Bill Text: NY A03928 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Declares the waters of the state to be public trust resources.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to environmental conservation [A03928 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A03928-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          3928

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 29, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of A. ENGLEBRIGHT, GUNTHER, ZEBROWSKI, L. ROSENTHAL,
          CAHILL, ABINANTI, WEPRIN, COLTON -- read  once  and  referred  to  the
          Committee on Environmental Conservation

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  environmental  conservation law, in relation to
          declaring the waters of the state as public trust resources

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Subdivision  13  of  section 15-0103 of the environmental
     2  conservation law is amended to read as follows:
     3    13. All the waters of  this  state  are  deemed  to  be  public  trust
     4  resources. The waters of the state are valuable public natural resources
     5  and  this  state has a duty as trustee to conserve and manage its waters
     6  effectively for the use and enjoyment of present and future  inhabitants
     7  and for the protection of the environment. It is in the best interest of
     8  the  state  that provision be made for the regulation and supervision of
     9  activities that deplete, defile, damage or  otherwise  adversely  affect
    10  the waters of the state and land resources associated therewith.
    11    §  2.  The  opening  paragraph of section 15-0105 of the environmental
    12  conservation law is amended to read as follows:
    13    In  recognition  that  the  waters  of  the  state  are  public  trust
    14  resources,  and  in  recognition  of  its sovereign duty to conserve and
    15  control its water resources for the benefit of all  inhabitants  of  the
    16  state, it is hereby declared to be the public policy of the state of New
    17  York that:
    18    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.



         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08694-01-1