Bill Text: NY S00390 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Enhances the regulation of the provision of services of guides and the outfitters who procure guides.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-03 - REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION [S00390 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S00390-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                           390
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                       (Prefiled)
                                     January 4, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  LITTLE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conservation
        AN ACT to amend the  environmental  conservation  law,  in  relation  to
          guides and outfitters
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Section 11-0533 of the environmental conservation  law,  as
     2  added by chapter 398 of the laws of 1985, is amended to read as follows:
     3  § 11-0533. [Licensing of guides] Guides and outfitters.
     4    1. Definitions. As used in this section[, the term "guide"]:
     5    a. "Guide" shall mean [a person] an individual who offers services for
     6  hire  part  or  all  of which includes directing, instructing, or aiding
     7  another in fishing, hunting,  camping,  hiking,  white  water  canoeing,
     8  kayaking and rafting, or rock and ice climbing.
     9    b.    "Outfitter"  shall  mean any person soliciting to provide or who
    10  provides, for compensation, a guide.
    11    2. All guides engaging in the business of guiding  on  all  lands  and
    12  waters  of  the  state shall possess a license issued by the department,
    13  except for any [persons]  individuals  operating  or  assisting  upon  a
    14  public  vessel  for  hire  (passenger carrying vessels), licensed by the
    15  United States Coast Guard or New York state, upon the Atlantic Ocean and
    16  all other marine and coastal waters, tidal waters including  the  Hudson
    17  river  up  to  the Troy barrier dam, St. Lawrence river, Great Lakes and
    18  the navigable portion of their tributaries, and other navigable  waters,
    19  as determined by the department.
    20    3. Except while guiding for the purposes of hunting and/or fishing, no
    21  license  as  defined  in section 11-0701 of this article is required for
    22  such acts.
    23    4. Employees of children's camps as  defined  in  subdivision  one  of
    24  section  one  thousand  four  hundred  of the public health law shall be
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00036-01-7
        S. 390                              2
     1  exempt from the provisions of subdivisions one and two of this  section,
     2  provided  such  activities  are  carried  out  within  the scope of said
     3  employment.
     4    5.  A  license as required under subdivision two of this section shall
     5  be issued for a period of five calendar years and the fee therefor shall
     6  be established by the department, not to exceed two hundred dollars  for
     7  residents and five hundred dollars for non-residents.
     8    6.  Every  licensed guide while engaged in guiding shall wear in plain
     9  sight identification furnished by the department. Licensed guides  shall
    10  be  at  least eighteen years of age. They shall be skilled in the use of
    11  boats and canoes whenever use of these craft is required  and  shall  be
    12  persons  competent to guide one or more of the following: camping, hunt-
    13  ing, fishing, hiking, white water canoeing/rafting, rock or ice climbing
    14  or other similar activities. The department shall by  regulation  estab-
    15  lish standards and procedures for testing and licensing of guides.
    16    7.  [Any] No outfitter shall provide for guide services a guide who is
    17  not licensed pursuant to this section.
    18    8.  Every licensed guide or the outfitter providing  the  services  of
    19  such  a  guide  shall, prior to engaging in guiding or providing a guide
    20  for service, provide a written disclosure of the terms of employment  of
    21  the guide by the client, including the date, time period, cost and char-
    22  acter  of  the services to be provided. Such written disclosure shall be
    23  signed by the client prior to the provision of  guide  services  and  be
    24  maintained  for inspection by the guide or the outfitter for a period of
    25  two years.
    26    9. No individual shall engage  in  guiding  while  in  an  intoxicated
    27  condition,  as defined in section 11-1201 of this article. No individual
    28  shall engage in guiding when his or her  ability  to  guide  creates  an
    29  unreasonable  risk  of injury or death to himself or herself, or another
    30  human life. Any individual who guides while in an intoxicated  condition
    31  or an impaired condition, as defined in section 11-1201 of this article,
    32  shall  be  subject  to the same rules of evidence, standards, procedures
    33  and penalties established pursuant to sections 11-1205  and  11-1209  of
    34  this article as if he or she were hunting while intoxicated.
    35    10.  No outfitter shall knowingly provide guides who are, appear to be
    36  or are suspected to be in  an  intoxicated  or  impaired  condition,  as
    37  defined in section 11-1201 of this article.
    38    11.  For any licensed guide who violates any provision of this chapter
    39  or who makes any false statement or submits false documentation  in  his
    40  or  her  application for a license [shall], or violates any provision of
    41  the penal law while guiding, in addition to any other penalties,  [imme-
    42  diately  surrender  his  license  to]  the  department[,  which] may [be
    43  revoked by the department] suspend such guide's license for up  to  [one
    44  year  following  the  date  of such surrender] two years, or revoke such
    45  license; provided that such suspension or revocation shall become effec-
    46  tive after a  hearing  or  opportunity  to  be  heard  pursuant  to  the
    47  provisions of department regulations, unless a hearing is waived by such
    48  guide.  If  the alleged violation is for guiding while in an intoxicated
    49  or impaired condition, or the guide refuses to take  a  breath  test  or
    50  chemical  test,  and  there  was a threat of harm or loss of life to the
    51  guide's client, the  department  may  immediately  suspend  the  guide's
    52  license  pending  any  prosecution,  provided  that the department shall
    53  offer the guide an opportunity to have a hearing  within  fifteen  days.
    54  For purposes of this subdivision, "threat of harm or loss of life" shall
    55  include  taking  a  client boating, kayaking, canoeing, rafting, hunting
        S. 390                              3
     1  with a firearm or bow, rock climbing or ice climbing while in an intoxi-
     2  cated or impaired condition.
     3    [8.]  12.  The  department  shall [publish] maintain a current list of
     4  licensed guides [annually] on the department's website.
     5    § 2. Section 71-0921 of the environmental conservation law is  amended
     6  by adding three new subdivisions 14, 15 and 16 to read as follows:
     7    14.  Violation  of subdivision two, seven or ten of section 11-0533 of
     8  this chapter shall, in the case of a first violation,  be  guilty  of  a
     9  misdemeanor  and,  upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not to
    10  exceed five thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than ninety
    11  days, or by both such fine and imprisonment; in the case of a second  or
    12  subsequent  violation, such person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and,
    13  upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not to  exceed  ten
    14  thousand  dollars  or  by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by
    15  both such fine and imprisonment.
    16    15. The department or a court may, for cause and  after  two  or  more
    17  violations  of subdivision seven or ten of section 11-0533 of this chap-
    18  ter, suspend an outfitter's privilege to provide guides for at least one
    19  year and no more than ten years.  In  determining  the  length  of  such
    20  suspension,  the department or a court shall take into consideration the
    21  seriousness of the offense.
    22    16. The department or a court may revoke the license of  a  guide,  or
    23  the  privilege of an outfitter to provide guides, for not less than five
    24  years upon a conviction of manslaughter or reckless  endangerment  while
    25  guiding  by  a  guide or by a person acting as a guide while working for
    26  the outfitter.
    27    § 3. Section 71-0925 of the environmental conservation law is  amended
    28  by adding a new subdivision 17 to read as follows:
    29    17.  If  the  violation  was  a violation of subdivision six, seven or
    30  eight of section 11-0533 of this chapter, not  less  than  five  hundred
    31  dollars.
    32    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.