STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7601
IN SENATE
May 11, 2016
___________
Introduced by Sen. KLEIN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Veterans, Homeland Securi-
ty and Military Affairs
AN ACT to amend the executive law, the public health law and the envi-
ronmental conservation law, in relation to the protection of water
supplies
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 711-b
2 to read as follows:
3 § 711-b. Review of water supplier vulnerability analysis assessments.
4 The commissioner shall review each vulnerability analysis assessment
5 from a water supplier transmitted to the division from the department of
6 health pursuant to section eleven hundred twenty-five of the public
7 health law. The commissioner may issue recommendations or general guid-
8 ance to the water supplier based on the assessment to enhance
9 protections against a terrorist attack or cyber attack. Such recommenda-
10 tions and guidance shall be kept confidential and shall be exempt from
11 disclosure under article six of the public officers law.
12 § 2. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 1125 of the public
13 health law, as amended by chapter 405 of the laws of 2002, is amended to
14 read as follows:
15 (a) "Water supply emergency plan" shall mean a plan reviewed and
16 approved by the commissioner and filed with the department. The plan
17 shall follow a form which shall be specified by the department and which
18 shall include, but not be limited to, those items enumerated in this
19 section, and shall address those actions to be taken by a water supplier
20 to anticipate emergencies and respond responsibly to emergency situ-
21 ations. The department shall maintain a list of all water suppliers
22 required to file a water supply emergency plan pursuant to this section.
23 § 3. Paragraph (k) of subdivision 2 of section 1125 of the public
24 health law, as amended by chapter 405 of the laws of 2002, is amended to
25 read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14903-02-6
S. 7601 2
1 (k) a vulnerability analysis assessment, including an analysis of
2 vulnerability to terrorist attack, including cyber attack, which shall
3 be made after consultation with local and state law enforcement agen-
4 cies.
5 § 4. Subdivisions 5 and 8 of section 1125 of the public health law,
6 subdivision 5 as amended and subdivision 8 as added by chapter 317 of
7 the laws of 2007, are amended to read as follows:
8 5. Every water supplier shall review, and if necessary, revise its
9 water supply emergency plan and report its findings to the commissioner
10 by December thirty-first, nineteen hundred ninety-five. Any water
11 supplier whose water supply emergency plan does not include an analysis
12 of vulnerability to terrorist attack, including cyber attack, shall
13 revise its emergency plan and report its findings to the commissioner by
14 January first, two thousand [three] seventeen. Every water supplier
15 shall keep its water supply emergency plan up to date, shall provide
16 updated communication and notification information to the commissioner
17 by December thirty-first of every year, and shall submit its water
18 supply emergency plan to the commissioner for review at least once every
19 five years and within thirty days after major water facility infrastruc-
20 ture changes have been made. The commissioner shall transmit a copy of
21 each vulnerability analysis assessment from a water supplier to the
22 superintendent of state police, commissioner of the division of homeland
23 security and emergency services, and chief technology officer.
24 8. The commissioner, superintendent of state police, commissioner of
25 the division of homeland security and emergency services, and chief
26 technology officer shall keep confidential: (a) all vulnerability analy-
27 sis assessments and all information derived therefrom; and (b) all
28 information determined by a water supplier to pose a security risk to
29 the operation of a water supply system. Such assessments and information
30 shall be exempt from disclosure under article six of the public officers
31 law. A person who, without authorization, discloses any such assessment
32 or information to another person who has not been authorized to receive
33 such assessment or information is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
34 § 5. Subdivisions 6, 7 and 8 of section 1125 of the public health law
35 are renumbered subdivisions 7, 8 and 9 and a new subdivision 6 is added
36 to read as follows:
37 6. (a) The commissioner or a county health department may provide
38 guidance and assistance to community water systems on conducting vulner-
39 ability assessments, preparing water supply emergency plans and address-
40 ing threats from terrorist attacks, including cyber attacks, designed to
41 disrupt the provision of safe drinking water or significantly affect the
42 public health, or significantly affect the safety or supply of drinking
43 water provided to communities or individuals.
44 (b) A community water system, that is not a water supplier, may elect
45 to complete a water supply emergency plan. Such community water system
46 may elect to submit the plan to the commissioner for approval. In such a
47 case, the commissioner shall subject the plan to such approval process
48 as described in paragraph (a) of subdivision one of this section.
49 § 6. Subdivision 1 of section 15-0507 of the environmental conserva-
50 tion law, as amended by chapter 364 of the laws of 1999, is amended to
51 read as follows:
52 1. Any owner of a dam or other structure which impounds waters shall
53 at all times operate and maintain said structure and all appurtenant
54 structures in a safe condition. As used in this section and section
55 71-1109 of this chapter, "owner" means any person or local public corpo-
56 ration who owns, erects, reconstructs, repairs, maintains or uses a dam
S. 7601 3
1 or other structure which impounds waters. The commissioner may promul-
2 gate regulations requiring any owner to prepare and implement a safety
3 program for such dam or structure as necessary to safeguard life, prop-
4 erty or natural resources. Regulations governing the safety program may
5 include requirements for inspections, monitoring, maintenance and opera-
6 tion, emergency action planning, response and prevention of terrorism
7 and cyber terrorism, financial security, recordkeeping and reporting or
8 any other requirement the commissioner deems necessary to safeguard
9 life, property or natural resources. Such requirement shall only apply
10 to those dams or other structures that impound waters which pose, in the
11 event of failure, a threat of personal injury, substantial property
12 damage or substantial natural resource damage.
13 § 7. This act shall take effect immediately.