The New York Farm Bureau made peace with the state’s Birds and the Bees Act after Gov. Kathy Hochul negotiated changes before signing the bill into law late last year.

State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, did not.

This week Borrello blasted the bill — and the chapter amendments approved in the state Senate — during comments on the Senate floor prior to the Senate’s passage of those chapter amendments in S.8031.

“I realize that this chapter amendment undoes some of the more damaging parts of the Birds and Bees Act, but I still can’t in good conscience vote in favor of this bill,” Borrello said. “We once again, as a body, as a state Legislature and as a state government, have cut open a huge gaping wound in our agriculture industry and then we hand them a bandaid and we expect them to say thank you. And that’s what this is.”

The bill passed the state Legislature near the end of the 2023 legislative session, but Hochul waited until the week between Christmas and New Year’s to sign the bill. Hochul was lobbied by the bill’s supporters and those with concerns before deciding to sign the bill with negotiated amendments.

The Birds and Bees Act targets neonicotinoids, which are typically used by soybean and corn farms. Seeds are coated with a nicotine-based substance to keep insects away. Farmers have argued the substances are better for the environment than other environmentally damaging tactics like crop dusting while environmental advocates say the neonicotinoids are part of the reason for the state’s decreasing bee populations.

Under the negotiated agreement, the DEC will implement restrictions in 2029, a two-year extension from the original bill. Farmers will be able to apply for waivers every two years.

Many credited Hochul for negotiating changes to the Birds and the Bees Act before signing the bill, but Borrello said he would have preferred a veto so the bill could have been changed further during the current legislative session.

“That was certainly a leap of faith on her part, but again she has been an arsonist firefighter once again,” Borrello said. “Create a problem for our agriculture industry and now she wants them to say thank you for making it less bad. “The bottom line is this folks — we have taken huge huge chunks out of our agricultural industry here in New York state and I thought after the pandemic we saw the impact of a weak food supply on our state. And once again we are not going to eliminate these coated seeds from the food supply chain, not here in New York state. Instead we’re going to rely on other countries and other states for our agriculture needs, for our food, for things that we need every day to feed our families. So we can stand here and pat ourselves on the back that we’ve done something but in the end we’ve done nothing except put another nail in the coffin of our agricultural industry.”