Bill Text: NY A05953 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires legislative approval of any increased fees, rental or charges for the use of the thruway; provides that any shortfalls in revenue resulting from a denied proposal shall be made whole by the general fund.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to corporations, authorities and commissions [A05953 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A05953-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          5953

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      March 2, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the public authorities law, in relation to requiring
          legislative approval of increases in fees, rentals and charges for the
          use of the thruway system

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

     1    Section 1. Subdivision 8 of section 354 of the public authorities law,
     2  as amended by section 2 of part TT of chapter 54 of the laws of 2016, is
     3  amended and a new subdivision 8-a is added to read as follows:
     4    8.  Subject to agreements with noteholders or bondholders and legisla-
     5  tive approval pursuant to subdivision eight-a of this  section,  to  fix
     6  and collect such fees, rentals and charges for the use of the thruway or
     7  any  part  thereof  necessary  or convenient, with an adequate margin of
     8  safety, to produce sufficient revenue to meet the expense of maintenance
     9  and operation and to fulfill the terms of any agreements made  with  the
    10  holders  of  its  notes or bonds, and to establish the rights and privi-
    11  leges granted upon payment thereof; provided, however,  that  tolls  may
    12  only  be  imposed  for  the  passage  through  locks and lift bridges by
    13  vessels which are propelled in whole or in part by mechanical power; and
    14  provided further that no tolls shall be imposed or  collected  prior  to
    15  the first day of April, nineteen hundred ninety-three.
    16    8-a. The authority shall submit a written report to the legislature at
    17  least  one  hundred  eighty  days  prior  to  the date when any proposed
    18  increase in fees, rentals and charges for the use of the thruway  system
    19  is scheduled to take effect. Such report shall include justification for
    20  the  proposed increase, and information setting forth the current finan-
    21  cial condition of the authority. The legislature may require  any  addi-
    22  tional  data  or information that it deems necessary in such report.  If
    23  the legislature, or the appropriate committees thereof, upon  review  of
    24  the  report  submitted  to  it by the authority, finds that the proposed

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03439-01-1
        A. 5953                             2

     1  increases are not convenient or necessary to produce sufficient  revenue
     2  to  meet  the  expense  of  maintenance  and operation of infrastructure
     3  existing prior to any proposed increase then no proposed increase  shall
     4  take  effect  until  approved  by  a  majority vote of each house of the
     5  legislature.  Provided, however, that legislative approval shall not  be
     6  required  to  fix and collect such fees, rentals and charges for the use
     7  of the thruway system or any part thereof, to produce sufficient revenue
     8  to fulfill the terms of any agreements, formed prior  to  the  effective
     9  date of this subdivision, with the holders of its notes or bonds.
    10    § 2. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section or part
    11  of  this act shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to
    12  be invalid, such judgment shall not affect,  impair  or  invalidate  the
    13  remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause,
    14  sentence,  paragraph,  section  or part thereof directly involved in the
    15  controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered.
    16    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.