to grow and strengthenagriculture in New York by hosting orums in three counties sherepresentsOswego, Jefferson and St. Lawrencewith members oher Agriculture Advisory Council. Ideas raised in these discussionshave become the oundation or a number o pieces o legislationconsidered by the Agriculture Committee.


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S.2152 (Valesky, Gallivan, Grisanti, Maziarz)/A.2701 (Magee) creates theStrategic Farm and Food Product Development Coordinating Council to urtherpromote the use o New York grown products. (Passed Both Houses)

Tuesday, March 5, 2013, at 9:00 AM, Room 411 LOB

S.2147 (Valesky, Gallivan, Maziarz)/A.728 Rosenthal authorizes and directs theCommissioners o Agriculture and Markets and Economic Development toassess New York States capacity or regional ood production and develop strat-egies or increasing the output and integration o localized ood production.(Vetoed, Veto Memo 234, 2013)

S.2372 (Klein, Grisanti, Hassell-Tompson, Montgomery, Savino)/A.3743 (Cook)

expands the powers and duties o the Office o Community Gardens within theDepartment o Agriculture and Markets. (Passed Both Houses)

S.2677 (Young, OMara, Ranzenhoer)/A.5742(Magee) clarifies that theCommissioner o Agriculture and Markets and the NYS Soil & WaterConservation Committee shall be the authorities that establish the need ortechnical expertise on arm environmental and conservation best managementpractices. (Passed Senate)

S.3693 (Ritchie, Valesky)/A.166 (Magee) clarifies that silvopasturing* acreage inorested land qualifies as eligible lands or agriculture assessment. (Passed Senate)

*Silvopasturing is the scientifically-based, ecologically-sound practice of livestock

grazing in wooded areas which can yield numerous benefits for farm operations.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013, at 9:00 AM, Room 411 LOB

S.1361 (Little, Bonacic, Marchione, Ritchie) eases burdensome contracting require-ments currently in place, to gain permission rom the Department o EnvironmentalConservation (DEC) to harvest timber on state lands. (Passed Senate)

S.1649 (LaValle, Golden, Ranzenhoer, Savino)/A.4885 (Ortiz) requires manuac-turers and distributors o dietary and nutritional supplements to clearly indicate ontheir packaging whether the product has been tested by the FDA. (Committed toRules)

S.2305-A (Ball, Addabbo, Carlucci, Golden, Grisanti, Lanza)/A.4516-A (edisco) requires each violator o Busters Law to register his or her name and address withthe division o criminal justice services. (Passed Senate)


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S.2438 (Klein, Grisanti, Hassell-Tompson, Kennedy, Valesky)/A.6628 (Ortiz) establishes provisions to combat the incidence o adult and childhood obesity;provides or direct marketing o resh vegetables and ruits in areas with a high inci-

dence o adult and child obesity; directs Cornell Cooperative Extension Program tooffer obesity and respiratory disease prevention programs. (Passed Both Houses)

Tuesday, April 23, 2013, at 9:00 AM, Room 411 LOB

S.2332 (Klein, Ball, Gipson, Grisanti, Hassell-Tompson, Marchione, Parker,Ritchie)/A.5218 (Ortiz) establishes a voluntary program to assist and acilitatethe ability o schools districts and institutions o higher learning to donate ex-cess unused ood rom their school meal programs to voluntary ood assistanceprograms or the poor and disadvantaged. (Passed Senate)

S.2621 (Young, Gallivan, Ranzenhoer)/A.1487 (Gunther) removes arm ponddams rom required monitoring by the DEC and gives the responsibility to thestate soil and water conservation committee or development o guidelines andbest management practices or the classification, operation and maintenance oarm pond dams. (Committed to Rules)

S.2798 (Ball)/A.6805 (Sweeney) removes duplicative reporting requirementsand provides cost savings while reducing the workload on cervid* armers andthe Department o Environmental Conservation. (Committed to Rules)

*Te Cervidae family includes white-tailed deer, mule deer (such as black-tailed

deer), elk, moose, red deer, reindeer (caribou), fallow deer, roe deer and chital.

S.3537-D (Grisanti, Avella, Boyle, Espaillat, Gipson, Hoylman, Serrano)/A.1657-E (Rosenthal) requires the establishment and implementation o a trainingprogram or dog control officers. (Passed Both Houses)

S.4299-A (Ritchie, Gipson)/A.7555 (Magee) adds Soil and Water Conserva-tion Districts (SWCDs) to the list o entities eligible or participating in arm-land protection implementation activities unded through the Agricultural andFarmland Protection Program (AFPP) and authorizes SWCDs to cooperate withmunicipalities through inter-municipal agreements. (Chapter 150, L. 2013)

S.4302-A (Ritchie, Grisanti, Marchione)/A.7759 (Santabarbara) streamlines thelicense process or chain store ood processors. (Chapter 260, L. 2013)


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Tuesday, April 30, 2013, at 9:00 AM, Room 411 LOB

S.2049-B (Young)/A.6804 (Magee) prohibits the filling, emptying or use o anyliquefied petroleum gas container, except by the owner or by a person authorized inwriting by the owner. (Passed Senate)

S.2560-A (Ball, Addabbo, Grisanti, Ranzenhoer) expands the definition o aggra-vated cruelty to animals to include harm to animals during the commission o a elony.(Passed Senate)

S.2566 (Ball, Adabbo)/A.4514 (edisco) prohibits a person convicted o violatingBusters Law rom owning or possessing a companion animal. (Committed to Rules)

S.2774-A (Carlucci, Avella, Kennedy, Ritchie, Valeksy)/A.3802 (Magee) establishes theShop: Pride o New York program or ood sellers who sell oods produced in New Yorkstate. (Passed Both Houses)

S.3753-A (Grisanti, Addabbo, Avella, Ball, Breslin, Dilan, Espaillat, Golden, Hassell-Tompson, Hoylman, Krueger, Lavalle, Montgomery, Ritchie, Robach, Savino, Serrano,Squadron)/A.740-A (Rosenthal) allows municipalities to regulate pet dealers as longas the law, rule, regulation, or ordinance is not less stringent than state law. (Passed BothHouses)

S.3955-A (Griasnti, Ritchie)/A.1205-A (Paulin) protects dogs and cats rom abusive treat-ment by pet dealers by requiring that administrative hearings be held to determine whethera pet dealer license should be suspended or revoked afer a certain pattern o ailed inspec-tions has occurred. (Chapter 256, L. 2013)

Tuesday, June 4, 2013, at 9:00 AM, Room 411 LOB

S.2192 (Young, Bonacic, DeFrancisco, Gipson, Ranzenhoer) allows the Depart-ments o Agriculture and Markets and ransportation to investigate and resolve anyunreasonable barriers to milk transportation in New York City and Long Island.

(Passed Senate)

S.3723-B (Flanagan, Ritchie)/A.5114-B (Paulin) educates consumers about their rightsconcerning the source and location o a pet, name o broker, and veterinary treatmentsreceived, to deter violations, and extends the animal lemon law. (Chapter 251, L. 3013)


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S.4260 (Ritchie, Farley, Gallivan, Gipson, Grisanti, Larkin, LaValle, Libous, Little,Marchione, Martins, Maziarz, OMara, Ranzenhoer, Seward, Valesky, Young)/A.6024(Magee) reduces arm-based taxes, ees, and regulatory burdens imposed on ourstates arms to allow the states vital agricultural economy to grow and to benefit am-

ily arms in New York State. (Committed to Finance)

S.4332 (Young, Gipson, OMara, Ritchie, Valesky)/A.7063 (Magee) at the requesto the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources enhances a armers ability tomarket arm, ood and other products directly to consumers through encouragemento the development o retail arm operations such as roadside stands and on-armmarkets. (Passed Senate)

S.4382 (Lanza, Avella)/A.129 (Cusick) directs the Department o Agriculture andMarkets to inspect the condition o certain horse stalls in New York City. (Commit-ted to Finance)

S.4793 (Bonacic, Gipson) directs the Commissioner o Agriculture and Markets toinclude pickling within the purview o the Home Processor exemption regardingood processor licensing requirements. (Committed to Finance)

S.4939 (Nozzolio) authorizes a amily member operating a amily arm to builda home on the operating arm property, not to supersede existing municipal law.(Committed to Finance)

Agriculture Bills Acted on By Rules Committee

S.1484-B (Marcellino) increases the maximum fine or the misdemeanor oabandonment o animals to $2,000.(Passed Senate)

S.2665-B (Ball, Avella, Espaillat, Hoylman)/A.5113-A (Paulin) authorizes a DistrictAttorney, on behal o an impounding organization, to file a petition seeking a secu-rity or the reasonable costs or caring or seized animals rom individuals convictedo certain animal cruelty and animal fighting offenses. (Passed Both Houses)

S.2688 (Young, OMara)/A.7851 (Lupardo) provides that dogs engaged in hunt-ing and training as authorized under Environmental Conservation Law, shall notbe deemed to be running at large in violation o any local law or ordinance. (Passed

Senate)

S.4331 (Young, OMara, Ritchie, Valesky)/A.7008 (Gabryszak) at the request o theLegislative Commission on Rural Resources increases rom 50 to 100 acres, theacreage o arm woodland that qualifies as land used in agricultural production oragricultural assessment purposes. (Passed Senate)


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S.4904 (Maziarz, Sampson)/A.7861 (Gabryszak) requires notification to the ownersand/or operators o a arm operation when inormation about their arm operationhas been requested via the Freedom o Inormation Law (FOIL) rom a state agency

or entity. (Passed Senate)

S.5552-A (Valesky, Ritchie)/A.7572 (Magee) increases the amount o New York Statelocal ood products purchased by New York State agencies, and provides procurementtraining to agricultural businesses. (Passed Senate)

2013 senate agriculture committee annual report

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