Bill Text: NY A05477 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Provides that the statute of limitations for public water suppliers and wholesale water suppliers to commence an action for injury to property shall be three years.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 31-8)
Status: (Passed) 2019-11-04 - SIGNED CHAP.442 [A05477 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A05477-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Provides that the statute of limitations for public water suppliers and wholesale water suppliers to commence an action for injury to property shall be three years.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 31-8)
Status: (Passed) 2019-11-04 - SIGNED CHAP.442 [A05477 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A05477-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5477 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 12, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. THIELE, STERN, LiPETRI, ENGLEBRIGHT, LAVINE, D'URSO, MONTESANO, MIKULIN, RAIA, RA -- read once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to the statute of limitations for public water suppliers and wholesale water suppliers to commence an action for injury to property The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The civil practice law and rules is amended by adding a new 2 section 214-g to read as follows: 3 § 214-g. Action to recover damages for injury to property by public 4 water supplier. 1. In this section: 5 (a) "Contaminant" means any physical, chemical, microbiological or 6 radiological substance or matter in water and includes but is not limit- 7 ed to an emerging contaminant listed pursuant to section eleven hundred 8 twelve of the public health law. 9 (b) "Person" means an individual, corporation, public corporation, 10 company, association, partnership, or entity of the state or federal 11 government. 12 (c) "Public water supplier" means a person that owns, manages or oper- 13 ates a community, noncommunity or nontransient noncommunity water system 14 that provides water to the public for human consumption through pipes or 15 other constructed conveyances, if such system has at least five service 16 connections or regularly serves an average of at least twenty-five indi- 17 viduals daily at least sixty days out of the year. 18 (d) "Wholesale water supplier" means a person that owns, manages or 19 operates a public water system that treats a source of water supply as 20 necessary to produce finished water and then delivers some or all of 21 that finished water to a public water supplier. 22 (e) "Source of water supply" means any groundwater aquifer or waterc- 23 ourse from which water is taken either periodically or continuously for EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03302-02-9A. 5477 2 1 drinking, culinary or food-processing purposes, or which has been desig- 2 nated for present or future use as a source of water supply for domestic 3 or municipal purposes. 4 (f) "Plant intake" means the works or structures at the head of a 5 conduit through which water is diverted from a source of water supply 6 into the treatment plant by a public water supplier. 7 (g) "Well" means any excavation used for obtaining water by a public 8 water supplier. 9 (h) "Raw water" means water immediately before the first or only point 10 of disinfection or other treatment. 11 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of section two hundred fourteen or 12 two hundred fourteen-c of this article, or any other provision of law to 13 the contrary, an action to recover damages for injury to property owned, 14 managed or operated by a public water supplier or a wholesale water 15 supplier resulting from the presence of a contaminant in a source of 16 water supply shall be commenced within three years of the latest of any 17 of the following: 18 (a) the detection of a contaminant in the raw water of each well or 19 plant intake sampling point in excess of any notification level, action 20 level, maximum contaminant level, or maximum contaminant level goal 21 established by the commissioner of health, the department of health or 22 the United States Environmental Protection Agency for that contaminant; 23 (b) the last wrongful act by any person whose conduct substantially 24 contributed to the presence of a contaminant in a source of water supply 25 or the raw water of each well or plant intake sampling point; or 26 (c) the date the contaminant is last detected in the raw water of each 27 well or plant intake sampling point in excess of any notification level, 28 action level, maximum contaminant level, or maximum contaminant level 29 goal established by the commissioner of health, the department of health 30 or the United States Environmental Protection Agency for that contam- 31 inant. 32 3. This three-year period shall apply to each well and each plant 33 intake for each contaminant separately, and the expiration of the three- 34 year period at one well or plant intake shall not affect the three-year 35 period for another well or plant intake. 36 4. Nothing in this section shall abridge or limit a public water 37 supplier's or a wholesale water supplier's right to bring an action to 38 abate an imminent threat of contamination of any well or plant intake or 39 to recover as damages the costs of such abatement. 40 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.