S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                  1395

                       2015-2016 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            January 12, 2015
                               ___________

Introduced by Sen. YOUNG -- (at request of the Legislative Commission on
  Rural  Resources)  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed
  to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education

AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to increasing the thresh-
  old at which  certain  buildings,  structures  and  public  works  are
  required to be planned and supervised by a professional engineer, land
  surveyor or architect

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 7209  of  the  education  law,  as
added by chapter 987 of the laws of 1971, is amended to read as follows:
  3.  No county, city, town or village or other political subdivision of
this state shall engage in the construction or maintenance of any public
work involving engineering or land surveying for which plans, specifica-
tions  and  estimates  have  not  been made by, and the construction and
maintenance supervised by, a professional  engineer  or  land  surveyor;
provided that this section shall not apply to the construction, improve-
ment  or  maintenance of county roads or town highways, nor to any other
public works wherein the  contemplated  expenditure  for  the  completed
project  does  not  exceed  [five]  FIFTY thousand dollars. This section
shall not be construed as affecting or preventing any county, city, town
or village or other political subdivision of this state from engaging an
architect licensed in this state for the preparation of plans,  specifi-
cations and estimates for and the supervision of construction or mainte-
nance of public works.
  S  2.  Paragraph  b  of subdivision 7 of section 7209 of the education
law, as added by chapter 987 of the laws of 1971, is amended to read  as
follows:
  b.  To  alterations  to  any building or structure costing [ten] FIFTY
thousand dollars or less which do  not  involve  changes  affecting  the
structural  safety  or  public  safety  thereof  nor  to farm buildings,

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD01020-01-5
              

S. 1395                             2

including barns, sheds, poultry houses and other buildings used directly
and solely for agricultural purposes;  nor  to  residence  buildings  of
gross  floor  area of fifteen hundred square feet or less, not including
garages,  carports,  porches,  cellars,  or  uninhabitable  basements or
attics.
  S 3. Subdivision 5 of section 7307 of the education law, as  added  by
chapter  987  of the laws of 1971, paragraph 1 as amended by chapter 994
of the laws of 1971 and paragraph 2 as amended by  chapter  591  of  the
laws of 1986, is amended to read as follows:
  5. This article shall not apply to:  [1.] A. Farm buildings, including
barns, sheds, poultry houses and other buildings used directly and sole-
ly  for  agricultural purposes; nor to residence buildings of gross area
of fifteen hundred square feet or less, not including garages, carports,
porches, cellars, or uninhabitable basements or attics; or
  [2.] B. Alterations, costing ten thousand  dollars  or  less,  to  any
building  or  structure  within  the city of New York and [twenty] FIFTY
thousand dollars or less, to any building or structure outside the  city
of New York which do not involve changes affecting the structural safety
or public safety thereof.
  S 4. This act shall take effect immediately.