STATE OF NEW YORK
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6624
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 18, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. OBERACKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conservation
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
providing tax credits equal to the cost of hunting and fishing license
fees for volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance workers
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 11-0715 of the environmental
2 conservation law, as amended by section 4 of part R of chapter 58 of the
3 laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
4 2. A member of the Shinnecock tribe or the Poospatuck tribe or a
5 member of the six nations, residing on any reservation wholly or partly
6 within the state, is entitled to receive free of charge a fishing
7 license, a hunting license, a muzzle-loading privilege, a trapping
8 license, and a bowhunting privilege; a resident of the state who is a
9 member of the United States armed forces in active service who is not
10 stationed within the state and has not been herein longer than thirty
11 days on leave or furlough, is entitled to receive free of charge a fish-
12 ing license, a hunting license, and a trapping license; a resident of
13 the state who is an active member of the organized militia of the state
14 of New York as defined by section one of the military law, or the
15 reserve components of the armed forces of the United States, and exclud-
16 ing members of the inactive national guard and individual ready reserve,
17 is entitled to receive free of charge a fishing license, a hunting
18 license, and a trapping license; a volunteer ambulance worker, as
19 defined in subdivision one of section three of the volunteer ambulance
20 workers' benefit law, or a volunteer firefighter, as defined in subdivi-
21 sion one of section three of the volunteer firefighters' benefit law, is
22 entitled to receive a New York state tax credit equal to the cost of a
23 fishing license, and a small and big game license; and a resident who is
24 blind is entitled to receive a fishing license free of charge. For the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02679-01-5
S. 6624 2
1 purposes of this subdivision a person is blind only if either: (a) [his
2 or her] their central visual acuity does not exceed 20/200 in the better
3 eye with correcting lenses, or (b) [his or her] their visual acuity is
4 greater than 20/200 but is accompanied by a limitation of the field of
5 vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an
6 angle no greater than 20 degrees.
7 A resident in the state for a period of thirty days immediately prior
8 to the date of application who has attained the age of seventy is enti-
9 tled to receive a fishing license, a trapping license, and a hunting
10 license, at a cost of five dollars for each license.
11 A resident in the state for a period of thirty days immediately prior
12 to the date of application who has attained the age of seventy is enti-
13 tled to receive free of charge a bowhunting privilege and a muzzle-load-
14 ing privilege.
15 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
