Bill Text: NY S03337 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
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: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 19-1)
Status: (Passed) 2019-11-04 - SIGNED CHAP.442 [S03337 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S03337-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3337--C Cal. No. 305 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN SENATE February 5, 2019 ___________ Introduced by Sens. GAUGHRAN, LAVALLE, BROOKS, HARCKHAM, HOYLMAN, KAMIN- SKY, KAPLAN, METZGER, SERRANO, SKOUFIS, THOMAS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- reported favorably from said committee, ordered to first and second report, ordered to a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading -- passed by Senate and delivered to the Assem- bly, recalled, vote reconsidered, restored to third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third read- ing 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-h to read as follows: 3 § 214-h. Certain actions by public water suppliers to recover damages 4 for injury to property. 1. In this section: 5 (a) "Contaminant" means any physical, chemical, biological or radio- 6 logical substance or matter in water and includes but is not limited to 7 an emerging contaminant listed pursuant to section eleven hundred twelve 8 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 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03302-14-9S. 3337--C 2 1 connections or regularly serves an average of at least twenty-five indi- 2 viduals daily at least sixty days out of the year. 3 (d) "Wholesale water supplier" means a person that owns, manages or 4 operates a public water system that treats a source of water supply as 5 necessary to produce finished water and then delivers some or all of 6 that finished water to a public water supplier. 7 (e) "Source of water supply" means any groundwater aquifer or other 8 source from which water is taken either periodically or continuously 9 for drinking, kitchen, cooking or food-processing purposes, or which has 10 been designated for present or future use as a source of water supply 11 for domestic or municipal purposes. 12 (f) "Plant intake" means the works or structures at the head of a 13 conduit through which water is diverted from a source of water supply 14 into the treatment plant by a public water supplier. 15 (g) "Well" means any excavation used for obtaining water by a public 16 water supplier. 17 (h) "Raw water" means water immediately before the first or only point 18 of disinfection or other treatment. 19 2. Notwithstanding any other law that provides for a shorter limita- 20 tions period, any civil claim or cause of action brought by a public 21 water supplier or wholesale water supplier against any person to recover 22 damages for injury to property owned, managed or operated by a public 23 water supplier or a wholesale water supplier resulting from the presence 24 of a contaminant in a source of water supply shall be commenced within 25 three years of the latest of any of the following: 26 (a) the detection of a contaminant in the raw water of each well or 27 plant intake sampling point in excess of any notification level, action 28 level, maximum contaminant level, or maximum contaminant level goal 29 established by the commissioner of health, the department of health or 30 the United States Environmental Protection Agency for that contaminant; 31 (b) the last wrongful act by any person whose conduct contributed to 32 the presence of a contaminant in a source of water supply or the raw 33 water of each well or plant intake sampling point; or 34 (c) the date the contaminant is last detected in the raw water of each 35 well or plant intake sampling point in excess of any notification level, 36 action level, maximum contaminant level, or maximum contaminant level 37 goal established by the commissioner of health, the department of health 38 or the United States Environmental Protection Agency for that contam- 39 inant. 40 3. This three-year period shall apply to each well and each plant 41 intake for each contaminant separately, and the expiration of the three- 42 year period at one well or plant intake shall not affect the three-year 43 period for another well or plant intake. 44 4. Nothing in this section shall abridge or limit a public water 45 supplier's or a wholesale water supplier's right to bring an action to 46 abate an imminent threat of contamination of any well or plant intake or 47 to recover as damages the costs of such abatement. 48 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
