ESFPA E-News

New York Democrats Fall Just Short of Keeping Supermajority in Albany

ALBANY- Democrats kept their majority in the State Legislature but fell one Senate seat short of retaining a supermajority, losing the ability to easily override a veto from Gov. Kathy Hochul and giving her more bargaining power in the upcoming legislative session.

Democrats have 41 of the 63 State Senate seats, maintaining the majority but falling one seat short of a supermajority. Republicans, who in the Senate were able to flip one seat and maintain all their incumbent candidates, see it as a move in the right direction and already are looking to the 2026 elections. Senate and Assembly members are elected to two-year terms.

Democrats in the Assembly maintained their supermajority and picked up at least one seat, winning 103 of 150 seats.

Much will be status quo in Albany when the legislative session starts in January, with Democrats holding onto their trifecta: a Democratic governor and majorities in both houses. But losing the supermajority does take some of the bargaining power away from legislative leaders who, without at least some Republican support in the Senate, would no longer be able to override gubernatorial vetoes.

The Democratic-led legislature hasn’t used its veto power against Hochul, but the threat of using it has an impact, experts said.

"Having a supermajority in both houses gives the leader a bit more leverage," said Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group. "It’s a silent saber that they can rattle if they need to," though, he said, they "never pull it out of its scabbard."

Click the link below to read the full article:

DEC Proposes Revisions to State's Forest Tax Law Program

Two Virtual Public Comment Hearings Scheduled for Jan. 21, 2025

Public Comment Period on Proposed Changes Open through Jan. 27, 2025

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Interim Commissioner Sean Mahar has announced proposed changes to the regulations for Real Property Tax Law Section 480a, also known as the Forest Tax Law. The comprehensive overhaul of the 50-year-old regulations aims to lessen the administrative burdens on participating forest landowners while maintaining and improving sustainable timber management on enrolled lands. DEC is holding two virtual public comment hearings on the proposed changes on Jan. 21, 2025, and is accepting public comments through Jan. 27, 2025.

“Heathy, well-managed forests are essential for supporting our economy, protecting water and air quality, providing wildlife habitat, and improving forest carbon storage and sequestration,” said Interim Commissioner Mahar. “As privately owned forests make up approximately 74 percent of the total forest land area in New York, the Forest Tax Law Program provides important incentives for managing timber resources for the long term under the direction of a professional forester, and the changes proposed today will ensure this program continues to provide the support needed for growing our forests of the future. I encourage all interested stakeholders to review the proposal and provide comments to help us modernize this important conservation tool.”

New York State enacted the 480a Forest Tax Law in 1974 to encourage the long-term management of woodlands to produce forest crops and thereby increase the likelihood of a more stable forest economy. Through the new and revised regulations, DEC seeks to build upon and improve this successful program to ensure the continued sustainability of forest ownership over time. In 2022, draft regulations were released and public comments were collected. The newly released draft regulations have incorporated those comments.

The proposed changes include, but are not limited to:

• Extending the period an approved forest management plan would cover from 15 years to 20 years and requiring fewer plan updates;
• Providing more flexibility to enrolled landowners to complete forestry treatments by changing the work schedule from year-by-year deadlines to a 10-year work window;
• Strengthening forest sustainability requirements on enrolled lands, such as requiring efforts to establish adequate forest regeneration and explicitly banning high grading (removing most of the commercially valuable trees at the expense of future growth and future financial return, often leaving a forest in poor condition); and  
• Establishing a training requirement for consulting foresters working with Forest Tax Law clients to help set clear expectations and standardize Forest Tax Law administration across the state. 

The proposed changes would go into effect on March 1, 2025. 

The virtual public comment hearings will be held on Jan. 21, 2025, at 2 p.m. and at 6 p.m. Public comments will be accepted until Jan. 27, 2025, by writing to: NYSDEC Private Lands and Forest Utilization Section, Bureau of Forest Resource Management 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-7254 or by email to bslmregs@dec.ny.gov. For more information about the new and revised regulations, as well as how to participate in the public comment hearings, visit DEC’s website.

ESFPA will also be preparing comments to submit to DEC. If you have any comments on the latest proposed regulations, please send them to jbartow@esfpa.org no later than Friday, January 10th. The current version does reflect some of our previous comments that we submitted in 2022.

Pending Bills

The Governor has over 200 bills she has to act on by the end of the year.  Included in the notable bills are two that we are waiting on – Climate Superfund and the TREES Act. Here is an article from City & State mentioning bills the Governor has yet to act on.  

Late last Friday, the Governor vetoed the Pesticides in Wetlands bill we were waiting on, which is a victory for us. In her veto memo she states:

I vetoed nearly identical legislation last year, due to concerns that it would undermine the integrity of the Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) existing pesticide program, which includes strong safeguards to ensure our extraordinary natural resources are preserved and protected, and also due to concerns that the bill as written would lead to confusion and the inconsistent application of state law.

Click the link below to read her full veto memo:

New York State Wants to Plant 25 Million Trees by 2033. Can It Be Done?

In an attempt to combat climate change, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in January announced a goal to plant 25 million trees by the end of 2033. It’s a bold goal. Is it possible?

To plant 25 million trees by the end of 2033, the state needs to plant 2.5 million trees a year. Then there’s the question of where the trees could be planted.

“And then the whole thing is survivability: Are these all going to survive?” asked John Bartow, Executive Director of the Empire State Forest Products Association. "One key component of sustainable logging is maintaining a balance: You can’t cut down more trees than you plant", Bartow said.

In New York, the 25 million tree goal by the end of 2033 will only be possible with buy-in from landowners, the logging industry, tree nurseries and the broader public.

Click the link below to read the full article: