Last-minute negotiations are heating up as Gov. Kathy Hochul considers significant changes, or vetoing, two environmental bills Democratic lawmakers widely supported this session.

Lawmakers and advocates rushed to defend, or push back, against proposals this week to reduce New York's impact on global deforestation and ban seeds pretreated with a pesticide that kills bees and other pollinators. 

The bills arrived on Hochul's desk Tuesday with a host of other bills, giving the governor until Saturday to make a decision. The legislation will die if no action is taken by then.

But lawmakers who sponsored both measures say if their proposals get the veto pen, the fight won't be over. 

"We are in deep negotiations with the governor's staff right now... we are in continued negotiations, and I'm cautiously optimistic," said Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat who sponsors the deforestation bill. "Obviously, the clock is ticking."

Hochul has taken her time to evaluate the measure to prohibit the state from contracting with companies that use tropical hardwoods that contribute to deforestation, and not allow products like soy, beef, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, paper and others to be sourced from an at-risk area or forest. 

The governor made a counterproposal to the legislation this week amid pushback from the state Business Council and operational concerns from the state Office of General Services, but Krueger says their worries are rooted in misconceptions.

"I think they think some of the requirements in the bill are actually harder than they really are from the government perspective," Krueger said Friday. "This doesn't punish any company for not doing what we're asking. It just means we won't do business with them as a state." 

The senator says the ongoing negotiations are productive, but would not reveal details of the proposed changes, adding she's open to clarifying language but not gutting the bill.

"The fact that they have engaged in serious negotiations means she doesn't really want to veto this bill," she said. "And I really want it signed." 

Krueger noted other large companies support the Tropical Deforestation-Free Procurement Act, and the policy will give small New York businesses an advantage as an international coalition battles to impose similar policies around the globe and save tropical rainforests.

Meanwhile, leaders in the New York Farm Bureau have fought to schedule a phone call with Hochul this week to push her to veto the Birds and Bees Protection Act to ban the sale of seeds like corn, wheat, and soy pretreated with neonicotinoid pesticides. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continues to review the popular pesticide, often called 'neonics,' as the federal agency's recent assessment shows the potent chemical is pushing 200 endangered species to extinction.

But New York farmers have fought adamantly against the ban since it was first introduced, arguing it would hurt small farms across the state. Jeff Williams, New York Farm Bureau's director of public policy, said state lawmakers should not interfere in regulating the public health threat that's handled by the federal government.  

"Farms certainly can't be at the whim of the Legislature every single year on a particular pesticide product," said Williams, adding neonics were developed to minimize pesticide use overall. 

"The agricultural industry cannot deal with what the latest pesticide du jour is each year where each environmental organization wants to raise money on getting them banned and then farmers have to fight to kill the bill," he added. 

The state Department of Environmental Conservation regulates pesticides in partnership with the EPA's regulations — one of two U.S. states that provide additional supervision of pesticides.

"The DEC is the one that it has the experts, the scientists, the regulatory format and the statutory authority to register needed pesticides in the state after EPA does the same thing," Williams said. 

Sponsor Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal is waiting for word from Hochul's office about the bill as time runs out. 

The governor has not proposed chapter amendments to the legislation to date, but the senator said Friday he'll be ready to negotiate. 

"This bill is so important," he said. "We know that neonicotinoids are dangerous to the environment. They've been shown to have an impact on human health. It is as dangerous as it would seem to spray seeds with a nerve agent that then can filter into groundwater and be carried by pollinators and eventually be ingested by humans." 

Canada and the European Union have adopted policies to curb the use of neonics. 

With the current political climate in Washington, Hoylman-Sigal argues New York cannot wait for the federal government to take action.

The senator is holding his cards close to the vest to strengthen the chances to reach compromise and get the bill signed into law.  

Democratic lawmakers hold a veto-proof supermajority in the Legislature, but officials in Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins' office say a return to Albany before the end of the year is unlikely.

"If we look at another veto, I'm pretty sure that this bill will go back to both houses and be passed again, and we'll be back at square one," Hoylman-Sigal said.