STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          1308
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                    January 14, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  SERINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation
        AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation  to  exceptions
          from  prohibitions  on  the operation of agricultural plated trucks on
          certain state highways and parkways
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  Paragraphs 9 and 22 of subdivision (a) of section 1621 of
     2  the vehicle and traffic law, paragraph 9 as amended and paragraph 22  as
     3  added  by  chapter  1008  of  the  laws  of 1983, are amended to read as
     4  follows:
     5    9. Exclude  trucks,  commercial  vehicles,  tractors,  tractor-trailer
     6  combinations, tractor-semitrailer combinations, or tractor-trailer-semi-
     7  trailer  combinations  from highways specified by the commissioner. Such
     8  exclusion shall not be construed to prevent the delivery  or  pickup  of
     9  merchandise  or  other property along the highways from which such vehi-
    10  cles and combinations are otherwise excluded, nor shall  such  exclusion
    11  apply  to agricultural plated trucks directly engaged in the furtherance
    12  of the farm operation.
    13    22. Exclude trucks,  commercial  vehicles,  tractors,  tractor-trailer
    14  combinations, tractor-semitrailer combinations, or tractor-trailer-semi-
    15  trailer  combinations  in  excess  of  any designated weight, designated
    16  length, designated height, or eight feet in width, from highways or  set
    17  limits  on hours of operation of such vehicles on particular state high-
    18  ways or segments of such highways. Such exclusion shall not be construed
    19  to prevent the delivery or pickup of merchandise or other property along
    20  the highways from which such  vehicles  or  combinations  are  otherwise
    21  excluded,  nor  shall such exclusion apply to agricultural plated trucks
    22  directly engaged in the furtherance of the farm operation.
    23    § 2. Section 1621 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by  adding
    24  a new subdivision (e) to read as follows:
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06804-01-9

        S. 1308                             2
     1    (e)  1.  Notwithstanding  any  provision  of  law to the contrary, and
     2  subject to the terms and conditions set forth in paragraph two  of  this
     3  subdivision,  no  rule or regulation of the department of transportation
     4  or the office or  parks,  recreation  and  historic  preservation  shall
     5  exclude from any state highway or parkway an agricultural plated vehicle
     6  directly  engaged  in  the  furtherance  of  the farm operation. For the
     7  purposes of this section, "farm  operation"  shall  mean  the  land  and
     8  on-farm buildings, equipment, manure processing and handling facilities,
     9  and  practices  which  contribute  to  the  production,  preparation and
    10  marketing of crops, livestock and livestock  products  as  a  commercial
    11  enterprise, including a "commercial horse boarding operation," a "timber
    12  operation,"  "compost,  mulch  or  other  biomass crops" and "commercial
    13  equine operation" as defined in  subdivision  eleven  of  section  three
    14  hundred  one  of  the  agricultural and markets law. For the purposes of
    15  this section, "agricultural plated truck" shall  mean  a  truck  and  an
    16  agricultural  trailer  shall  be  a trailer, other than a coach or house
    17  trailer or semitrailer, owned by a person engaged in production by means
    18  of the planting, cultivation and harvesting of  agricultural,  vegetable
    19  and  food products of the soil, including horticultural specialties such
    20  as nursery stock, ornamental shrubs, ornamental trees and  flowers,  the
    21  raising,  feeding and care of livestock, bees and poultry or dairy farm-
    22  ing. Such agricultural truck and agricultural trailer shall be used only
    23  for the transportation of his own agricultural or dairy  commodities  or
    24  supplies  or  for  personal  passenger  use,  or use in conjunction with
    25  lumbering operations connected with but only incidental to the operation
    26  of a farm as defined in section four hundred one of this chapter.
    27    2. An agricultural plated truck shall be exempt from exclusion  pursu-
    28  ant to the provisions of this subdivision if the operation of such vehi-
    29  cle  on  a state highway or parkway meets the following terms and condi-
    30  tions:
    31    (i) the operator is operating the agricultural plated  truck  for  the
    32  furtherance of the farm operation;
    33    (ii) the vehicle weighs less than twelve thousand pounds;
    34    (iii)  the  vehicle meets the height restrictions for any such highway
    35  or parkway; and
    36    (iv) the vehicle must not operate on any such  parkway  south  of  the
    37  intersection of Interstate 84 and the Taconic Parkway.
    38    3. Nothing contained in this subdivision shall be deemed to impair the
    39  ability  of  the  governor  to waive all restrictions for operation on a
    40  state highway pursuant to a declared state of emergency.
    41    § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
    42  have  become  a  law; provided, however, that effective immediately, the
    43  addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule  or  regulation  necessary
    44  for  the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized
    45  and directed to be made and completed on or before such effective date.