92-s. Environmental protection fund. 1. There is hereby established in the joint custody of the comptroller and the commissioner of taxation and finance a special fund to be known as the "environmental protection fund".
2. a. The comptroller shall establish the following separate and distinct accounts within the environmental protection fund:
(i) solid waste account;
(ii) parks, recreation and historic preservation account;
(iii) open space account;
(iv) climate change mitigation and adaptation account; and
(v) environmental protection transfer account.
b. All monies received by the comptroller for deposit in the environmental protection fund shall be deposited first to the credit of the environmental protection transfer account. No monies shall be expended from any such account for any project except pursuant to appropriation by the legislature.
3. Such fund shall consist of the amount of revenue collected within the state from the amount of revenue, interest and penalties deposited pursuant to section fourteen hundred twenty-one of the tax law, the amount of fees and penalties received from easements or leases pursuant to subdivision fourteen of section seventy-five of the public lands law and the money received as annual service charges pursuant to section four hundred four-n of the vehicle and traffic law, all moneys required to be deposited therein from the contingency reserve fund pursuant to section two hundred ninety-four of chapter fifty-seven of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-three, all moneys required to be deposited pursuant to section thirteen of chapter six hundred ten of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-three, repayments of loans made pursuant to section 54-0511 of the environmental conservation law, all moneys to be deposited from the Northville settlement pursuant to section one hundred twenty-four of chapter three hundred nine of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-six, provided however, that such moneys shall only be used for the cost of the purchase of private lands in the core area of the central Suffolk pine barrens pursuant to a consent order with the Northville industries signed on October thirteenth, nineteen hundred ninety-four and the related resource restoration and replacement plan, the amount of penalties required to be deposited therein by section 71-2724 of the environmental conservation law, all moneys required to be deposited pursuant to article thirty-three of the environmental conservation law, all fees collected pursuant to subdivision eight of section 70-0117 of the environmental conservation law, all moneys collected pursuant to title thirty-three of article fifteen of the environmental conservation law, beginning with the fiscal year commencing on April first, two thousand thirteen, nineteen million dollars, and all fiscal years thereafter, twenty-three million dollars plus all funds received by the state each fiscal year in excess of the greater of the amount received from April first, two thousand twelve through March thirty-first, two thousand thirteen or one hundred twenty-two million two hundred thousand dollars, from the payments collected pursuant to subdivision four of section 27-1012 of the environmental conservation law and all funds collected pursuant to section 27-1015 of the environmental conservation law, provided such funds shall not be less than four million dollars for the fiscal year commencing April first, two thousand thirteen, and not less than eight million dollars for all fiscal years thereafter and all other moneys credited or transferred thereto from any other fund or source pursuant to law. All such revenue shall be initially deposited into the environmental protection fund, for application as provided in subdivision five of this section.
5. Revenues in the environmental protection fund shall be kept separate and shall not be commingled with any other moneys in the custody of the comptroller. All deposits of such revenues shall, if required by the comptroller, be secured by obligations of the United States or of the state having a market value equal at all times to the amount of such deposits and all banks and trust companies are authorized to give security for such deposits. Any such revenues in such fund may, upon the discretion of the comptroller, be invested in obligations in which the comptroller is authorized to invest pursuant to section ninety-eight-a of this article.
6. (a) All moneys heretofore and hereafter deposited in the environmental protection transfer account shall be transferred by the comptroller to the solid waste account, the parks, recreation and historic preservation account, the climate change mitigation and adaptation account or the open space account upon the request of the director of the budget.
(b) Moneys from the solid waste account shall be available, pursuant to appropriation and upon certificate of approval of availability by the director of the budget, for any non-hazardous municipal landfill closure project; municipal waste reduction or recycling project, as defined in article fifty-four of the environmental conservation law; for the purposes of section two hundred sixty-one and section two hundred sixty-four of the economic development law; any project for the development, updating or revision of local solid waste management plans pursuant to sections 27-0107 and 27-0109 of the environmental conservation law; environmental justice projects and grants and for the development of the pesticide sales and use data base pursuant to title twelve of article thirty-three of the environmental conservation law.
(c) Moneys from the parks, recreation and historic preservation account shall be available, pursuant to appropriation, for any municipal park project, historic preservation project, urban cultural park project, waterfront revitalization program, coastal rehabilitation project.
(d) Moneys from the open space account shall be available, pursuant to appropriation, for any open space land conservation project, bio-diversity stewardship and research pursuant to chapter five hundred fifty-four of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-three, for the purposes of agricultural and farmland protection activities as authorized by article twenty-five-AAA of the agriculture and markets law, non-point source abatement and control projects pursuant to section 17-1409 of the environmental conservation law and section eleven-b of the soil and water conservation districts law, for Long Island Central Pine Barrens area planning or Long Island south shore estuary reserve planning pursuant to title thirteen of article fifty-four of the environmental conservation law, and for operation and management of the Albany Pine Bush preserve commission pursuant to subdivision two of section 54-0303 of the environmental conservation law.
(e) The governor shall include a specific line appropriation in the capital projects budget describing individual open space land conservation projects proposed to be undertaken by the department of environmental conservation and/or the office of parks, recreation and historic preservation pursuant to title three of article fifty-four of the environmental conservation law and listed in the state open space land acquisition plan prepared pursuant to title two of article forty-nine of the environmental conservation law.
(f) Moneys from the climate change account shall be available, pursuant to appropriation and upon certificate of approval of availability by the director of the budget, for climate smart communities projects pursuant to title fifteen of article fifty-four of the environmental conservation law.
7. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no state assistance payment authorized under this section or article fifty-four of the environmental conservation law may be applied, with respect to any project located within the area of New York county bounded by (a) the northern boundary of Fifty-ninth street and Fifty-ninth street extended; (b) the United States pierhead line; (c) the northern boundary of the area known as Battery Park City; and (d) eight hundred feet inland easterly from the United States bulkhead line:
(i) for, other than for recreational use or access inland of the existing bulkhead line, any roads, bridges, ramps or parking facilities or sewers or water mains;
(ii) for any site improvement, including sewers or water mains, to support residential, industrial or commercial development;
(iii) to excavate, place fill or plantings in, or place any piling, platform or structure, including a floating structure, in the Hudson river;
(iv) to plan, evaluate or study any project involving such excavation or placement as described in subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph; or
(v) for any purpose or project except where the commissioner of environmental conservation, with the approval of the director of the budget, enters into a contract with the city of New York or a state agency, but not with any public benefit corporation or public authority or any other person or entity, for the undertaking of the purpose or project. No part of the purpose or project may be subcontracted to any public benefit corporation, public authority, not-for-profit corporation, or municipality other than the city of New York, nor shall any such state assistance payment be paid to, on behalf of, or pursuant to any agreement with any such entity.
8. All payments of moneys from the fund shall be made on the audit and warrant of the comptroller.
9. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary and in accordance with section four of this chapter, the comptroller is hereby authorized at the direction of the director of the division of the budget to transfer moneys from the general fund to the environmental protection fund for the purpose of maintaining the solvency of the environmental protection fund. If, in any fiscal year, moneys in the environmental protection fund are deemed insufficient by the director of the division of the budget to meet actual and anticipated disbursements from enacted appropriations or reappropriations made pursuant to this section, the comptroller shall at the direction of the director of the division of the budget, transfer from the general fund to the environmental protection fund moneys sufficient to meet such disbursements. Such transfers shall be made only upon certification of need by the director of the division of the budget, with copies of such certification filed with the chairperson of the senate finance committee, the chairperson of the assembly ways and means committee and the state comptroller. The aggregate amount of all transfers shall not exceed four hundred forty-seven million one hundred seventy-one thousand dollars.
Last modified: February 3, 2019