Vote: Committee vote · Local Government
Senate Local GovernmentMay 19, 2026Result: passed
(7) (0) (0) (0)
Senate bill · S5603 (2025-26)
Relates to real property tax exemptions for preservation of forest lands and state assistance to municipalities
Latest action May 19, 2026
New York State Senate
Same as A7550, the matching bill in the Assembly.
Summary
Authorizes state assistance to municipalities containing exempt privately owned forest lands; expands categories of lands eligible for certain property tax exemptions as forest lands; authorizes tax exemptions for certain conservation easement tracts; provides for violations of certain provisions relating to filing for tax exemptions of forest lands.
Summary from NY Open Legislation. How we handle summaries
Amends the Real Property Tax Law.
From NY Open Legislation, the NY Senate and Assembly, and official rosters. This record was last updated Oct 19, 2026. About our data
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Purpose, from the sponsor's memo
Forest lands offer a variety of benefits including forest products, carbon sequestration and carbon storage, and wildlife habitat. State law currently provides real property tax reductions for landowners who manage at least fifty acres of their land for timber production for a period of at least ten years pursuant to a timber management plan approved by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Land- owners who meet these criteria receive an exemption of up to 80 percent of the assessed valuation of the lands subject to the approved timber management plan. The existing incentive is provided to encourage land- owners to keep cutting trees to produce forest crops (timber or pulp- wood) to support the State's forest economy. This bill provides the same real property tax relief for landowners who place at least ten acres of forested land under a conservation easement that ensures that the tract will be permanently maintained as wild forest land and prohibits the cutting, removal or destruction of trees on the tract (with certain exemptions such as DEC-approved actions to address invasive species). The bill also provides state assistance from the real property transfer tax to municipalities to compensate them for lost real property tax revenues from landowners who receive real property tax exemptions under the bill. This bill will incentivize landowners to keep existing and future forests intact, without cutting mature trees, which supports the State's greenhouse gas emissions reductions goal and the State's goal to permanently protect 30% of lands and waters by 2030.
Filed with the bill. Read it on nysenate.gov (opens in a new tab)
Where it stands
Out of committee and scheduled for a vote by the full chamber.
- Introduced
- In committee
- Up for a vote
- Passed one chamber
- Passed
- Enacted
Committee
Local Government · New York State Senate
Also referred to Real Property Taxation · New York State Assembly.
The sponsor's argument
Why Rachel May says this is needed
The bill provides a financial incentive for landowners to conserve wild forest lands in perpetuity to provide carbon storage and sequestration, which is a critical strategy for mitigating climate change; to provide wildlife habitat, improve habitat connectivity, and avoid habitat frag- mentation; and to help New York meets its statutory goal of conserving 30 percent of lands in the state by 2030.
This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.
Recorded votes
Full history
- May 19, 2026
Reported out of committee
REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE
NY Senate
- Jan 7, 2026
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT
NY Senate
- Jan 7, 2026
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO REAL PROPERTY TAXATION
NY Assembly
- Apr 1, 2025
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO REAL PROPERTY TAXATION
NY Assembly
- Feb 25, 2025
Referred to committee
REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT
NY Senate