BILL NUMBER: S1529
SPONSOR: PARKER
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the agriculture and markets law, the tax law and the
environmental conservation law, in relation to enacting the carbon farm-
ing act
 
PURPOSE OF THE BILL:
To create a new financial incentive for land management practices
under-taken by farmers which help improve soil health and reduce green-
house gas emissions, making New York a leader in promoting new agricul-
tural strategies that combat climate change.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill states, "This bill shall be known and cited as the
carbon farming act'."
Section 2 establishes the legislative intent
Section 3 adds a new subdivision 5 to section 150 of the Agriculture and
Markets Law to define "carbon farming" as the implementation of land
management strategy for the purposes of reducing, sequestering, and
mitigating greenhouse gas emissions on land used in support of a farm
operation and quantifying those greenhouse gas benefits using the United
States Department of Agriculture's COMET-Planner, COMET-Farm, and other
quantification tools.
Section 4 adds a new subdivision 59 to section 210-B of the Tax Law to
create a carbon farming credit allowance to those tax paying agricul-
tural businesses, which produce farm products, for their practice of
carbon farming.
* The economic value of the carbon farming credit would be determined by
the Commissioner of Environmental Conservation, in consultation with the
Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets, using existing methods for
measuring air pollution, pursuant to paragraph ccc of subdivision two of
section 3-0301 of the Environmental Conservation Law.
* The amount credited to the taxpayer for carbon sequestration and
greenhouse gas emissions reduction would be based upon a certificate of
eligibility issued by the Commissioner of Environmental Conservation,
pursuant to section 19-0309 of the Environmental Conservation Law.
* In the event a tax credit allowance exceeded the taxpayer's total tax
for a given year and the taxpayer's New York adjusted gross income for
such year does not exceed $60,000, the excess shall be treated as an
overpayment of tax to be credited or refunded, provided that no interest
shall be paid. If the taxpayer's New York adjusted gross income for such
a year exceeds $60,000, the excess credit may be carried over to the
following year or years.
Section 5 adds a new subsection 000 to section 606 of the Tax Law to
make conforming changes related to definitions of carbon farming credit
and its application and carryover.
Section 6 adds a new paragraph ccc to subdivision 2 of section 3-0301 of
the Environmental Conservation Law to create an educational program to
encourage and educate farmers about the benefits of carbon farming prac-
tices, develop and promote the application and certification procedure
for verification of emission reductions credited to applicants, and to
codify a metric to quantify the storage of carbon using the USDA's COMET
Planner, COMET-Farm, and other quantification tools. The department is
given authority to make rules and regulations necessary to complete
this. HZU
Section 7 amends subdivision 1 of section 19-0309 of the Environmental
Conservation Law, as amended by Chapter 817 of the Laws of 1987, is
amended to grant the Commissioner authority to issue certificates of
compliance for carbon farming among other air pollution facilities and
process facilities.
Section 8 adds a new subdivision 53 is added to section 16 of the Agri-
culture and Markets Law to direct the Commissioner to work with the
Department of Environmental Conservation to develop educational and
promotional materials on carbon farming practices.
Section 9 establishes the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Climate-smart land management practices improve soil resilience and
increase productivity for our state's farmers while simultaneously
addressing the state's climate change goals. The aim of a statewide
carbon farming initiative is twofold: as a land stewardship program it
would improve soil health and productivity by holding nutrients in
place; as a climate-smart initiative it would mitigate the release of
carbon into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2 contributes to
climate change as a greenhouse gas by trapping heat in the atmosphere.
A tax credit for farmers who practice land management strategies which
store, or sequester, carbon in the soil is a new model for combating
climate change. Reductions in net CO2 emissions can be quantified by
existing methods for measuring air pollution, especially the USDA's
COMET-Planner software which was developed following the enactment of
the 2014 federal Farm Bill. New York would be the first state to offer
this type of tax credit, specifically for carbon fanning, to all taxpay-
ers who make farm products and not only the largest agricultural busi-
nesses.
By using no-till systems, planting cover crops, trees and perennial
forages, and managing compost application, farmers can see improvements
in water holding capacity, nutrient storage, and reduced erosion. All of
these farming practices have the collateral benefit of sequestering
carbon in the soil, thereby reducing its release into the atmosphere as
CO2. The carbon farming program outlined would incentivize farmers who
are currently using these strategies to continue them and would encour-
age others to undertake the prescribed soil health methods now widely
accepted as beneficial not only to productivity but for the reduction in
greenhouse gases.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: S4270A-Passed Senate - Died in Assembly
2023: S.4270-Passed Senate
2022: S.4707- Passed Senate Assembly
2021: S.4707- Passed Senate - Died in Assembly
2020: S.4875- Referred to Agriculture
2019: S.4875- Referred to Agriculture
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
Undetermined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law; provided, however, that effective immediately, the addi-
tion, amendment, and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for
the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized and
directed to be made and completed on or before such effective date.

Statutes affected:
S1529: 150 agriculture and markets law, 210-B tax law, 606 tax law, 3-0301 environmental conservation law, 3-0301(2) environmental conservation law, 16 agriculture and markets law