Enacts the "public leadership for obstructive weather from snow (PLOWS) act" which improves coordination between city run agencies for removing snow in response to a snow event.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10294
IN ASSEMBLY
February 20, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RAJKUMAR -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Cities
AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to enacting the "public leadership for obstructive weather
from snow (PLOWS) act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "public leadership for obstructive weather from snow (PLOWS) act".
3 § 2. Section 16-124.1 of the administrative code of the city of New
4 York, as added by local law number 28 of the city of New York for the
5 year 2011, is amended to read as follows:
6 § 16-124.1 Borough-based snow plowing and removal plans. a. The
7 following terms shall have the following meanings for purposes of this
8 section:
9 (1) The term "bus shelter" shall mean a location that has a cover or
10 ceiling and is intended to be used as a shelter for individuals waiting
11 to board a New York city transit authority vehicle, and shall include
12 three feet on any open side of such shelter and to the curb on all
13 portions of the sidewalk covered under this provision.
14 (2) The term "bus stop" shall mean a location that is not a bus shel-
15 ter, designated by signage for New York city transit authority vehicles
16 to pick up or discharge passengers, which location includes five feet of
17 the sidewalk and the gutter immediately adjacent to the curb for the
18 portion of such curb.
19 (3) The term "curb cut" shall have the same meaning as defined in
20 section 27-480 of the code.
21 (4) The term "pedestrian median" shall mean a direct path between curb
22 cuts on a median strip dividing a roadway or, where no curb cuts exist
23 on such a median strip, the portion of the median strip designed to be
24 traversed by pedestrians in order to cross the roadway that such median
25 strip divides.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14793-02-6
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1 (5) [The term "primary street" shall mean a street that is determined
2 by the department to be of the first priority for purposes of snow plow-
3 ing and/or removal.
4 (6)] The term "snow event" shall mean any snowfall equal to or in
5 excess of six inches within a period of twenty-four hours in any of the
6 five boroughs based on the department of sanitation's measurements.
7 b. Beginning on November fifteenth, 2011, and on every November
8 fifteenth thereafter, the mayor in consultation with the commissioner,
9 New York city emergency management, the department of transportation,
10 the department of education, and any other agency responsible for snow
11 removal, including private entities contracted with such agencies for
12 snow removal, shall submit to the council and the commissioner of the
13 state division of homeland security and emergency services, and make
14 available to the public on the city's website a snow plowing and removal
15 plan for each borough that shall include, but not be limited to, the
16 following:
17 (1) The address of each department garage and other department facili-
18 ty within the borough identified by district or section and the number
19 of uniformed department employees assigned to each such garage or facil-
20 ity for purposes of addressing snow conditions;
21 (2) An inventory by district of department-owned snow management
22 equipment and resources and a city-wide inventory of other city-owned
23 snow management equipment and resources that could, if available, be
24 used during a snow event, as determined by city officials and the agen-
25 cy, office, agencies or offices responsible for the deployment of such
26 city-owned snow management equipment and resources;
27 (3) (i) Definitions of each of the priority designation categories,
28 including criteria for making such designations and any changes to the
29 previous year's priority designation category and the reasons for such
30 changes; and (ii) a link to a website on which a map of each community
31 district with the priority designation categories for each street in
32 such district is viewable;
33 (4) How the department plans to address the following types of tasks
34 during a snow event: (i) plowing and/or removal of snow and ice from
35 streets within each borough; (ii) plowing and/or removal of snow and ice
36 from curb cuts and pedestrian medians at intersections on [primary] all
37 streets; (iii) plowing and/or removal of snow and ice from crosswalks,
38 sidewalks adjacent to parks and bus stops; and (iv) dispersal of salt,
39 sand or other material applied to roads in icy or snowy conditions;
40 [and]
41 (4-a) How the department shall coordinate with other agencies to
42 ensure: (i) sidewalk accessibility consistent with the federal Ameri-
43 cans with Disabilities Act; (ii) continuity of operation of New York
44 city transit; (iii) safe transportation to and from New York city
45 schools when in session; and (iv) snow plowing and removal that mini-
46 mizes work of property owners to comply with section 16-123 of the code,
47 including the number of instances required for compliance pursuant to
48 this section; and
49 (5) The mayor in consultation with the commissioner shall designate
50 and identify the following: (i) the borough chief or chiefs who will be
51 responsible for the implementation of the applicable borough-specific
52 snow plan; (ii) department personnel who will report to the office of
53 emergency management on a city-wide basis during snow events and who
54 will be directly responsible for communicating with such office and the
55 department; and (iii) personnel from the department's customer service
56 and government relations offices who will communicate on a borough-by-
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1 borough basis with council members, community boards and the borough
2 presidents in order to provide, receive and respond to information from
3 such elected officials and community boards regarding snow event condi-
4 tions.
5 c. Beginning on October first, two thousand eleven, and every October
6 first thereafter, the [commissioner] mayor shall submit a draft snow
7 plowing and removal plan for each borough for comment to the commission-
8 er of the state division of homeland security and emergency services and
9 the council members, community boards and borough president from that
10 borough. Amendments to the draft plan shall be included in the final
11 snow plowing and removal plan for each borough to be issued no later
12 than November fifteenth of each year pursuant to this section.
13 d. No later than one hundred eighty days after each snow event, the
14 mayor shall submit to the council and the commissioner of the state
15 division of homeland security and emergency services, and make available
16 to the public on the city's website a report analyzing compliance with
17 the plan pursuant to this section and fulfillment of objectives thereof;
18 such report shall include NYC 311 data of reports related to snow plow-
19 ing and removal.
20 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
