Provides bicycle access to public office buildings for state employees, contractors and visitors; requires the commissioner of general services to make an inventory of all existing bicycle parking and storage facilities at all state office buildings and office buildings in which the state leases or occupies space.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6825
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 20, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CRESPO -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. FAHY --
read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the public buildings law, in relation to bicycle access
to public office buildings
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 11 of the public buildings law, as added by chapter
2 819 of the laws of 1987 and subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 126 of
3 the laws of 1988, is amended to read as follows:
4 § 11. [Pilot program] Program of bicycle parking facilities. 1.
5 Legislative finding. In recognition of the role which bicycles can serve
6 as a valuable transportation mode with energy conservation, health,
7 physical fitness and environmental benefits, it is hereby declared to be
8 the policy of the state that provision for adequate and safe bicycle
9 facilities including the use of present facilities for safe and secure
10 bicycle parking be included in the planning [and], development,
11 construction or reconstruction of all state facilities.
12 2. (a) The commissioner of general services shall undertake a [pilot]
13 program for the provision and promotion of safe and secure bicycle park-
14 ing facilities at state office buildings for state employees and visi-
15 tors at such buildings. The commissioner[, within one year of the enact-
16 ment of this section,] of general services shall provide, at the
17 principal office buildings under his or her superintendence at the
18 Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza in Albany[, New York], secure
19 bicycle parking facilities for use by employees and visitors. Provided,
20 further, that the commissioner of general services shall make an inven-
21 tory of all existing bicycle parking facilities at all state office
22 buildings and office buildings in which the state leases or occupies
23 space. Such inventory shall be made only of state owned or leased build-
24 ings or offices which have over fifty state employees located at such
25 site or in which the visitation rate by the general public is over five
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06346-01-9
A. 6825 2
1 hundred visitors, on average, each month. Such inventory of bicycle
2 parking and storage facilities shall be completed within two years of
3 the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen
4 which amended this section.
5 (b) The commissioner of general services is also authorized, within a
6 reasonable period and where feasible, to provide suitable support facil-
7 ities including clothing lockers, showers and changing facilities, and
8 to charge a reasonable use fee.
9 (c) For the purpose of this section, the term "bicycle parking facili-
10 ty" means a device or enclosure, located within a building or installa-
11 tion, or conveniently adjacent thereto, that is easily accessible,
12 clearly visible and so located as to minimize the danger of theft of
13 bicycles. Such a device shall consist of a parking rack, locker, or
14 other device constructed to enable the frame and both wheels of a bicy-
15 cle to be secured with ease by use of a padlock in a manner that will
16 minimize the risk of theft, or an enclosure which limits access to the
17 bicycles and is under observation by an attendant.
18 3. Upon completion of a state office building bicycle parking facili-
19 ties inventory provided for in paragraph (a) of subdivision two of this
20 section, the commissioner of general services shall develop a plan to
21 expand bicycle parking to encourage the use of such facilities by state
22 employees and the general public that patronize such facilities to
23 conduct public business. Such plan shall be completed within eighteen
24 months after finalization of the parking facilities inventory. Such plan
25 may contain and address the following elements to encourage state
26 employees and the general public to use bicycles more frequently at each
27 state office building facility or leased premises:
28 (a) The inventory of bicycle parking facilities shall be ranked from
29 highest to lowest based on the existing unfulfilled demand for such
30 facilities at state office buildings. Such ranking shall also consider
31 increased future demand or the potential for increased future demand of
32 such parking and storage facilities;
33 (b) In urban settings, there should be a plan to develop an ample
34 supply of secure off-street bicycle parking or alternate indoor parking
35 or storage for such bicycles;
36 (c) Adequate posting of such bicycle parking facilities shall be
37 provided for and placed around such state office building facility to
38 encourage utilization of such parking facilities by state employees and
39 the general public;
40 (d) A marketing and community outreach plan should provide for the
41 dissemination of information to state employees, visitors to state
42 office buildings, and to the general public to encourage individuals to
43 use bicycles when traveling to such buildings or facilities; and
44 (e) The commissioner of general services may include and address any
45 other element in the plan as he or she deems appropriate.
46 4. In undertaking such [pilot] program, the office of general services
47 shall: (a) Consult with and cooperate with (i) [the statewide bicycle
48 advisory council, (ii)] the [New York state] department of transporta-
49 tion regional bicycle coordinator[, (iii)]; (ii) local bicycle planning
50 groups[,]; and [(iv)] (iii) persons, organizations, and groups served
51 by, interested in, or concerned with the area under study.
52 (b) Request and receive from any department, division, board, bureau,
53 commission or other agency of the state or any political subdivision
54 thereof or any public authority, any assistance and data as may be
55 necessary to enable the office of general services to carry out its
56 responsibilities under this section.
A. 6825 3
1 [(c) On or before the first day of January, nineteen hundred eighty-
2 nine, a report shall be submitted to the governor and the legislature
3 which shall include a determination of usage levels, a statement outlin-
4 ing first year progress and the elements of a statewide plan for the
5 provision of such facilities.]
6 5. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the state or
7 the owner, lessee, manager or other person who is in control of a build-
8 ing governed by this section to provide space for stored bicycles at
9 such building or brought into such building or to permit a bicycle to be
10 parked in a manner that violates building or fire codes or any other
11 applicable law, rule or code, or which otherwise impedes ingress or
12 egress to such building.
13 6. There is hereby established a temporary bicycle commuting task
14 force to examine the development of sheltered bicycle parking in public
15 spaces.
16 (a) Such task force shall be comprised of nine members, including the
17 commissioner of general services, the commissioner of transportation,
18 the commissioner of motor vehicles and the commissioner of parks, recre-
19 ation and historic preservation or a designee of any such commissioners.
20 The remaining four members shall consist of a group of municipal plan-
21 ners, bicycle association representatives, building contractors and
22 engineers. They shall be appointed as follows: one member shall be
23 appointed by the temporary president of the senate; one member shall be
24 appointed by the minority leader of the senate; one member shall be
25 appointed by the speaker of the assembly; and one member shall be
26 appointed by the minority leader of the assembly.
27 (b) The chair of the temporary bicycle commuting task force shall be
28 the commissioner of general services. Members of the temporary bicycle
29 commuting task force shall serve without compensation and shall meet
30 when deemed necessary by the chair.
31 (c) Within eighteen months of the temporary bicycle commuting task
32 force's establishment, such task force shall issue a report to the
33 governor and the legislature. Such report shall include, but not be
34 limited to (i) an assessment of the demand for sheltered bicycle parking
35 in public spaces; (ii) an examination of the marketing and community
36 outreach efforts needed to encourage the use of bicycles; and (iii)
37 recommendations on establishing partnerships with entities to develop
38 bicycle parking facilities in public spaces. Such report shall be post-
39 ed on the website of each state agency that was a member of such task
40 force within twenty days from its submission to the governor. The tempo-
41 rary bicycle commuting task force shall cease to exist three months
42 after the issuance of its report.
43 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
44 it shall have become a law.
