Exempts processors of syrup made from tree sap or honey from certain licensing requirements, the official text

S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4911
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 14, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. HINCHEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Agriculture
 
 AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to  exempt-
   ing  processors  of  syrup  made  from  tree sap or honey from certain
   licensing requirements

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Section  251-z-3  of  the agriculture and markets law, as
 amended by chapter 367 of the laws of 2016,  the  closing  paragraph  as
 added by chapter 400 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
   § 251-z-3. Licenses; fees. 1. A. No person shall maintain or operate a
 food  processing establishment unless licensed biennially by the commis-
 sioner.  Application for a license to operate a food  processing  estab-
 lishment  shall  be  made, upon a form prescribed by the commissioner. A
 renewal application shall be submitted  to  the  commissioner  at  least
 thirty days prior to the commencement of the next license period.
   B.  The  applicant  shall  furnish evidence of [his or her] THE APPLI-
 CANT'S good character, experience and competency, that the establishment
 has adequate facilities and equipment for the business to be  conducted,
 that  the establishment is such that the cleanliness of the premises can
 be maintained, that the product produced therein will not  become  adul-
 terated and, if the applicant is a retail food store, that the applicant
 has  an  individual  in  a  position  of  management  or control who has
 completed an approved food safety education program pursuant to  section
 two  hundred fifty-one-z-twelve of this article. The commissioner, if so
 satisfied, shall issue to the applicant, upon payment of the license fee
 of four hundred dollars, a license to operate the food processing estab-
 lishment described in the application. The commissioner shall waive  the
 license fee for two years for a first time applicant that processes food
 in  a kitchen incubator food processing facility, which for the purposes
 of this section is a food processing facility used by multiple small and
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD06657-01-5
 S. 4911                             2
 
 emerging food processing businesses, including both  full-time  facility
 tenants and businesses that rent space on a temporary basis. The commis-
 sioner shall prorate the license fee paid by an applicant, if the appli-
 cant's food processing establishment has as its only full time employees
 the  owner or the parent, spouse, or child of the owner, and/or not more
 than two full time employees, and if that applicant vacates a food proc-
 essing establishment six months or more prior to the expiration  of  the
 license  period,  and,  within  one year of vacating such establishment,
 applies for a new license associated with another food processing estab-
 lishment, provided the applicant's license has  not  been  suspended  or
 revoked  pursuant  to section two hundred fifty-one-z-five of this arti-
 cle. The commissioner may establish rules and regulations governing  the
 prorating  of such fees and/or the application of such fees from a prior
 license to a new one.  Notwithstanding the preceding, an applicant  that
 is  a  chain store shall pay a license fee of one hundred dollars if its
 license expires six months or less from  the  date  its  license  period
 began, two hundred dollars if its license expires between six months and
 one  year  from the date its license period began, three hundred dollars
 if its license expires between one year and  eighteen  months  from  the
 date  its  license  period began, or four hundred dollars if its license
 expires between eighteen months and two years from the date its  license
 period  began.    However, the license fee shall be nine hundred dollars
 for a food processing  establishment  determined  by  the  commissioner,
 pursuant  to  duly  promulgated  regulations,  to require more intensive
 regulatory oversight due to the volume of  the  products  produced,  the
 potentially  hazardous  nature  of  the product produced or the multiple
 number of processing operations  conducted  in  the  establishment.  The
 license  application  for  retail  food  stores  shall be accompanied by
 documentation in a form approved by the commissioner which  demonstrates
 that  the  food  safety  education program requirement has been met. The
 license shall take effect on the date of issuance and continue  for  two
 years from such date. Notwithstanding the preceding, a license issued to
 an applicant that is a chain store shall expire on the date set forth on
 the application form prescribed by the commissioner for such applicant.
   C.  Notwithstanding  any other provision of this section, an applicant
 that is a "small-scale processor" shall pay a license fee of one hundred
 seventy-five dollars per facility. For the purposes of this  section,  a
 "small-scale processor" shall be defined as a processor which operates a
 food processing establishment that is not exempt from licensing pursuant
 to  section two hundred fifty-one-z-four of this article, is not a chain
 store, and employs no more than ten full time employees.
   2. THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION SHALL NOT  APPLY  TO  PROCESSORS  OF
 SYRUP  MADE  FROM  TREE SAP OR HONEY WHO DO NOT PURCHASE SYRUP MADE FROM
 TREE SAP OR HONEY FROM OTHERS FOR REPACKAGING, AND WHO  DO  NOT  COMBINE
 SYRUP  MADE FROM TREE SAP OR HONEY WITH ANY OTHER INGREDIENTS CAPABLE OF
 SUPPORTING THE GROWTH OF INFECTIOUS  OR  TOXIGENIC  ORGANISMS,  PROVIDED
 THAT  SUCH  ESTABLISHMENTS  ARE  MAINTAINED  IN A SANITARY CONDITION AND
 MANNER.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.