BILL NUMBER: S8851
SPONSOR: KRUEGER
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the state finance law, in relation to prohibitions on
the use of certain tropical hardwoods for state contracts
 
PURPOSE:
The purpose of the bill is to close loopholes in an existing ban on the
use of tropical hardwoods by state and local government agencies and
authorities.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends subdivision 1 of section 165 of the state finance law.
Updates the species included in the list of tropical hardwoods subject
to purchasing limitations. Updates the definition of "tropical forests"
and "tropical wood products," and adds definitions of "peat" and "trop-
ical peat lands."
Section 2: Amends subdivision 2 of section 165 of the state finance law.
Removes certain exemptions from purchasing limitations for tropical
hardwoods. Creates a time-limited exemption for ekki wood used by the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the purpose of railroad ties
in the New York City Transit system, as well as greenheart wood used by
a ferry service directly owned and operated by an agency of a city of
one million or more, and greenheart wood used on bridges managed by the
department of transportation of a city of one million or more.
Section 5: Effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Tropical forests cover roughly 7 percent of Earth's surface, but harbor
close to 50 percent of all species on Earth. Those species are now going
extinct at a rate that is at least 100 to 1,000 times higher than
historical levels, due to human activity.
Globally, an estimated 18,000,000 acres of forest, an area more than
half the size of New York State, are lost every year to deforestation
according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, with over one-half of Earth's tropical forests already gone.
At the current pace, the entirety of Earth's tropical rainforests will
be degraded or destroyed within the next 100 years.
A significant amount of the world's greenhouse gas emissions come from
deforestation and forest degradation. Taking into account carbon seques-
tration potential, stopping the loss of tropical forests, mangroves, and
wetlands could provide over 20 percent of necessary climate mitigation
by 2030.
Loss of biodiversity resulting from forest degradation and deforesta-
tion,-as well as human encroachment on formerly undisturbed ecosystems,
increases the risks of zoonotic disease pandemics such as COVID-19.
In addition, tropical deforestation in many countries is closely associ-
ated with violations of the land rights of indigenous peoples and local
communities and with the exploitation of workers, including forced labor
and child labor, and in many cases is enabled by corruption, criminali-
ty, and violence against conservationists and land defenders. The prima-
ry factor leading to tropical deforestation is degradation and road-
building associated with logging for timber.
New York, which has one of the largest economies in the world and a
state government with significant purchasing power, is inadvertently
promoting and sanctioning tropical primary forest degradation and trop-
ical deforestation through government purchases of tropical hardwood
products. This bill will update and close loopholes in existing statutes
that limit the purchase of tropical hardwoods.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
 
FISCAL IMPACT ON THE STATE:
Undetermined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the 90th day after it shall become a law
and shall apply to all contracts and binding contractual obligations
entered into on or after that date.