NY State Senate Bill 2025-S208

Senate Bill S208

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Provides a tax credit for the cost of fishing and hunting licenses issued to volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Investigations And Government Operations 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

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 08, 2025	referred to investigations and government operations

co-Sponsors

2025-S208 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A4671
Current Committee:: Senate Investigations And Government Operations
Law Section:: Tax Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §606, Tax L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2015-2016: S6690, A10064
2017-2018: S2166, A729
2019-2020: S1317, A2087
2021-2022: S3747, A5211
2023-2024: S4553, A4385

2025-S208 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Provides a tax credit for the cost of fishing and hunting licenses issued to volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers.

2025-S208 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S208

SPONSOR: HELMING
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the tax law, in relation to a credit for hunting and
fishing license fees for volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance
workers

 
PURPOSE:

To provide a tax credit to volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambu-
lance workers for hunting and fishing license fees.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Grants a tax credit to volunteer firefighters and volunteer
ambulance workers for the fee for fishing licenses as well as small and
big game hunting licenses. Also establishes that any excess from such
tax credit may be carried over to following years.

Section 2: Provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance workers contribute their
time, often while risking their own safety, to provide a vital service
for their communities, and all of this is done without any compensation.
In a recently released report, FASNY found that volunteer firefighters
save New Yorkers approximately $3 billion annually. Providing a tax
credit for fishing, small game and big game hunting license fees for
these heroes and volunteers is a small but meaningful way of showing our
appreciation, especially when compared to the magnitude of the services
and safety they provide.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2023-2024: S.4553 referred to Investigations and Government/A.4385
referred to Environmental Conservation

2021-2022: S.3747 referred to Investigations and Government
Operations/A.5211 referred to Environmental Conservation

2019-2020: S.1317 referred to Investigations and Government Operations

2017-2018: S.2166 referred to Investigations and Government Operations

2016: S.6690-A referred to Environmental Conservation

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2025-S208 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    208
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 8, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sens. HELMING, TEDISCO -- read twice and ordered printed,
   and when printed to be committed to the  Committee  on  Investigations
   and Government Operations
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend  the tax law, in relation to a credit for hunting and
   fishing license fees for volunteer firefighters  and  volunteer  ambu-
   lance workers
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1.  Section 606 of the tax law is  amended  by  adding  a  new
 subsection (e-3) to read as follows:
   (E-3) VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS' AND AMBULANCE WORKERS' HUNTING AND FISH-
 ING  LICENSE  FEE CREDIT. (1) ALLOWANCE AND AMOUNT OF CREDIT. A RESIDENT
 TAXPAYER WHO SERVES AS AN ACTIVE VOLUNTEER  FIREFIGHTER  AS  DEFINED  IN
 SUBDIVISION  ONE OF SECTION TWO HUNDRED FIFTEEN OF THE GENERAL MUNICIPAL
 LAW OR AS A VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE WORKER AS DEFINED IN  SUBDIVISION  FOUR-
 TEEN OF SECTION TWO HUNDRED NINETEEN-K OF THE GENERAL MUNICIPAL LAW, AND
 WHO  HAS  SERVED AS SUCH FOR THE PREVIOUS TWELVE CONSECUTIVE MONTHS, MAY
 CLAIM A TAX CREDIT AGAINST THE TAX IMPOSED BY THIS ARTICLE IN THE AMOUNT
 OF ANY FEES PAID FOR HUNTING AND/OR FISHING LICENSES,  PRIVILEGES,  TAGS
 AND  PERMITS  ISSUED  PURSUANT  TO  TITLE SEVEN OF ARTICLE ELEVEN OF THE
 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION LAW. IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THIS CREDIT A VOLUN-
 TEER FIREFIGHTER OR VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE WORKER MUST HAVE BEEN ACTIVE FOR
 THE ENTIRE TAXABLE YEAR FOR WHICH THE CREDIT IS SOUGHT.
   (2) APPLICATION OF CREDIT. IF THE AMOUNT OF THE  CREDIT  SHALL  EXCEED
 THE TAXPAYER'S TAX FOR SUCH YEAR THE EXCESS SHALL BE CARRIED OVER TO THE
 FOLLOWING YEAR OR YEARS, AND MAY BE DEDUCTED FROM THE TAXPAYER'S TAX FOR
 SUCH YEAR OR YEARS.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to taxable
 years beginning on and after January 1, 2026.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD00706-01-5

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S208

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Pamela Helming