Bill Text: NY S01848 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to liability of the state for damages caused by reported defects and potholes if the report was made fourteen days or more before the damage occurred; establishes an interactive website for reporting defects and potholes on the state highway system and thruway.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION [S01848 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S01848-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1848

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 17, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation

        AN ACT to amend the highway law, in relation to liability of  the  state
          for  damages caused by reported defects and potholes; and to amend the
          transportation law, in relation to establishing an interactive website
          for reporting defects and potholes on the  state  highway  system  and
          thruway

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

     1    Section 1. Section 58 of the highway law, as amended by  chapter  1110
     2  of the laws of 1971, is amended to read as follows:
     3    §  58.  Liability  of state for damages. The state shall not be liable
     4  for damages suffered by  any  person  from  defects  in  state  highways
     5  between  the  sixteenth day of November and the last day of April except
     6  when the defect found to cause the damages was reported by telephone  or
     7  by  an online report submitted to the telephone number or website desig-
     8  nated by the department to receive such reports and fourteen  days  have
     9  elapsed  from  the  date the initial report was submitted and the defect
    10  was not repaired and, except between  the  first  day  of  May  and  the
    11  fifteenth  day  of  November  on  such highways as are maintained by the
    12  state under such system as the commissioner of transportation may  adopt
    13  pursuant  to  section  twelve,  but the liability for such damages shall
    14  otherwise  remain  as  now  provided   by   law,   notwithstanding   the
    15  construction  or  improvement  and  maintenance  of such highways by the
    16  state  under  this  chapter;  but  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be
    17  construed  to  impose  on the state any liability for defects in bridges
    18  over which the state has no control. Within the limits  of  incorporated
    19  villages the state shall maintain a width of pavement equal to the width
    20  of  pavement  constructed  or improved at the expense of the state, if a
    21  state highway, the location of the state's portion of such roadway with-
    22  in said incorporated limits to be determined by the center line  of  the

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03616-01-3
        S. 1848                             2

     1  roadway as shown on the plans on file with the department of transporta-
     2  tion  and  the  state shall be liable for damages to persons or property
     3  only when such damage shall occur as a result of the defective condition
     4  of the portion of improved highway as above described.
     5    §  2.  Section 14 of the transportation law is amended by adding a new
     6  subdivision 37 to read as follows:
     7    37. The commissioner shall establish an interactive website  by  which
     8  persons  may  report  the locations of defects and potholes on the state
     9  highway system and the New York  state  thruway  and  receive,  at  such
    10  person's  request,  notification  when repairs to the reported defect or
    11  pothole have been  completed.  The  commissioner  shall  also  post  the
    12  locations of each reported defect or pothole on such interactive website
    13  until such time as such defect or pothole is repaired.
    14    § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
    15  it shall have become a law.  Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
    16  ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
    17  tation  of  this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
    18  completed on or before such effective date.