Imposes a highway use fee on outdoor advertising; establishes a New York state urban reforestation fund from fees imposed on outdoor advertising; makes provisions supporting urban forestry.
S01869, titled the “urban reforestation act,” would create a dedicated funding stream for urban forestry by imposing an annual highway use fee on outdoor advertising signs visible from interstate and primary system highways. The bill generally sets the fee at $1,000 per billboard face, while exempting official signs, on-premises signs, direction signs, and signs owned by persons with five or fewer billboards. It also establishes enforcement penalties for violations and directs fee revenue into a new New York state urban reforestation fund.
The bill would use those revenues to support urban tree planting, maintenance, pruning, removal, inventories, and planning in cities across the state. It adds definitions to the Environmental Conservation Law for forestry-related terms such as professional forester, conservation, inventory, management planning, tree maintenance, planting, pruning, and removal. The measure also creates grant formulas for cities of different sizes, including annual grants for cities of one million or more residents and proportional distributions for cities between 20,000 and one million residents, with some funds reserved for administration.
The bill would amend the Highway Law, State Finance Law, and Environmental Conservation Law to create a new fee on billboard advertising and a dedicated special fund for urban reforestation. It would require the collection and deposit of billboard fee revenue into the New York state urban reforestation fund and limit spending to state aid and administration for urban forestry purposes under article 53 of the Environmental Conservation Law. The measure would also expand statutory definitions and establish a grant program for urban forestry planning and implementation, affecting billboard owners, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Environmental Conservation, and eligible municipalities.
No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of debate, support, or opposition in the available record. Based on the bill text alone, the measure is framed positively as an environmental and public-benefit initiative, emphasizing air quality, shade, energy savings, and improved urban conditions. The overall tone of the proposal suggests a policy preference for dedicating billboard-related revenue to tree planting and urban forestry.
The main likely point of contention is the new annual fee on outdoor advertising, which would be imposed on billboard faces visible from major highways and could be viewed by the advertising industry as a targeted tax or regulatory burden. The bill’s exemptions for certain sign types and for owners with five or fewer billboards suggest an attempt to limit the impact on smaller operators and noncommercial signage, which may reflect concerns about fairness and economic effect. Another possible issue is whether the fee revenue should be diverted from transportation-related purposes to an environmental fund, though the bill expressly ties the money to urban forestry and enforcement.