NYSTLA supports and works with NYSGIC (New York Green Industry Council) to keep you up to date as well as fight on your behalf legislation that effects you, your business and the industry.   We cannot maintain this with your support as members …. 

Dear Friends,

CLICK HERE TO FIND a very busy accounting of what we have been up to, on your behalf, so far in 2015.

As comprehensive as this report certainly is, there are many things that we were involved in that do not appear in these pages. This is a report on the activities of our Albany Representatives, Rick Zimmerman and The Vandervort Group who, once again, did outstanding advocacy work for us in the Albany legislature during the legislative session. They are on top of everything that comes along that could possibly affect you and the use of your tools.

We stopped EVERY threat hatched in the New York Legislature that could have hurt you……if we had not been out here working on your behalf, these interests looking to take your tools away, powerful as they are, would have succeeded in doing just that, they would have rolled right over us.

Not included in this report is the ongoing dialogue that we maintain with regulators. First off, the NYSDEC.

The New York Green Industry Council is in constant contact with the NYSDEC. While much of this is initiated by Rick Zimmerman and Todd Vandervort, the officers and directors of NYSGIC communicate directly with the Bureau of Pesticides on behalf of their respective Associations. Mr. and Mrs. Pat Voges maintain excellent relations with NYSDEC on behalf of the members of the Nassau/Suffolk Landscape Gardeners Association, as does Beth Seme and Mike Maffei on behalf of The New York State Turfgrass Association, and our elder statesman and roving ambassador, Don Burton from the New York Lawn and Arbor Care Applicators Council in Rochester. You cannot even count the hours that they spend standing up for you and I at meetings with DEC officials on every facet of our involvement with regulators, both in their respective regions and in Albany as well.

This year, so far we have spent days on Long Island alone with the Long Island Pesticide Pollution Prevention Strategy, an initiative that has taken on a life of its own, and will have far reaching consequences, throughout the state…..AND BEYOND. Here we have help. I owe a  big debt of gratitude to the Long Island Golf Course Superintendents Association, The New York State Arborists Association, The New York State Nursery and Landscape Association, The Long Island Nurserymen, the Nassau/Suffolk Landscape Gardeners Association, The Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment (RISE) and the many representatives from stakeholder firms, too numerous to mention, that came to these meetings to stand up for the use of our tools. Yes, perhaps I made it sound like the sky was falling down, but when our folks came out and sat around the table a message was sent. “We care about Long Island, and we are here to state the truth about what we do”. There was no opportunity for mis-information to be disseminated with you in attendance, and if The Long Island Pesticide Pollution Prevention Strategy is presenting a balanced perspective to the people of Long Island , you have everything to do with it.

Another regulatory agency that we have extensive contact with is the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Their reach extends to everyone selling plants, seed and fertilizer.  With the emergence of Emerald Ash Borer and other pests, Arboriculture and the greater Landscape Industry are affected by their rules and regulation even more. Again, the Officers and Directors of the New York Alliance for Environmental Concerns are front and center representing you and I, David Linehan who has done monumental work on the invasive species issue, Beth Seme and Mike Maffei, all serve on the very important Empire State Council of Agricultural Organizations. They provide a vital link with the Department and a forum to advocate for  fair policy. It should be noted that our Albany Representative, Rick Zimmerman is a former Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Finally our involvement in and advocacy for GREENPAC, (The New York Green Industry Political Action Committee) which enables our industry to support officials that help with our issues and problems, is a major advantage for you and I in the complicated realm of the Albany legislature.

If you throw in attendance at regional and national government affairs forums and meetings, you have a significant amount of VOLUNTEER work going on here.

Thank you again for supporting the New York Green Industry Council ….and GREENPAC.

Larry Wilson – Chairman
New York Green Industry Council

For More information on how to support NYSGIC, GREENPAC and NYSTLA, please call our office at 914-993-9455.