Amd §§2053-b, 2053-c, 2053-e & 2053-g, Pub Auth L; amd §§114, 400 & 408, Ag & Mkts L
Expands the Rockland County Solid Waste Authority's purposes, powers, and responsibilities to include providing animal management services through a wholly-owned subsidiary; relates to public authorities providing shelter services for the care of unwanted animals or a subsidiary of such public authority that is wholly created for the sole purpose of providing such services.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9434
IN SENATE
May 27, 2022
___________
Introduced by Sen. REICHLIN-MELNICK -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Corporations,
Authorities and Commissions
AN ACT to amend the public authorities law, in relation to expanding the
Rockland County Solid Waste Authority's purposes, powers, and respon-
sibilities to include providing animal management services through a
wholly-owned subsidiary; and to amend the agriculture and markets law,
in relation to public authorities providing shelter services for the
care of unwanted animals
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 2053-b of the public authorities law, as added by
2 chapter 434 of the laws of 1993, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 2053-b. Definitions. As used or referred to in this title, unless a
4 different meaning clearly appears from the context:
5 1. "Animal shelter" shall mean any facility, building, or structure,
6 where temporary or permanent housing and care is provided to stray,
7 abandoned, abused, seized, impounded, owner-surrendered or otherwise
8 unwanted animals.
9 2. "Animal management services" shall mean any and all services
10 provided to promote animal care and to protect public health and safety,
11 including, but not limited to the following services: providing housing
12 and care for stray, abandoned, abused, seized, impounded, owner-surren-
13 dered or otherwise unwanted animals in an animal shelter; the processing
14 and disposal of animal waste; the disposal of dead wildlife removed from
15 roadways following wildlife-vehicle collisions; providing animal
16 control; and any other similar service related thereto.
17 3. "Authority" shall mean the public benefit corporation created by
18 section two thousand fifty-three-c of this title, known as the Rockland
19 county solid waste management authority and shall also hereby be known
20 as Rockland Green.
21 [2.] 4. "Bonds" shall mean the bonds, notes or other evidences of
22 indebtedness issued by the authority pursuant to this title and the
23 provisions of this title relating to bonds and bondholders and shall
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15748-02-2
S. 9434 2
1 apply with equal force and effect to notes and obligations and notehold-
2 ers and obligation holders, respectively, unless the context otherwise
3 clearly requires.
4 [3.] 5. "Construction" shall mean the acquisition, erection, building,
5 alteration, improvement, increase, enlargement, extension, recon-
6 struction, renovation or rehabilitation of a solid waste management
7 facility or animal shelter; the inspection and supervision thereof; and
8 the engineering, architectural, legal, fiscal and economic investi-
9 gations and studies, surveys, designs, plans, working drawings, specifi-
10 cations, procedures and other actions incidental thereto subject to the
11 provisions of section two thousand fifty-three-f of this title.
12 [4.] 6. "Cost," as applied to any project, shall mean and include the
13 cost of construction, the cost of the acquisition of all property,
14 including real property and other property, both real and personal and
15 improved and unimproved, subject to the provisions of section two thou-
16 sand fifty-three-f of this title, the cost of demolishing, removing or
17 relocating any buildings or structures on lands so acquired, including
18 the cost of relocating tenants or other occupants of the buildings or
19 structures on such land, including the cost of acquiring any lands to
20 which such buildings or structures may be moved or relocated, the cost
21 of all systems, facilities, machinery, apparatus and equipment, financ-
22 ing charges, interest prior to, during and after construction to the
23 extent not paid or provided for from revenues or other sources, the cost
24 of engineering and architectural surveys, plans and specifications, the
25 cost of consultant, legal and other professional services, the cost of
26 lease guarantee or bond insurance and the cost of other expenses neces-
27 sary or incidental to the construction thereof, including the amount
28 authorized in the resolution of the authority providing for the issuance
29 of bonds to be paid into any reserve or other special fund from the
30 proceeds of such bonds, the financing of the placing of any project in
31 operation and reimbursement to the county, any municipality, any state
32 agency, the state, the United States government or any other person for
33 expenditures that would be costs of the project hereunder had they been
34 made directly by the authority.
35 [5.] 7. "County" shall mean the county of Rockland.
36 [6.] 8. "Governing body" shall mean the members of the authority
37 constituting and acting as the governing body of the authority.
38 [7.] 9. "Municipality" shall mean any county, city, town, village,
39 district or any combination thereof.
40 [8.] 10. "Person" shall mean any natural person, partnership, associ-
41 ation, joint venture or corporation, exclusive of a public corporation.
42 [9.] 11. "Project" shall mean any solid waste management facility or
43 animal shelter, the planning, development, financing, construction,
44 operation or maintenance of which is authorized to be undertaken in
45 whole or in part by the authority pursuant to this title.
46 [10.] 12. "Real property" shall mean lands, structures, franchises and
47 interests in land, waters, lands underwater, riparian rights and air
48 rights and any and all things and rights included within said term and
49 includes not only fees simple absolute, but also any and all lesser
50 interests including, but not limited to, easements, rights-of-way, uses,
51 leases, licenses and all other incorporeal hereditaments and every
52 estate, interest or right, legal or equitable, including terms for years
53 and liens thereon by way of judgments, mortgages or otherwise.
54 [11.] 13. "Resource recovery" shall mean the separation, extraction
55 and recovery of usable materials, energy or heat from solid waste
S. 9434 3
1 through source separation, recycling centers, composting, combustion or
2 other programs, projects or facilities.
3 [12.] 14. "Revenues" shall mean all rates, fees, rents, charges,
4 receipts and other income derived by the authority from its operations.
5 [13.] 15. "Solid waste" shall mean all putrescible and [nonputresci-
6 ble] non-putrescible solid wastes, including, but not limited to, mate-
7 rials or substances which are discarded or rejected as being spent,
8 useless, worthless, or in excess to the owners at the time of such
9 discard or rejection, or which are being accumulated, stored, or phys-
10 ically, chemically or biologically treated prior to being discarded or
11 rejected, having served their intended use, or which are manufacturing
12 by-products, including, but not limited to, garbage, refuse, industrial,
13 commercial and agricultural waste sludges from air or water pollution
14 control facilities or water supply treatment facilities, rubbish, ashes,
15 contained gaseous material, incinerator residue, demolition and
16 construction debris and offal, but not including sewage and other highly
17 diluted water carried materials or substances and those in gaseous form,
18 special nuclear or by-product material within the meaning of the Atomic
19 Energy Act of 1954, as amended, or waste which appears on the list or
20 satisfies the characteristics of hazardous waste promulgated by the
21 commissioner of environmental conservation pursuant to section 27-0903
22 of the environmental conservation law or any scrap or other material of
23 value held for purposes of materials recycling other than materials
24 designated as recyclables, pursuant to section one hundred twenty-aa of
25 the general municipal law.
26 [14.] 16. "Solid waste management facility" or "facility" shall mean
27 any facility, plant, works, system, building, structure, improvement,
28 machinery, equipment, fixture or other real or personal property which
29 is to be used, occupied or employed beyond the initial solid waste
30 collection process for the receiving, transporting, storage, processing,
31 treatment, or disposal of solid waste or the recovery by any means of
32 any material or energy product or resource therefrom including but not
33 limited to recycling centers, material recovery facilities, mixed waste
34 processing facilities, household hazardous waste facilities, transfer
35 stations, shredding facilities, baling facilities, rail haul or maritime
36 facilities, processing systems, resource recovery facilities, steam and
37 electric generating and transmission facilities, including auxiliary
38 facilities to supplement or temporarily replace such generating facili-
39 ties, steam distribution facilities, sanitary landfills, plants and
40 facilities for compacting, composting or pyrolization of solid wastes or
41 manufacturing or enhancing the value of materials or commodities recov-
42 ered from solid waste, incinerators and other solid waste disposal,
43 reduction or conversion facilities and resource recovery equipment,
44 source separation equipment and disposal equipment as defined in subdi-
45 visions four and five of section 51-0903 of the environmental conserva-
46 tion law.
47 [15.] 17. "Solid waste management plan" shall mean the Rockland county
48 integrated solid waste management plan as it may be adopted, amended and
49 supplemented from time to time in accordance with section 27-0107 of the
50 environmental conservation law.
51 [16.] 18. "Source separation" shall mean the segregation of recyclable
52 materials from the solid waste stream at the point of generation for
53 separate collection, sale or other disposition.
54 [17.] 19. "State" shall mean the state of New York.
55 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 2053-c of the public authorities law, as
56 added by chapter 434 of the laws of 1993, is amended to read as follows:
S. 9434 4
1 1. Upon compliance with the requirements of subdivision seven of this
2 section, a corporation known as the Rockland county solid waste manage-
3 ment authority shall be deemed to have been created hereby for the
4 public purposes and charged with the duties and having the powers
5 provided in this title. The authority shall be a body corporate and
6 politic constituting a public benefit corporation. In order to be more
7 consistent with the authority's goals, mission and objectives, the
8 authority shall also be known as Rockland Green.
9 § 3. Subdivisions 11 and 22 of section 2053-e of the public authori-
10 ties law, as added by chapter 434 of the laws of 1993, are amended to
11 read as follows:
12 11. With the consent of the county executive, to use officers or
13 employees of the county and to pay a [property] proper portion of the
14 compensation or costs for the services for such officers or employees.
15 22. The authority may acquire, hold, own, lease, establish, construct,
16 effectuate, operate, maintain, renovate, improve, extend or repair any
17 of its facilities through, and cause any one or more of its powers,
18 duties, functions or activities to be exercised or performed by, no more
19 than one wholly-owned subsidiary corporation of the authority for the
20 sole purposes of operating an animal shelter and providing animal
21 management services on behalf of one or more municipalities located in
22 the county of Rockland pursuant to the agriculture and markets law. Such
23 subsidiary corporation shall be deemed an animal shelter for the
24 purposes of registration, inspection or any oversight required by law or
25 regulation by the department of agriculture and markets. The authority
26 may transfer to or from any such corporation, or between such corpo-
27 rations, any moneys, real property or other property or the services of
28 any officers, employees or consultants for any of the purposes of this
29 title. The directors or members of such subsidiary corporation shall be
30 the same persons holding the offices of members of the authority. Such
31 subsidiary corporation and any of its property, functions and activities
32 shall have all of the privileges, immunities, tax exemptions and other
33 exemptions of the authority and of the authority's property, functions
34 and activities. Such subsidiary corporation shall be subject to the
35 restrictions and limitations to which the authority may be subject. Such
36 subsidiary corporation shall be subject to suit in accordance with
37 section two thousand fifty-three-u this title. The employees of any such
38 subsidiary corporation, except those who are also employees of the
39 authority, shall not be deemed employees of the authority.
40 23. To do all things necessary or convenient to carry out the powers
41 expressly given in this title.
42 § 4. Section 2053-g of the public authorities law, as added by chapter
43 434 of the laws of 1993, is amended to read as follows:
44 § 2053-g. Charges by the authority; method of collection. 1. The
45 authority may fix and collect, on any equitable basis, rates, rentals,
46 fees and other charges for the use of facilities of or services or
47 commodities provided by the authority or any subsidiary, including the
48 availability of any of the foregoing from the authority. Such rates,
49 rentals, fees and other charges may be fixed and collected from any
50 person to whom such facilities, services or commodities are provided by
51 or made available from the authority, including generators of solid
52 waste and owners of real property upon which solid waste is generated.
53 Such rates, rentals, fees and other charges may be the same or different
54 for each classification of user or service recipient and may, by way of
55 example, reflect the source and composition of solid waste and may
56 provide for fee reductions to the users or service recipients in propor-
S. 9434 5
1 tion to waste generated or to reflect participation in source separation
2 programs. In any instance where the county is or would be required by
3 law, with respect to solid waste management, to conduct a public hearing
4 in connection with a user or rate, rental, fee or other charge, the
5 authority shall not establish, fix, or revise any classification of user
6 or service recipient, rate, rental, fee or other charge unless and until
7 the authority has held a public hearing at which interested persons have
8 had an opportunity to be heard concerning the same; provided however,
9 that if the county has conducted a public hearing in connection with
10 such rate, rental, fee or other charge, the authority shall not be
11 required to hold a public hearing. Notice of any such public hearing
12 shall be published at least ten days before the date set therefor, in at
13 least one newspaper of general circulation in the county. Such notice
14 shall set forth the date, time and place of such hearing and shall
15 include a brief description of the matters to be considered at such
16 meeting. A copy of the notice shall be available for inspection by the
17 public. At any such hearing, any interested persons shall have an oppor-
18 tunity to be heard concerning the matters under consideration. Any deci-
19 sion by the authority at such public hearing shall be in writing and be
20 made available in the office of the authority for public inspection
21 during regular office hours.
22 2. All rates, rentals, fees and other charges for the use of the
23 facilities of, or services provided or made available by, the authority
24 and billed directly by the authority to the user or service recipient
25 pursuant to a classification of users or service recipients adopted by
26 the authority as herein provided shall be a lien upon the real property
27 upon which, or in connection with which, services are provided or made
28 available, as and from the first date fixed for payment of such rates,
29 rentals, fees and other charges. Any such lien shall take precedence
30 over all other liens or encumbrances, except taxes or assessments. The
31 treasurer of the authority shall prepare and transmit to the respective
32 legislative body of each municipality, on or before the first day of
33 December in each year, a list of those properties within each respective
34 municipality using such facilities or for which such services were
35 provided or made available and from which the payment of rates, rentals,
36 fees and other charges are in arrears for a period of thirty days or
37 more after the last day fixed for payment of such rates, rentals, fees
38 and other charges without penalty. The list shall contain a brief
39 description of such properties, the names of the persons or corporations
40 liable to pay for the same, and the amount chargeable to each, including
41 penalties and interest computed to December thirty-first of that year.
42 Each governing body shall levy such sums against the properties liable
43 and shall state the amount thereof in a separate column in the annual
44 tax rolls of the various municipalities under the [heading] headings
45 "solid waste disposal charge" and "animal management charge", as appro-
46 priate. Such amounts, when collected by the several municipal collectors
47 or receivers of taxes, shall be paid over to the treasurer of the
48 authority. Alternatively, the legislative body of any municipality which
49 provides solid waste collection service to all or a portion of the prop-
50 erties within its boundaries using municipally owned and operated
51 collection vehicles may execute an agreement with the authority to
52 collect and be responsible for the collection of, on behalf of the
53 authority, any overdue or delinquent rates, rentals, fees or other
54 charges and such municipality shall have the power to pay directly to
55 the authority such overdue or delinquent rates, rentals, fees and other
56 charges whether or not they are actually collected from the users or
S. 9434 6
1 service recipients of such municipality. All of the provisions of the
2 tax law of the state governing enforcement and collection of unpaid
3 taxes or assessments for special improvements not inconsistent herewith
4 shall apply to the collection of such unpaid rates, rentals, fees and
5 other charges.
6 § 5. Section 114 of the agriculture and markets law, as added by chap-
7 ter 220 of the laws of 1978 and as renumbered by section 9 of part T of
8 chapter 59 of the laws of 2010, subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 714
9 of the laws of 1980, is amended to read as follows:
10 § 114. Pounds and shelters. 1. Each town and city, and each village in
11 which licenses are issued shall, and any other village and any county
12 may, establish and maintain a pound or shelter for dogs.
13 2. In lieu of or in addition to establishing and maintaining such
14 pound or shelter, any town or city, or any village in which licenses are
15 issued shall, and any other village and any county may, contract for
16 pound or shelter services with any other municipality or with any incor-
17 porated humane society or similar incorporated dog protective associ-
18 ation, or with a public authority providing shelter services or its
19 subsidiary that is wholly created for the sole purpose of providing such
20 services, or shall establish and maintain, jointly or with one or more
21 other municipalities, a pound or shelter.
22 § 6. Subdivision 4 of section 400 of the agriculture and markets law,
23 as amended by chapter 168 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as
24 follows:
25 4. "Pet Dealer" means any person who engages in the sale or offering
26 for sale of more than nine animals per year for profit to the public.
27 Such definition shall include breeders who sell or offer to sell
28 animals; provided that it shall not include the following:
29 (a) Any breeder who sells or offers to sell directly to the consumer
30 fewer than twenty-five animals per year that are born and raised on the
31 breeder's residential premises;
32 (b) Any municipal pound or shelter dedicated to the care of unwanted
33 animals which makes such animals available for adoption whether or not a
34 fee for such adoption is charged, established and maintained pursuant to
35 subdivision one of section one hundred fourteen of this chapter; [and]
36 (c) Any duly incorporated society for the prevention of cruelty to
37 animals, duly incorporated humane society, duly incorporated animal
38 protective association or other duly incorporated animal adoption or
39 animal rescue organization dedicated to the care of unwanted animals
40 which makes such animals available for adoption whether or not a fee for
41 such adoption is charged that is exempt from taxes pursuant to paragraph
42 (3) of subsection (c) of section 501 of the federal Internal Revenue
43 Code, 26 U.S.C. 501, or any subsequent corresponding sections of the
44 federal Internal Revenue Code, as from time to time amended, that is
45 registered with the department pursuant to section four hundred eight of
46 this article; and
47 (d) Any public authority providing shelter services for the care of
48 unwanted animals or its subsidiary that is wholly created for the sole
49 purpose of providing such services.
50 § 7. Subdivision 1 and the opening paragraph of subdivision 2 of
51 section 408 of agriculture and markets law, as added by chapter 168 of
52 the laws of 2017, are amended to read as follows:
53 1. Any person eligible for exemption from the definition of pet dealer
54 pursuant to paragraph (c) and (d) of subdivision four of section four
55 hundred of this article shall be registered by the department pursuant
S. 9434 7
1 to the provisions of this section. Such registration shall be renewable
2 annually and be accompanied by a fee of one hundred dollars.
3 Application for registration as set forth in this section shall be
4 made annually to the commissioner on a form prescribed by the commis-
5 sioner. The applicant shall satisfy the commissioner of his or her char-
6 acter and responsibility and shall set forth such information as the
7 commissioner shall require, including but not limited to the following,
8 provided, however a public authority shall not be required to provide
9 the information required by paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of this subdivi-
10 sion:
11 § 8. This act shall take effect immediately.
