NY State Senate Bill 2023-S1649

Senate Bill S1649

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Requires the trustees of the The State University of New York to develop a SUNY-wide zero waste action plan

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Higher Education Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2024	referred to higher education
Jan 13, 2023	referred to higher education

co-Sponsors

2023-S1649 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A7893
Current Committee:: Senate Higher Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Add §355-f, Ed L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2021-2022: S9040
2025-2026: S3171

2023-S1649 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires the trustees of The State University of New York to develop a SUNY-wide zero waste action plan.

2023-S1649 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S1649

SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to requiring the board of
trustees of The State University of New York to develop a SUNY-wide zero
waste action plan

 
PURPOSE:

Requires the board of trustees of the State University of New York to
develop a SUNY-wide zero waste action plan

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends the education law by adding a new section,
355-F to require the board of trustees, in consultation with faculty,
staff, students, the student assembly, and labor organizations that
represents faculty, staff or student interest and sustainability staff
to create a comprehensive SUNY-wide zero waste action plan to make the
SUNY system zero waste by 2030. The plan will include, waste minimiza-

tion, material reuse including surplus property, comprehensive recycling
and organics recycling, student engagement, and vendor and contractor
requirements. Metrics and a detailed timeline for tracking waste
reduction must be included in the plan.

Within 180 days of the SUNY-wide plan, each SUNY campus shall create a
detailed action plan in consultation with faculty, staff, students,
student government, and labor organizations that represents faculty,
staff or student interest and sustainability staff.

The board of trustees shall monitor the effectiveness and implementation
of such a program and shall annually report the progress of the plan and
detail intermediate measures should a campus not be on target to meet
the 2030 deadline.

Section 2 is the effective date: the act shall take effect immediately

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In 2019, SUNY released its Clean Energy Roadmap. While necessary and
important, this Roadmap represents only a piece of the action the system
must take to achieve Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act
(CLCPA) goals. The recently released Draft CLCPA Scoping Plan states
that greenhouse gas emissions from the waste sector represent about 12*
of statewide emissions. This figure only includes emissions at the end
of a product's life (landfill, combustion, and incineration) and does
not take into account upstream emissions associated with consumption
such as extraction, manufacturing, distribution and use.

Incoming students are increasingly demanding that campuses take,action
on the zero waste front. If SUNY is serious about combating climate
change it must fundamentally transform campus consumptive habits and
create system wide zero waste goals and an all-encompassing zero waste
plan, including but not limited to the following focus areas:  purchas-
ing, surplus property, single use plastics, source reduction, materials
reuse, recycling, composting, data collection, reporting.

This bill would require that SUNY create system-wide Zero Waste Action
Plan and that every campus create a Zero Waste Action Plan to achieve
zero waste by 2030.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.9040 of 2021-2022 (Hoylman): Died in Education

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2023-S1649 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1649
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 13, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. HOYLMAN-SIGAL -- read twice and ordered printed, and
   when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
 
 AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring the board of
   trustees of The State University of New York to  develop  a  SUNY-wide
   zero waste action plan

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section  355-f
 to read as follows:
   § 355-F. SUNY-WIDE ZERO WASTE ACTION PLAN. 1. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES IN
 CONSULTATION  WITH  FACULTY,  STAFF, STUDENTS, THE STUDENT ASSEMBLY, ANY
 LABOR ORGANIZATION WHICH HAS BEEN SELECTED BY MEMBERS OF FACULTY, STAFF,
 OR STUDENTS TO REPRESENT THEIR INTERESTS, AND ANY  DESIGNATED  SUSTAINA-
 BILITY STAFF MEMBER SHALL ISSUE A REPORT ON OR BEFORE ONE YEAR AFTER THE
 EFFECTIVE  DATE  OF THIS SECTION CREATING A COMPREHENSIVE SUNY-WIDE ZERO
 WASTE ACTION PLAN INCLUDING BUT  NOT  LIMITED  TO  THE  FOLLOWING  FOCUS
 AREAS:
   A.  SOURCE  REDUCTION  ALSO KNOWN AS WASTE MINIMIZATION, INCLUDING BUT
 NOT LIMITED TO:
   (I) SINGLE USE PLASTICS ELIMINATION AND REDUCTION; AND
   (II) REFORMS TO PROCUREMENT RESULTING IN WASTE MINIMIZATION;
   B. MATERIALS REUSE, INCLUDING SURPLUS PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AND FACILITY
 DECONSTRUCTION;
   C. COMPREHENSIVE  RECYCLING,  INCLUDING  CONSTRUCTION  AND  DEMOLITION
 MATERIALS;
   D. COMPREHENSIVE COMPOSTING OR ORGANICS RECYCLING;
   E. STUDENT, FACULTY, AND STAFF ENGAGEMENT; AND
   F. VENDOR AND CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS AND ENGAGEMENT.
   2.  THE  PLAN  SHALL  INCLUDE METRICS FOR TRACKING WASTE REDUCTION AND
 DIVERSION ACROSS THE SYSTEM, ESTABLISHING A  BASELINE,  INTERIM  TARGETS
 FOR GOALS AND ACTIONS THAT WILL LEAD TO ZERO WASTE, AND PUBLICLY REPORT-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD04995-01-3

 S. 1649                             2
 
 ING  THIS  INFORMATION.  ZERO  WASTE  GOALS  MUST INCLUDE BOTH DIVERSION
 THROUGH RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING AND REDUCTION THROUGH  WASTE  MINIMIZA-
 TION GOALS. THE ZERO WASTE ACTION PLAN MUST PRIORITIZE DURABLE AND REUS-
 ABLE  MATERIALS  OVER  SINGLE USE MATERIALS, EVEN IF THOSE MATERIALS ARE
 RECYCLABLE AND/OR COMPOSTABLE.
   3. THE PLAN SHALL SET A DETAILED PROJECT TIMELINE FOR  THE  SYSTEM  TO
 BECOME ZERO WASTE BY TWO THOUSAND THIRTY-ONE.
   4.  WITHIN  ONE  HUNDRED  EIGHTY DAYS OF THE ISSUANCE OF A SYSTEM WIDE
 PLAN, EACH SUNY CAMPUS SHALL BE REQUIRED TO  CREATE  A  DETAILED  ACTION
 PLAN,  IN CONSULTATION WITH FACULTY, STAFF, STUDENTS, STUDENT GOVERNMENT
 ASSOCIATIONS, ANY LABOR ORGANIZATION WHICH HAS BEEN SELECTED BY  MEMBERS
 OF  FACULTY,  STAFF,  OR  STUDENTS TO REPRESENT THEIR INTERESTS, AND ANY
 DESIGNATED SUSTAINABILITY STAFF MEMBER.
   5. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES  SHALL  BE  RESPONSIBLE  FOR  MONITORING  THE
 EFFECTIVENESS  AND  IMPLEMENTATION  OF SUCH PROGRAM IN CONSULTATION WITH
 FACULTY, STAFF, STUDENTS, THE STUDENT ASSEMBLY, AND ANY LABOR  ORGANIZA-
 TION  WHICH  HAS BEEN SELECTED BY MEMBERS OF FACULTY, STAFF, OR STUDENTS
 TO REPRESENT THEIR INTERESTS, AND SHALL ANNUALLY REPORT TO THE  LEGISLA-
 TURE  ON THE PROGRESS OF THE PLAN AND POST SUCH REPORT ON THE UNIVERSITY
 WEBSITE. SUCH REPORT SHALL INCLUDE A COMPREHENSIVE AUDIT  OF  ALL  WASTE
 AND  MATERIALS  DIVERTED  AND UPDATES ON INVENTORY AND SHALL REVIEW EACH
 CAMPUS ACTION PLAN AND INCLUDE INTERMEDIATE MEASURES SHOULD A CAMPUS NOT
 BE ON TRACK TO MEET THE TWO THOUSAND THIRTY-ONE DEADLINE.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S1649

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Sponsored By

Brad Hoylman-Sigal