Directs the development of a permit system to provide disabled veterans access to certain restricted bodies of water in the Adirondack park through the use of float planes.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4897
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 8, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SIMPSON -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Environmental Conservation
AN ACT to amend the executive law and the environmental conservation
law, in relation to development of a permit system to provide disabled
veterans access to certain restricted bodies of water through the use
of float planes
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 816 of the executive law is renum-
2 bered subdivision 4 and a new subdivision 3 is added to read to follows:
3 3. The master plan and the individual management plans shall be
4 reviewed periodically and shall be amended from time to time pursuant to
5 section 15-0506 of the environmental conservation law, and when so
6 amended shall as amended henceforth guide the management of state lands
7 in the Adirondack park. Amendments to the master plan shall be prepared
8 by the agency, in consultation with the department of environmental
9 conservation, and submitted after public hearing to the governor for
10 approval.
11 § 2. The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new
12 section 15-0506 to read as follows:
13 § 15-0506. Permits for float plane access to bodies of water in the
14 Adirondack park.
15 1. For the purposes of this section the following definitions shall
16 apply:
17 a. "Float plane" shall mean an airplane equipped with floats for land-
18 ing on or taking off from a body of water.
19 b. "Area" means a water body under the jurisdiction of the department
20 which pursuant to section eight hundred sixteen of the executive law
21 prohibits float plane access.
22 c. "Certification/Certified" means a signed statement by a licensed
23 physician on a form provided by the department, certifying that a person
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09052-01-1
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1 has one or more impairments, disabilities or conditions as defined in
2 paragraph f of this subdivision which document the need for the person
3 to use a motor vehicle, and the nature, degree and term of the disabili-
4 ty. The certification shall specify the length of time during which such
5 certification is effective. All certifications must be dated within one
6 year prior to the date of application.
7 d. "Companion" means a person who may accompany the qualified person
8 with a disability as necessary to attend to his or her needs.
9 e. "Permit" means a nontransferable temporary revocable permit as
10 authorized by this section to allow the use of state lands under the
11 jurisdiction of the department.
12 f. "Qualified veteran" means a veteran as defined in this section with
13 a disability who:
14 (i) cannot walk two hundred feet without stopping to rest; or
15 (ii) cannot walk without the use of, or assistance from, a brace,
16 cane, crutch, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair, or other
17 assistive device; or
18 (iii) is restricted by lung disease to such an extent that the
19 person's forced (respiratory) expiratory volume for one second, when
20 measured by spirometry, is less than one liter, or the arterial oxygen
21 tension is less than sixty mm/Hg on room air at rest; or
22 (iv) uses portable oxygen; or
23 (v) has a cardiac condition to the extent that the person's functional
24 limitations are classified in severity as class III or class IV, accord-
25 ing to standards set by the American Heart Association; or
26 (vi) is severely limited in their ability to walk due to an arthritic,
27 neurological, or orthopedic condition.
28 g. "Regional land manager" means the individual charged with the
29 administrative responsibility for the department lands on which a quali-
30 fied person with a disability desires access.
31 h. "Veteran" means a person (A) who served in the active military,
32 naval, or air service during a period of war, or who was a recipient of
33 the armed forces expeditionary medal, navy expeditionary medal, marine
34 corps expeditionary medal, or global war on terrorism expeditionary
35 medal, and who was discharged or released therefrom under honorable
36 conditions, (B) who was employed by the War Shipping Administration or
37 Office of Defense Transportation or their agents as a merchant seaman
38 documented by the United States Coast Guard or Department of Commerce,
39 or as a civil servant employed by the United States Army Transport
40 Service (later redesignated as the United States Army Transportation
41 Corps, Water Division) or the Naval Transportation Service; and who
42 served satisfactorily as a crew member during the period of armed
43 conflict, December seventh, nineteen hundred forty-one, to August
44 fifteenth, nineteen hundred forty-five, aboard merchant vessels in
45 oceangoing, i.e., foreign, intercoastal, or coastwise service as such
46 terms are defined under federal law (46 USCA 10301 & 10501) and further
47 to include "near foreign" voyages between the United States and Canada,
48 Mexico, or the West Indies via ocean routes, or public vessels in ocean-
49 going service or foreign waters and who has received a Certificate of
50 Release or Discharge from Active Duty and a discharge certificate, or an
51 Honorable Service Certificate/Report of Casualty, from the department of
52 defense, (C) who served as a United States civilian employed by the
53 American Field Service and served overseas under United States Armies
54 and United States Army Groups in World War II during the period of armed
55 conflict, December seventh, nineteen hundred forty-one through May
56 eighth, nineteen hundred forty-five, and who was discharged or released
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1 therefrom under honorable conditions, or (D) who served as a United
2 States civilian Flight Crew and Aviation Ground Support Employee of Pan
3 American World Airways or one of its subsidiaries or its affiliates and
4 served overseas as a result of Pan American's contract with Air Trans-
5 port Command or Naval Air Transport Service during the period of armed
6 conflict, December fourteenth, nineteen hundred forty-one through August
7 fourteenth, nineteen hundred forty-five, and who was discharged or
8 released therefrom under honorable conditions.
9 2. The department shall provide a qualified veteran access by a float
10 plane to appropriate lands under its jurisdiction consistent with
11 section one of article fourteen of the state constitution. The depart-
12 ment shall determine annually on or before January first a minimum five
13 bodies of water under the jurisdiction of the department which prohibit
14 float plane access pursuant to the master plan developed in accordance
15 with section eight hundred sixteen of the executive law, that shall
16 become accessible for qualified disabled veterans pursuant to a permit
17 issued under the provisions of this section. The department, in deter-
18 mining which bodies of water to allow for float plane access under this
19 section, shall ensure that such access will not adversely impact the
20 environment in the following manner;
21 a. the natural resources of the area ability to sustain use by float
22 plane;
23 b. the compatibility with other public use of the area;
24 c. the safety of the operation of a float plane and the ability to
25 prevent dangerous conditions;
26 d. a demonstration that significant ecological areas including but not
27 limited to the following: exceptional forest or plant communities,
28 shorelines, unique areas, wetlands, habitats for rare or threatened
29 species, and biological diversity areas possessing unique, exemplary or
30 significant natural community requiring special protection, will not be
31 adversely affected by the operation of a float plane consistent with the
32 provisions of this section.
33 3. A qualified disabled veteran may obtain a permit for the use of a
34 float plane on designated bodies of water pursuant to this subdivision.
35 Such permit will authorize travel by a float plane to areas designated
36 in accordance with subdivision two of this section.
37 a. The applicant must present certification of his/her qualifying
38 disability upon application, unless the person has an obvious, visually
39 identifiable permanent qualifying disability, or the applicant presents
40 a non-ambulatory hunter permit.
41 b. The applicant must submit a completed application to any regional
42 office of the department in which a designated body of water is located.
43 c. The permit shall specify the authorization for up to three compan-
44 ions to accompany the qualified person with a disability, if he or she
45 chooses to be so accompanied. The permit shall specify that access is
46 limited to designated and specifically identified water bodies within
47 the Adirondack park.
48 d. The application package shall be processed in the region as a
49 routine permit, with a ten workday maximum processing time.
50 e. The permit may be issued for any time period, not to exceed one
51 year from date of issue, except that a permit may be issued for a period
52 of five years to a qualified veteran with a disability either certified
53 or visually obvious as permanent.
54 f. The permit may be renewed without recertifying the disability,
55 provided that the request for renewal is within the term of the disabil-
56 ity as described in the original certification.
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1 g. The department will assure that renewal applications are sent to
2 permittees, other than those with a permanent disability. The reminder
3 notice will include a questionnaire to survey the efficiency of this
4 permit system. Questionnaires will also be sent routinely to those
5 persons with a five-year permit.
6 4. a. The department shall deny the application for a permit if the
7 applicant does not meet the qualifying requirements. The applicant may
8 reapply at any time, once the conditions for receiving the permit are
9 met.
10 b. The applicant may appeal the denial of a permit to the regional
11 supervisor of natural resources for the region in which the permit was
12 issued within thirty workdays of the date of notification of denial. If
13 requested by the applicant, the regional supervisor of natural resources
14 will schedule a meeting between the applicant and the regional land
15 manager. The regional supervisor of natural resources shall render a
16 decision within ten workdays of receipt of the applicant's appeal or
17 from the date of the meeting. The applicant may appeal the decision of
18 the regional supervisor of natural resources to the regional director
19 within thirty workdays of the second denial. The regional director will
20 issue a final decision within fifteen workdays of receipt of the appeal.
21 5. a. A permit may be suspended or revoked at any time during the
22 duration of the permit if the conditions of the permit are not met, the
23 permittee and/or a companion is in violation of any provisions of this
24 section or of any rule or regulation promulgated by the department or
25 the Adirondack park agency or any other relevant state or federal laws.
26 For minor violations, the regional land manager will follow the proce-
27 dures for the suspension of a permit, as described in this section.
28 However, for major violations, the regional land manager may revoke the
29 permit immediately. The permittee may appeal the revocation, following
30 the procedure for appealing a revocation.
31 b. The permit holder shall be given notice of pending suspension by
32 certified mail, return receipt requested, and shall be allowed ten work-
33 days from date of receipt to conform to the conditions or provisions of
34 the permit. However, if the situation for compliance is deemed critical
35 by the regional land manager, he or she may immediately suspend the
36 permit. If the permit is suspended, notice shall also be given that,
37 unless the conditions or provisions of the permit are adhered to, the
38 permit shall be revoked at the end of the ten-workday suspension period.
39 c. The regional land manager shall initiate the procedure to suspend
40 the permit, preparing a memorandum citing the reason for suspension to
41 the regional supervisor of natural resources. The regional supervisor of
42 natural resources shall notify the permittee in writing of the impending
43 suspension, the reason or reasons justifying the suspension and the
44 requirement or requirements to rectify the situation.
45 d. If a permittee fails to comply with the conditions to lift the
46 suspension, the regional supervisor of natural resources shall proceed
47 with notification of the revocation of the permit.
48 e. A permittee may appeal the revocation of a permit to the regional
49 supervisor of natural resources for the region in which the permit was
50 issued within thirty workdays of the date of notification. If requested
51 by a permittee, the regional supervisor of natural resources will sched-
52 ule a meeting between the permittee and the regional land manager. The
53 regional supervisor of natural resources shall render a decision within
54 ten workdays of receipt of the permittee's appeal or from the date of
55 the meeting. The permittee may appeal the decision of the regional
56 supervisor of natural resources to the regional director within fifteen
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1 workdays of the denial of the appeal. The regional director will issue a
2 final decision within fifteen workdays of receipt of the appeal.
3 f. A permittee shall not be authorized to use the permit during the
4 term of the suspension, revocation or appeal process.
5 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
6 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.