Boondocks No. 23

Friday, April 13, 2007

List of Bills in the Legislature Regarding ATVs. Just in case you were wondering—includes two bills on the agenda for Assembly Tourism Committee:

• \A1492 Magee—Prohibits the operation of all-terrain vehicles on school grounds, and baseball, football and soccer fields, without the permission of the owner thereof
• A.1889 Crouch—Provides that certified handicapped individuals may use ATV's on public land for transportation purposes only, during the hunting season
• A.2403 Morelle—Relates to the registration of all-terrain vehicles
• A.2677 Morelle (MS)—Relates to the enforcement of provisions regulating all terrain vehicles; repealer
• A.2747 Morelle (MS)—Relates to the enforcement of the operation of all terrain vehicles and the registration of such vehicles; repealer
• A.3370 Townsend—Provides for an exemption requirement from registration for ATVs operated on lands owned by the owner or to which the owner has certain contractual rights
• A.3811 Barclay (MS)—Provides for the development and maintenance of trails for all terrain vehicles; makes a $10,000,000 appropriation; repealer
• S.578 LARKIN—Prohibits the operation of all-terrain vehicles on school grounds, and baseball, football and soccer fields, without the permission of the owner thereof
• S.1160 KRUGER—Prohibits the operation and storage of all terrain vehicles in certain places
• S.4380 GRIFFO—Relates to the definition of all terrain vehicle or "ATV"

List of Snowmobile Bills. Here too are bills relating to snomwobiles this year.

• A.343 Pheffer (MS)—Conforms state law to recent federal changes pertaining to motor vehicle retail leasing to enhance consumer protection; repealer
• A.464 Seminerio—Includes causing the death of another while operating a vehicle with three or more suspensions as vehicular manslaughter
• A.709 Christensen (MS)—Relates to the hours of operation of snowmobiles
• A.813 Destito (MS)—Provides a tax abatement for landowners allowing snowmobiling on such land
• A.916 Englebright—Prohibits the operation of all-terrain vehicles in the state forest preserve, Long Island central pine barrens area and Albany pine bush preserve
• A.1042 Thiele—Provides limited liability on owners of areas used by skateboarders
• A.1602 Magee (MS)—Establishes a non-trail snowmobile registration for snowmobiles which shall be used solely for the purpose of gaining access to hunting and fishing areas
• A.2054 O'Mara—Provides for certain uses of premises for which no duty is owed to keep premises safe
• A.2128 Lafayette—Provides that insurers must withhold and remit all state and local sales taxes and compensating use taxes on property damage awards for motor vehicles
• A.2401 Morelle (MS)—Provides a tax credit in the amount of five hundred dollars for the purchase and registration of a four-stroke snowmobile
• A.2440 Sweeney (MS)—Penalizes crimes of vehicular assault and vehicular manslaughter as felonies when committed while driving with a suspended or revoked license
• A.2463 Morelle—Makes provisions relating to historical snowmobile and imposes a fee upon resident and nonresident owners of a historical snowmobile
• A.2485 Morelle—Requires that no snowmobile policies be implemented or trail length be altered until the completion of a survey of the existing snowmobile trails
• A.2513 Hawley (MS)—Relates to landowner recreational liability and farm and horseback riding operation liability relief; and enacts the "equine activity safety code act"
• A.3057 Townsend—Exempts snowmobiles to be used for sport fishing on a body of water only from certain additional registration fees
• A.3442 Galef (MS)—Creates the felonies of aggravated vehicular assault and vehicular murder
• A.3511 Lentol—Relates to the offenses of vehicular assault and vehicular manslaughter
• A.3738 Barclay (MS)—Exempts snowmobiles used solely for sport fishing on a frozen body of water or solely for access to hunting or trapping lands from certain additional fees
• A.3939 Koon (MS)—Limits liability of landowners for lands used for recreational activities
• A.4033 Fields—Relates to vehicular assault and vehicular manslaughter
• A.4143 Young—Establishes the crime of operating a vehicle while fatigued
• A.4746 Cahill (MS)—Provides for the state to assume all costs of basic quality education; repealer
• A.5099 Burling (MS)—Provides for certain uses of premises for which no duty is owed to keep premises safe and the inherent risk of use of off highway recreational vehicles
• A.5376 McEneny (MS)—Exempts bicycle, motorcycle, snowmobile and equestrian helmets from sales and use tax
• A.5576 Townsend—Establishes a safety in snowmobiling code
• A.5772 Ortiz—Provides that drivers who cause accidents which result in serious physical injury or death while talking on a cellular phone shall be subject to criminal penalties
• A.6445 Barclay (MS)—Requires the state office of parks, recreation and historic preservation to evaluate, recommend and dedicate parcels of land in Onondaga county as parkland
• A.6809 Destito (MS)—Limits railroads' liability to intruders and defines offenses of trespasses on and damage to railroad property and establishes the railroad crossing safety fund
• A.6970 Schimminger (MS)—Makes certain convictions for operating under the influence predicates for other operating under the influence convictions
• S.4 BRUNO—Relates to appropriations for general support of public education; changing the state fiscal year and other budget related reforms
• S.796 FLANAGAN—Exempts bicycle, motorcycle, snowmobile and equestrian helmets from sales and use tax
• S.895 WINNER—Provides for certain uses of premises for which no duty is owed to keep premises safe
• S.1587 LIBOUS—Limits railroads' liability to intruders and defines offenses of trespasses on and damage to railroad property and establishes the railroad crossing safety fund
• S.1697 ROBACH—Creates the felonies of aggravated vehicular assault and vehicular murder
• S.2142 WRIGHT—Establishes a non-trail snowmobile registration for snowmobiles which shall be used solely for the purpose of gaining access to hunting and fishing areas
• S.2203 VALESKY—Provides for the transfer of certain refunds for motor fuel and diesel motor fuel used in snowmobiles and snowmobile trail groomers to the trail fund
• S.2488 STAVISKY—Establishes the crime of operating a vehicle while fatigued
• S.2761 MARCELLINO—Relates to the liability of landowners who permit recreational uses of their land
• S.2988 RATH—Provides a reduced snowmobile registration fee to landowners who grant access to their land by official NY snowmobile clubs or other state designated trails
• S.3271 DEFRANCISCO—Makes certain convictions for operating under the influence predicates for other operating under the influence convictions
• S.3271 DEFRANCISCO—Makes certain convictions for operating under the influence predicates for other operating under the influence convictions
• S.3309 WRIGHT—Designates particular town roads as low-volume roads and sets new special standards for maintenance of such roads
• S.3950 RATH—Expands provisions relating to operation of a snowmobile while intoxicated to include bodies of water or private property of another
• S.3990 RATH—Relates to the threshold for poperty damage in snowmobile accident reporting
• S.4151 LIBOUS—Relates to the measurement of blood alcohol content
• S.4263 MARCELLINO—Relates to landowner liability for injury during recreational use of property
• S.4380 GRIFFO—Relates to the definition of all terrain vehicle or "ATV"

CAFO Hell Blog and Gillibrand. Browsing through THOMAS I happened to notice that Congresswomen Gillibrand is a co-sponsor of legislation, H.R. 1398,that would act "to amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 to provide that manure shall not be considered to be a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant."

In other words, this would totally exempt manure from the Superfund law, no matter what the manure discharge was or what the concentration of the manure is. We aren't talking about run off from a farm field that's had either dry or wet manure spread on it—we are talking about when a slurry tank leaks and kills fish downstream for many miles.

Now to be sure, there are some people like those over at the CAFO Hell Blog that get a little too bent out of shape over manure. But we have both state and federal freedom to farm laws for that purpose. We also have reasonable regulations to control run-off and emissions from medium to large scale farms, that could pose a serious negative effect on our environment.

We aren't talking about the dairy with a hundred cows here, the person with a dozen horses, or even the cattle yard with two hundred head. We are talking more then that, and that kind of farming needs to have scrunity and liability when things do go wrong.

Now, I know Kirsten Gillibrand wants to be on the right side of farmers here, and she thinks she scoring points with the dairymen with the bigger herds. But there are a lot in her district that aren't that size or pose that kind of problem. And those who do should be held liable. P'Link