S7644-2011 Actions

• Jun 21, 2012: referred to transportation
• Jun 21, 2012: DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
• Jun 21, 2012: PASSED SENATE
• Jun 21, 2012: ORDERED TO THIRD READING CAL.1489
• Jun 11, 2012: REFERRED TO RULES

S7644-2011 Meetings

S7644-2011 Calendars

S7644-2011 Votes

S7644-2011 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S7644

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to authorizing the
department of environmental conservation to establish certain speed
limits

PURPOSE:
Authorizes the Department of Environmental Conservation to
establish certain speed limits.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Amends subdivision 5 of section 1630
of the vehicle and traffic law to allow the department of
environmental conservation to establish certain speed limits.

Section 2. Effective date.

EXISTING LAW:
Currently the office of parks, recreation and historic
preservation, department of agriculture and markets, and the
industrial exhibit authority have the explicit authority to set speed
limits below 25 mph.

JUSTIFICATION:
The Department of Environmental Conservation manages
millions of acres of public lands primarily intended for recreational
access and enjoyment, including 52 campgrounds in the Adirondack and
Catskill Parks. Those lands are used for hiking, hunting, biking,
camping, bird watching and other enjoyment. To create access to those
properties, the Department also has roads on the property and has
established many regulations to establish safe speed limits to
protect pedestrians, families and others using these properties.
However, the Department's authority to enforce posted speed limits
below 25 mph in its campgrounds was challenged recently. Vehicle &
Traffic Law �1630 authorizes the Department and other agencies to
adopt regulations that "prohibit, restrict or regulate traffic of any
highway, property or facility under its jurisdiction." However,
because the Department is not among the agencies listed in VTL
1630(5) that have explicit authority to set speed limits below 25
mph, the County District Attorney involved in the case declined to
prosecute the ticket. This bill would make explicit the Department's
authority to set speed limits below 25 mph.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

Immediately.

S7644-2011 Text

 S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 
 
                                         7644
 I N  SENATE
 June 11, 2012
 
 Introduced by Sen. FUSCHILLO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
 printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 AN  ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to authorizing
 the department of  environmental  conservation  to  establish  certain
 speed limits
 

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

 

Section 1. Subdivision 5 of section 1630 of the  vehicle  and  traffic
 law,  as  amended by chapter 563 of the laws of 2002, is amended to read
 as follows:

 5. Establishment of maximum and minimum speed limits at which vehicles
 may proceed on or along such highways. No such maximum speed limit shall
 be established at less than twenty-five  miles  per  hour,  except  that
 school  speed  limits  may be established at not less than fifteen miles
 per hour, for a distance not to exceed one thousand three hundred twenty
 feet, on a highway passing a school building,  entrance  or  exit  of  a
 school  abutting on the highway, and except that, with respect to bridge
 and elevated structures that are a part of any  such  highway,  a  lower
 maximum  speed  limit  may  be established if it is determined that such
 lower maximum speed limit is the maximum speed limit which may be  main
 tained without structural damage to such bridge or structure, and except
 that,  with  respect to any highway under the jurisdiction of the office
 of parks, recreation and historic preservation, other than a parkway  as
 defined  in  subdivision  seventeen of section 1.03 of the parks, recre
 ation and historic preservation law, the department of  agriculture  and
 markets, THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION, or the industrial
 exhibit  authority, a maximum speed limit of not less than ten miles per
 hour may be established on any portion thereof, if it is determined that
 such lower maximum speed limit is necessary to assure the safety of  the
 public, and except that, with respect to any highway having toll plazas,
 a maximum speed limit of not less than five miles per hour may be estab
 lished for passage through such toll plazas.
 

S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD16188-01-2

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