Expands the products which may be purchased for public use by including renewable energy resources; increases the cost premium percentage for renewable energy generated in New York.
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the education law, in relation to enabling elementary and secondary school teachers to use public transportation to ride to and from school at no charge
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To allow elementary and secondary school teachers to ride public transportation to and from school at no charge.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: Section one amends the education law by adding a new section 3036. This section allows elementary and secondary school teachers to ride public transportation free of charge on one round-trip to and from school on any workday. The bill also provides that each school district shall provide suitable identification to enable teachers to use the benefits provided under this bill.
EFFECTS OF PRESENT LAW WHICH THIS BILL WOULD ALTER: Currently, all riders must pay subway or bus fares. Failure to pay constitutes theft of services as defined in the penal law section 165.15(3).
JUSTIFICATION: Teachers in New York state currently must travel to and from school each weekday during the school year. Those who travel by means of public transportation are not eligible for fare reductions or discounts. Students are eligible for bus passes and reduced fares but the teachers who instruct them must pay for each ride on public transportation. Recruiting and retaining qualified teachers must be a priority if New York state is to provide students at all academic levels with a quality education. Further, a highly educated workforce is one way to encourage employers to locate in New York rather than another state. Governor Pataki has proposed a number of financial incentives designed to attract new teachers and retain current personnel. These initiatives include: tuition reimbursement, fellowships, stipends and recruitment scholarships. While this bill is modest by comparison it does represent an attempt to alleviate one financial disadvantage faced by teachers in New York state. In addition, providing elementary and secondary school-teachers with free fares will encourage more use of public transportation which will result in less air and noise pollution and reduce traffic congestion in urban areas of our state.
S.2494 of 2008 01/09/08 REFERRED TO EDUCATION S.1619 of 2011 01/10/11 REFERRED TO EDUCATION 01/04/12 REFERRED TO EDUCATION
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: Unknown at present time.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect on the first day of the calendar month next succeeding the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 661 2011-2012 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (PREFILED) January 5, 2011 ___________Introduced by Sen. VALESKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to expanding the products which may be purchased for public use THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. Section 104-a of the general municipal law, as amended by chapter 468 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows: S 104-a. Purchasing of products for public use. 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of section one hundred three of this
[chapter]ARTICLE, when purchasing products the officer, board or agency of any political subdivision or of any district therein charged with the awarding of public contracts may, wherever RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES OR recycled products meet contract specifications and the price of such products is reasonably competitive, purchase such products. For the purpose of this section [and until July first, nineteen hundred ninety-six, "recycled product" shall mean any product which has been manufactured from second- ary materials, as defined in subdivision one of section two hundred sixty-one of the economic development law, and meets secondary material content requirements adopted by the office of general services under subdivision one of section one hundred seventy-seven of the state finance law for products available to the political subdivision or district under state contract or, if no such contract for such product is available, any product which meets the secondary material content requirements adopted by the political subdivision or district thereof with respect to a specific commodity procurement by such entity. On and after July first, nineteen hundred ninety-six,]: (A) "recycled product" shall mean [, for the purposes of this section,]any product which is manufactured from secondary materials, as defined in subdivision one of section two hundred sixty-one of the economicEXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03583-01-1 S. 661 2
development law, and which meets the requirements of subdivision two of section 27-0717 of the environmental conservation law and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto
[. For the purpose of this section,]; (B) "RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES" SHALL HAVE THE SAME MEANING AS SUCH TERM IS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION TWELVE OF SECTION 1-103 OF THE ENERGY LAW; (C) "reasonably competitive" shall mean: (I) that the cost of the recycled product does not exceed a cost premium of ten percent above the cost of a comparable product that is not a recycled product or, if at least fifty percent of the secondary materials utilized in the manufacture of that product are generated from the waste stream in New York state, the cost of the recycled product does not exceed a cost premium of fifteen percent above the cost of a comparable product that is not a recycled product; OR (II) THAT THE COST OF THE RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCE DOES NOT EXCEED A COST PREMIUM OF TEN PERCENT ABOVE THE COST OF A COMPARABLE PRODUCT THAT IS NOT A RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCE. 2. Whenever such officer, board or agency shall purchase or cause the purchase of printing on recycled paper pursuant to this section, he or she shall require the printed material to contain the official state recycling emblem established pursuant to subdivision two of section 27-0717 of the environmental conservation law and regulations promulgat- ed pursuant thereto if such paper has been approved by the department of environmental conservation as satisfying the requirements of such stat- ute and regulations, or, if such paper has not been so approved, require the printed material to include a printed statement which indicates the percentages of pre-consumer and post-consumer recycled material content of such paper. S 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed- ing the date on which it shall have become a law; provided, however, that effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized and directed to be made and completed on or before such effective date.