S 4694: Requires the suspension of the collection of tolls on public roads during a state declaration of disaster emergency on the New York state thruway.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4694 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 11, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation AN ACT to amend the public authorities law, in relation to the suspen- sion of tolls on public roads during a state declaration of disaster emergency The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 361 of the public 2 authorities law, as amended by chapter 621 of the laws of 1998, is 3 amended to read as follows: 4 (a) In addition to the powers conferred by the vehicle and traffic 5 law, the authority is hereby authorized to promulgate such rules and 6 regulations for the use and occupancy of the thruway as may be necessary 7 and proper for the public safety and convenience, for the preservation 8 of its property and for the collection of tolls and provided further 9 that the authority, in consultation with the departments of environ- 10 mental conservation and transportation, is hereby authorized to promul- 11 gate rules and regulations necessary to implement a heavy duty vehicle 12 roadside inspection program pursuant to section 19-0320 of the environ- 13 mental conservation law. Such rules and regulations shall authorize and 14 require the suspension of the collection of such tolls upon any person 15 using and occupying public roads on which tolls are collected during a 16 state declared emergency evacuation declared as a result of a natural or 17 a man-made disaster, and subject to a required evacuation for such 18 disaster, during a state declaration of disaster emergency pursuant to 19 section twenty-eight of the executive law. 20 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after 21 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend- 22 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen- 23 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and 24 completed on or before such effective date. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06810-01-5