New York A 520: Establishes a forestry stewardship and habitat conservation credit for personal income and business franchise taxes

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A00520 Summary:

BILL NOA00520 

&nbsp

SAME ASSAME AS S00543

&nbsp

SPONSORWoerner (MS)

&nbsp

COSPNSRCarroll R, Colton, Jones, Smullen, Lemondes, Rosenthal, Simon

&nbsp

MLTSPNSRSeawright, Steck

&nbsp

Amd §§606 & 210-B, Tax L

&nbsp

Establishes a forestry stewardship and habitat conservation credit for personal income and business franchise taxes.

Go to top A00520 Actions:

BILL NOA00520 

&nbsp

01/08/2025referred to ways and means

01/07/2026referred to ways and means

Go to topA00520 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topA00520 Floor&nbspVotes:

There are no Assembly votes for this bill in this legislative session.

Go to topA00520 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 520

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN ASSEMBLY

 (Prefiled)

 January 8, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by M. of A. WOERNER, R. CARROLL, COLTON, JONES, SMULLEN,
 LEMONDES, ROSENTHAL, SIMON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
 SEAWRIGHT, STECK -- read once and referred to the Committee on Ways
 and Means

 AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to establishing a forestry
 stewardship and habitat conservation credit for personal income and
 business franchise taxes

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

 1 Section 1. Section 606 of the tax law is amended by adding a new
 2 subsection (qqq) to read as follows:
 3 (qqq) Forestry stewardship and habitat conservation credit. (1) In the
 4 case of a taxpayer who owns land that is subject to an agreement with
 5 the department of environmental conservation, by which such land is
 6 committed to forestry stewardship, or habitat conservation, or both,
 7 there shall be allowed a credit for twenty-five percent of the real
 8 property taxes paid on such land. In no event shall the credit allowed
 9 under this subsection in combination with any other credit for such real
 10 property taxes under this section exceed the total amount of such taxes
 11 paid during the taxable year.
 12 (2) For the purposes of this subsection:
 13 (a) "Eligible tract" shall mean a tract of land of at least twenty-
 14 five contiguous acres that has been inspected by the department of envi-
 15 ronmental conservation, a wildlife biologist certified by The Wildlife
 16 Society, or a fisheries biologist certified by the American Fisheries
 17 Society, and based on such inspection is determined by the department of
 18 environmental conservation to be: valuable habitat for wildlife, fish,
 19 shellfish or crustacea; or safe and suitable for fish or wildlife-relat-
 20 ed recreation, including fishing, hunting, trapping and wildlife obser-
 21 vation; or both. Land divided only by federal, state, county or town

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD01404-01-5

 A. 520 2

 1 roads, easements or rights-of-way, or energy transmission corridors or
 2 similar facilities shall be considered contiguous for purposes of this
 3 section.
 4 (b) "Agreement" shall mean a written agreement between the department
 5 of environmental conservation and the owner of an eligible tract,
 6 executed by both parties, by which the eligible tract is committed to
 7 habitat conservation, or forestry stewardship, or both, for a period of
 8 not less than five years.
 9 (c) "Approved habitat conservation plan" shall mean a plan, approved
 10 by the department of environmental conservation, for the management of
 11 an eligible tract which shall contain requirements and standards with
 12 which the owner of the eligible tract must comply in order to conserve
 13 the value of the land as wildlife, fish, shellfish, or crustacea habi-
 14 tat.
 15 (d) "Forestry stewardship" shall mean participation in a forest
 16 certification program (such as Forest Stewardship Council certification,
 17 Sustainable Forestry Initiative, American Tree Farm Program, etc.)
 18 recognized in the regulations of the department of environmental conser-
 19 vation.
 20 (3) There is hereby created a New York state forestry stewardship and
 21 habitat conservation program for the purpose of providing forested lands
 22 in the state and conserving the value of land in the state as wildlife,
 23 fish, shellfish or crustacea habitat.
 24 (4) A