Bill Text: NY S03197 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Directs the attorney general to bring legal actions against the National Marine Fisheries Services or any other federal or state agency challenging existing inequitable fishing quotas that discriminate against New York state commercial fishermen.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-06-20 - COMMITTED TO RULES [S03197 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S03197-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
            S. 3197                                                  A. 2514
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                SENATE - ASSEMBLY
                                    January 20, 2017
                                       ___________
        IN SENATE -- Introduced by Sen. LAVALLE -- read twice and ordered print-
          ed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental
          Conservation
        IN  ASSEMBLY  --  Introduced by M. of A. THIELE, MURRAY, PALUMBO -- read
          once and referred to the Committee on Environmental Conservation
        AN ACT in relation to directing the state attorney general to bring  any
          and  all  legal actions against the National Marine Fisheries Services
          or any other federal or interstate agency challenging existing inequi-
          table fishing quotas that discriminate against New York state  commer-
          cial fishermen
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Legislative findings. The Magnuson-Stevens  Act  (MSA)  was
     2  enacted  by the United States Congress in 1976 to restrict foreign fish-
     3  ing vessels in the United States offshore waters from  3  miles  to  200
     4  miles  off  the  shoreline.  The  MSA also sought to regulate fishing in
     5  federal waters by establishing various management tools such as a  state
     6  by  state  quota allocation system for commercial fishermen. These state
     7  by state quotas created by the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council
     8  and the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Marine Fisheries Service,
     9  pursuant to the MSA, are based upon  faulty  and  incomplete  collection
    10  data,  which  discriminate  against commercial fishermen in the state of
    11  New York. As a result of  these  discriminatory  practices,  New  York's
    12  quota  for  black sea bass, bluefish, scup, and summer flounder are much
    13  lower than would be allocated under a  fair  non-discriminatory  system.
    14  For example, New York's summer flounder quota was less than half of that
    15  allocated  to  Rhode  Island,  New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina.
    16  This discriminatory quota system has resulted  in  unwarranted  economic
    17  and job losses. It is the purpose of this act to direct the state attor-
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04089-01-7
        S. 3197                             2                            A. 2514
     1  ney general to commence legal proceedings challenging this discriminato-
     2  ry fishing quota system.
     3    § 2. The state attorney general is hereby directed to commence any and
     4  all legal actions against the National Marine Fisheries Services and any
     5  other  federal  or  interstate agency necessary to overturn said fishing
     6  quotas as arbitrary, capricious and discriminatory against residents  of
     7  the state of New York.
     8    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.