Relates to the sale of state owned land

BILL NUMBER:S3811

Title of bill

An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to the sale of state lands

Purpose

The purpose of this bill is to ensure that the natural resource value of state-owned land is fully identified and considered before its sale.

Summary of provisions

This bill would add a new section 49-0217 to the ECL to require that the State Land Acquisition Advisory Council review any state-owned land prior to its sale. Such review would be conducted to determine:

* if the land is within a resource protection area as designated by the State Land Acquisition Plan (SLAP);

* if the land meets a category definition contained in the SLAP; or

* if it receives a minimum score, above the cutoff, using the appropriate rating system as defined in the SLAP.

This bill would also require that if any of the above listed criteria are met, the subject land would be transferred to the Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Department would be required to manage the land in accordance with the recommendations of the SLAP.

Justification

The State Land Acquisition Plan was created in statute to help identify and prioritize the State's natural resources The State Land Acquisition Advisory Council was created to aid in the formulation of this plan, and to make recommendations for land acquisition that ensure a balance of statewide and regional acquisition goals. In order to further the State's land preservation goals, this bill would require the State Land Acquisition Advisory Council to determine whether state-owned lands proposed for sale have any value that would deem them worthy of resource protection by the State. In the absence of such a provision, some of New York's most precious open space will continue to be lost due to hasty and shortsighted transactions that ignore the efforts of the state (through the council and the acquisition plan) to preserve its most valuable land resources.

Legislative history

2011-12: S.3495 Environmental Conservation/A.9612 Environmental Conservation 2009-10: S.860 Environmental Conservation/A.1978 Environmental Conservation 2007-08: S.4367 Environmental Conservation/A.2004 Passed Assembly (2007-2008) 2005-06: S.6376 Environment Conservation/A.7083 Passed Assembly (2005-2006)

Fiscal implications

This bill could potentially result in a decrease in revenue from the sale of State land. At the same time, however, the bill could result in savings to the State by preventing the sale of land with a high preservation value.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.