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Senate committee reports 14 environment-related bills to calendars and committees
Summary
The committee advanced 14 bills covering pesticide rules, native-plant programs, tree-planting, biosolids moratorium, octopus farming, and more; most bills were referred to calendar, finance or procurement with limited debate on several items.
A New York State Senate committee advanced 14 bills during its final meeting of the 2026 session, moving measures on pesticides, conservation programs, procurement restrictions, biosolids and other environment-related topics to committee calendars or referral committees.
Highlights from the session:
- S.B. 588 (Moore): Establish a Nassau County deer-management pilot program (amend Environmental Conservation Law). Referred to local government.
- S.B. 1363 (Serrano): Prohibit non-emergency pesticide applications in municipal parklands and state parklands and require notice; a committee member asked whether tick-control treatments would be blocked, and staff said the bill generally codifies parks’ policy allowing pesticides for imminent human-health threats. Reported to the calendar.
- S.B. 1690-b (May): Create a New York native plants program to support seed stock for reforestation and pollinator habitat. Referred to finance.
- S.B. 2353 (Parker): Enact an urban and community tree-planting and forestry program. Referred to finance.
- S.B. 3688 (Sanders): Prohibit procurement of certain solid-waste fluids in public contracts. Referred to procurement.
- S.B. 5759-c (Erb): Establish a moratorium on sale and use of biosolids (bill had previously passed last year). Referred to finance.
- S.B. 5936-a (Harker): Establish nutrient and active application permits. Referred to finance.
- S.B. 6621 (Hart): Prohibit breeding, sale, trade, import/export of red-eared slider turtles; a member asked about the number of such turtles remaining (no precise count provided). Referred to the calendar.
- S.B. 7100 (Lanza): Rename Oakwood Beach Wetland to the Oakwood Beach Detective Russell Moshenko Preserve. Referred to the calendar.
- S.B. 7421-a (Martinez): Address octopus farming. Referred to the calendar.
- S.B. 70532-c (Hart): Restrict anticoagulant pesticide transactions for online and retail stores. Reported to the calendar.
- S.B. 9302 (Ward): Authorize big-game hunting by rifle in Niagara County (amend 2024 law). Reported to the calendar.
- S.B. 10168 (Kavanaugh): Enact extended producer responsibility for artificial turf. Reported to the calendar.
Most items drew brief floor-style motions, seconds and voice votes or unanimous aye votes; only S.B. 1363 and S.B. 1003 prompted substantive clarifying questions in committee. Several members used the closing portion of the meeting to thank staff and stakeholders and to note remaining procedural paths for member bills to reach the floor.
What happens next: referred bills will be considered by the receiving committees (finance, procurement, local government) or placed on the calendar for floor consideration.
