NY State Senate Bill 2025-S4403

Senate Bill S4403

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Authorizes the attorney general to approve certain state land acquisitions made for the purposes of land conservation

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Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Environmental Conservation 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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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Feb 04, 2025	referred to environmental conservation

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2025-S4403 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A6076
Current Committee:: Senate Environmental Conservation
Law Section:: Environmental Conservation Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §3-0305, En Con L; amd §3.17, Pks & Rec L; amd §63, Exec L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S6606, A7372

2025-S4403 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Authorizes the attorney general to approve certain state land acquisitions made for the purposes of land conservation, and to accept a title policy from a commercial insurer to cover any title defects that would otherwise render the title unmarketable.

2025-S4403 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S4403

SPONSOR: MAY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the environmental conservation law, the parks, recre-
ation and historic preservation law and the executive law, in relation
to authorizing the attorney general to approve certain state land acqui-
sitions made for the purposes of land conservation

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to streamline and accelerate the state's
acquisition of land for purposes of meeting the state's conservation
goals by enabling the attorney general to use title insurance in its
process of reviewing land titles.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

This bill amends section 3-0305 of the environmental conservation law
and subdivision 1 of section 3.17 of the parks, recreation and historic
preservation law by providing authority to the attorney general to

approve title from commercial insurers where the title policy names the
state of New York as the insured.

The bill adds a new subdivision 17 to section 63 of the executive law to
provide that the attorney general's powers and duties include the abili-
ty to approve land acquisitions made by the state for conservation
purposes in accordance with amendments made above to section 3-0305 of
the ECL and section 3.17 of the Parks law.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

To meet the ambitious goals of New York's Climate Action Plan, the New
York State "30 x 30" law (CH.747 of the Laws of 2022), and to meet the
expectations of voters who approved the Clean Water, Clean Air, and
Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act, state agencies are directed to
protect and conserve significantly more land each year. For example, if
New York is to achieve one of its "30 x 30" targets, it is estimated
that the state and its land trust partners together will have to
conserve and protect approximately 225,000 acres per year over the next
eight years. However, based on the Annual State Land Acquisition report,
https://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/5069.html, the results of recent years make
clear that the state is not even close to attaining this pace. In 2020,
DEC & OPRHP combined acquired 6,005 acres, and in 2022, DEC acquired
4,416 acres. The backlog is caused in part by lengthy title review at
the Office of Attorney General.

Currently, the Office of Attorney General does not accept title insur-
ance and instead undertakes its own review of land titles going back 100
years or more. This standard is established by longstanding tradition at
the Attorney General's Office, not by statute, and involves long look-
back title abstracting, painstaking title review and often the time-con-
suming and costly pre-closing resolution of title issues that a commer-
cial insurer would consider a remote and insurable risk. Other states
and federal government land agencies, as well as private parties, share
concerns about title risk but have found reliance on commercial insur-
ance, used in combination with careful and thoughtful title due dili-
gence, to be a mitigation measure that is well-accepted for satisfactory
title risk amelioration. New York law requires the Attorney General to
approve title (see ECL § 3-0305(1) and PRHPL § 3.17(1)) but is otherwise
silent on the standards for acceptability. This bill will ensure that
there is statutory clarity with respect to the standard for accepting
title, and accordingly promote the policies underlying the 30x30 law and
other policy-based decisions that require the State to accelerate its
land acquisition. Providing in statute that N ew York State will follow
the modern practice of accepting insurable title will remove a barrier
to achieving the goals of many state programs.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2023-2024 - S.6606-A (May) / A.7372-A (Thiele)

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Undetermined

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately

2025-S4403 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4403
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 4, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  MAY  --  read  twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conservation
 
 AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law,  the  parks,  recre-
   ation and historic preservation law and the executive law, in relation
   to  authorizing  the  attorney  general  to approve certain state land
   acquisitions made for the purposes of land conservation
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Legislative  intent.  The  legislature  hereby  finds and
 declares that in order to achieve our state's land protection  goals  as
 promoted  in  the  Climate Action Plan, the "30 by 30" land conservation
 law (chapter 747 of the laws of  2022),  and  the  financial  commitment
 within  the  2022 Bond Act, additional measures are needed to accelerate
 the process whereby the state acquires land.  Specifically,  the  review
 process  by the attorney general's office can be streamlined by enabling
 the use of title insurance. This will also relieve land  trusts  of  the
 financial  burden  of  holding onto land, in trust, for years at a time.
 Further, it will reduce the backlog  of  pending  acquisitions  that  is
 unnecessarily jeopardizing the solvency of many of these organizations.
   § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 3-0305 of the environmental conservation
 law,  as added by chapter 727 of the laws of 1978, is amended to read as
 follows:
   1. The commissioner when moneys therefor have been appropriated by the
 legislature or are otherwise available, may acquire  any  real  property
 which  [he] SUCH COMMISSIONER deems necessary for any of the purposes or
 functions of the department, by purchase or as provided in  the  eminent
 domain  procedure law. Title to such real property shall be taken in the
 name of and be vested in the people of the state of New  York.  No  real
 property  shall  be  so acquired by purchase unless the title thereto is
 approved by the attorney general. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL MAY  APPROVE  ANY
 TITLE WHERE IT HAS DETERMINED THAT THE CURRENT OWNER CAN CONVEY MARKETA-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD08474-01-5

 S. 4403                             2
 
 BLE TITLE TO THE REAL PROPERTY. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL MAY ACCEPT FROM ANY
 REPUTABLE  COMMERCIAL  INSURER,  A TITLE POLICY NAMING THE PEOPLE OF THE
 STATE OF NEW YORK AS INSURED,  WITH  SUCH  POLICY  TO  COVER  ANY  TITLE
 DEFECTS  WHICH  WOULD OTHERWISE RENDER THE TITLE UNMARKETABLE. The terms
 "property" or "real property" as used in this section shall  mean  "real
 property"  as defined by section one hundred three of the eminent domain
 procedure law.
   § 3. Subdivision 1 of  section  3.17  of  the  parks,  recreation  and
 historic  preservation  law,  as  amended  by chapter 727 of the laws of
 1978, is amended to read as follows:
   1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law,  the  commissioner  may
 acquire such property as may be necessary for the purposes and functions
 of  the  office, within the amounts appropriated or available therefore.
 Such property may be acquired pursuant to the provisions of the  eminent
 domain  procedure law, or by purchase, lease, exchange, grant, condemna-
 tion, gift, devise, bequest, or by any other lawful means. No real prop-
 erty shall be so acquired unless the title thereto is  approved  by  the
 attorney  general.  THE  ATTORNEY GENERAL MAY APPROVE ANY TITLE WHERE IT
 HAS DETERMINED THAT THE CURRENT OWNER CAN CONVEY MARKETABLE TITLE TO THE
 REAL PROPERTY. THE  ATTORNEY  GENERAL  MAY  ACCEPT  FROM  ANY  REPUTABLE
 COMMERCIAL INSURER, A TITLE POLICY NAMING THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW
 YORK AS INSURED, WITH SUCH POLICY TO COVER ANY TITLE DEFECTS WHICH WOULD
 OTHERWISE  RENDER THE TITLE UNMARKETABLE. Notwithstanding the provisions
 of section eleven of the state finance law, the commissioner may  accept
 a  conditional  grant,  gift, devise or bequest with the approval of the
 director of the budget. Title to real property which is  acquired  shall
 be  taken in the name of and be vested in the people of the state of New
 York.
   § 4. Section 63 of the executive law is amended by adding a new subdi-
 vision 18 to read as follows:
   18. BE AUTHORIZED TO APPROVE LAND ACQUISITIONS MADE BY THE  STATE  FOR
 CONSERVATION  PURPOSES, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF SUBDIVISION
 ONE OF SECTION 3-0305 OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION LAW AND SUBDIVI-
 SION ONE OF SECTION 3.17 OF THE PARKS, RECREATION AND HISTORIC PRESERVA-
 TION LAW.
   § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S4403

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Sponsored By

Rachel May