The New York legislature passed an extension of the popular New York Brownfield credits as this year’s legislative session came to a close last week. Governor Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders had been hoping to pass a longer extension in conjunction with significant changes to the eligibility rules for the lucrative tangible property Brownfield credit, but efforts at reform stalled over a disagreement in providing additional bonding authority for the State’s hazardous waste cleanup program. Without an extension the tax credit component of the New York Brownfield Cleanup Program is slated to expire by the end of 2015, and this legislation, if signed by the Governor, would extend the tax credits through March 2017. Proponents of the extension have argued that without it new applicants would not enter the New York Brownfield Cleanup Program because the average time to achieve closure within the program would go beyond the end of 2015. The extension would give the Governor, the legislature and stakeholders some breathing room to work through the more comprehensive reform of the program that eluded the government this year.
