Bill Text: NY S06621 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Enacts the "commuter rail employee rights protection act".

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION [S06621 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S06621-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6621

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                       May 1, 2023
                                       ___________

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

        AN ACT concerning protections for employees of the Metro-North  Commuter
          Railroad  company  and the Long Island Rail Road company, wholly owned
          corporations of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority operating as
          common carriers engaged in interstate commerce

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

     1    Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
     2  the "commuter rail employee rights protection act".
     3    § 2. The Metro-North Commuter Railroad company  and  the  Long  Island
     4  Rail  Road  company and any of their successors and assigns who operate,
     5  manage, or develop the railroad system within the counties  of  Suffolk,
     6  Nassau,  Queens,  Kings, New York, Bronx, Westchester, Rockland, Orange,
     7  Ulster, Putnam, Dutchess, Sullivan, Greene, Columbia, Albany, and  Rens-
     8  selaer  waive  any  defense  of  jurisdictional or substantive sovereign
     9  immunity arising out of any state or federal claim or  cause  of  action
    10  against  it  or its successors and assigns. In addition, the Metro-North
    11  Commuter Railroad company and the Long Island Rail Road company and  any
    12  of  their  successors  and  assigns  who operate, manage, or develop any
    13  municipally owned and operated commuter railroad  operating  within  the
    14  general  system  of  railroading  within  the state of New York shall be
    15  subject to the provisions of all federal railroad  laws,  including  the
    16  "Railway  Labor  Act"  (45 U.S.C. s.151 et seq.), the "Federal Employers
    17  Liability Act" (45 U.S.C. s.51 et seq.), the "Railroad Retirement Act of
    18  1937" (45 U.S.C. s. 231 et seq.), the "Railroad Retirement Tax Act"  (26
    19  U.S.C.  s.  3201  et  seq.), the Federal Railroad Safety Laws (49 U.S.C.
    20  s.20101 et seq.),  whistleblower  laws,  discrimination  laws,  and  the
    21  "Interstate  Commerce Act" (49 U.S.C. s.10501 et seq). Such waiver shall
    22  be retroactive to any lawsuit currently pending in any state or  federal
    23  court in the state of New York.
    24    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11057-01-3