§ 76-0101. Definitions.

For the purposes of this article the following terms shall have the
following meanings:

1. "Applicable payment date" means September thirtieth of the second
calendar year following the year in which this article is enacted into
law.

2. "Climate change adaptive infrastructure project" means an
infrastructure project designed to avoid, moderate, repair, or adapt to
negative impacts caused by climate change, and to assist communities,
households, and businesses in preparing for future climate change-driven
disruptions. Such projects include but are not limited to restoring
coastal wetlands and developing other nature-based solutions and coastal
protections; upgrading storm water drainage systems; making defensive
upgrades to roads, bridges, subways, and transit systems; preparing for
and recovering from hurricanes and other extreme weather events;
undertaking preventive health care programs and providing medical care
to treat illness or injury caused by the effects of climate change;
relocating, elevating, or retrofitting sewage treatment plants
vulnerable to flooding; installing energy efficient cooling systems and
other weatherization and energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits in
public and private buildings, including schools and public housing;
upgrading parts of the electrical grid to increase stability and
resilience, including supporting the creation of self-sufficient clean
energy microgrids; addressing urban heat island effects through green
spaces, urban forestry, and other interventions; and responding to toxic
algae blooms, loss of agricultural topsoil, and other climate-driven
ecosystem threats to forests, farms, fisheries, and food systems.

3. "Coal" shall have the same definition as in section 1-103 of the
energy law.

4. "Controlled group" means two or more entities treated as a single
employer under section 52(a) or (b) or section 414(m) or (o) of the
Internal Revenue Code. In applying subsections (a) and (b) of section
52, section 1563 of the Internal Revenue Code shall be applied without
regard to subsection(b)(2)(C). For purposes of this article, entities in
a controlled group are treated as a single entity for purposes of
meeting the definition of responsible party and are jointly and
severally liable for payment of any cost recovery demand owed by any
entity in the controlled group.

5. "Cost recovery demand" means a charge asserted against a
responsible party for cost recovery payments under the program for
payment to the fund.

6. "Covered greenhouse gas emissions" means, with respect to any
entity, the total quantity of greenhouse gases released into the
atmosphere during the covered period, expressed in metric tons of carbon
dioxide equivalent, as defined in section 75-0101 of this chapter,
including but not limited to releases of greenhouse gases resulting from
the extraction, storage, production, refinement, transport, manufacture,
distribution, sale, and use of fossil fuels or petroleum products
extracted, produced, refined, or sold by such entity.

7. "Covered period" means the period that began January first, two
thousand and ended on December thirty-first, two thousand eighteen.

8. "Crude oil" means oil or petroleum of any kind and in any form,
including bitumen, oil sands, heavy oil, conventional and unconventional
oil, shale oil, natural gas liquids, condensates, and related fossil
fuels.

9. "Entity" means any individual, trustee, agent, partnership,
association, corporation, company, municipality, political subdivision,
or other legal organization, including a foreign nation, that holds or
held an ownership interest in a fossil fuel business during the covered
period.

10. "Fossil fuel" shall have the same definition as in section 1-103
of the energy law.

11. "Fossil fuel business" means a business engaging in the extraction
of fossil fuels or the refining of petroleum products.

12. "Fuel gases" shall have the same definition as in section 1-103 of
the energy law.

13. "Fund" means the climate change adaptation fund established
pursuant to section ninety-seven-m of the state finance law.

14. "Greenhouse gas" shall have the same definition as in section
75-0101 of this chapter.

15. "Nature-based solutions" shall mean projects that utilize or mimic
nature or natural processes and functions and that may also offer
environmental, economic, and social benefits, while increasing
resilience. Nature-based solutions include both green and natural
infrastructure.

16. "Notice of cost recovery demand" means the written communication
informing a responsible party of the amount of the cost recovery demand
payable to the fund.

17. "Petroleum products" shall have the same definition as in section
1-103 of the energy law.

18. "Program" means the climate change adaptation cost recovery
program established under section 76-0103 of this article.

19. "Qualifying expenditure" means an authorized payment from the fund
in support of a climate change adaptive infrastructure project,
including its operation and maintenance, as defined by the department.

20. "Responsible party" means any entity (or a successor in interest
to such entity described herein), which, during any part of the covered
period, was engaged in the trade or business of extracting fossil fuel
or refining crude oil and is determined by the department to be
responsible for more than one billion tons of covered greenhouse gas
emissions. The term responsible party shall not include any person who
lacks sufficient connection with the state to satisfy the nexus
requirements of the United States Constitution.