Bill Text: NY A01111 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended

---

Bill Title: Relates to prohibiting the sale, trade or bartering or possession with intent to sell, trade or barter of certain wild animals or wild animal products and to the penalties imposed therefor.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to environmental conservation [A01111 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A01111-Amended.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         1111--A
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    January 14, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL, GLICK, WEPRIN, DINOWITZ, GOTTFRIED,
          EPSTEIN,  SEAWRIGHT,  MOSLEY,  FERNANDEZ,  ZEBROWSKI  -- read once and
          referred to the Committee on Environmental Conservation  --  committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee
        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  environmental  conservation law, in relation to
          prohibiting the sale, trade or bartering or possession with intent  to
          sell,  trade or barter of certain wild animals or wild animal products
          and the penalties imposed therefor
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  Subdivision  1  of  section  11-0536 of the environmental
     2  conservation law, as amended by chapter 338 of  the  laws  of  2009,  is
     3  amended to read as follows:
     4    1. Except as provided in subdivision three hereof, no part of the skin
     5  or  body,  whether raw or manufactured, of the following species of wild
     6  animals or the animal itself may be sold, traded, bartered,  or  offered
     7  for sale, or possessed with intent to sell, trade or barter by any indi-
     8  vidual,  firm,  corporation, association or partnership within the state
     9  of New York:--Leopard (Panthera pardus), Snow Leopard (Uuncia),  Clouded
    10  Leopard  (Neofelis  nebulosa),  Tiger  (Panthera  tigres),  Asiatic Lion
    11  (Panthera leo persica), Cheetah (Acinoyx jubatus), Alligators, Caiman or
    12  Crocodile of the Order Crocodylia (except as provided in subdivision two
    13  of this section), tortoises of the genus Gopherus, marine turtles of the
    14  family Cheloniidae and the family Dermochelidae, Vicuna (Vicugna  vicug-
    15  na),  Wolf  (Canis lupus), Red Wolf (Canis niger), or Tasmanian Forester
    16  Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus tasmaniensis)  or  Polar  Bear  (Thalarctos
    17  maritimus),  Mountain  Lion,  sometimes  called Cougar (Felis Concolar),
    18  Jaguar (Panthera  onca),  Ocelot  (Felis  pardalis),  or  Margay  (Felis
    19  wiedii),  [Sumatran  Rhinoceros  (Dicerorhinus  sumatrensis),  or  Black

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04831-03-9
        A. 1111--A                          2

     1  Rhinoceros (Dicero bicornis)]  Rhinoceros  (Rhinocerotidae)  or  Giraffe
     2  (Giraffa camelopardalis).
     3    § 2. Section 71-0924 of the environmental conservation law, as amended
     4  by chapter 326 of the laws of 2014, is amended to read as follows:
     5  §  71-0924.  Illegal  commercialization of fish, shellfish, crustaceans,
     6               and wildlife.
     7    1. Notwithstanding  any  other  provision  of  this  chapter,  when  a
     8  violation involves the sale, trade or barter of fish, shellfish, crusta-
     9  ceans, wildlife, or parts thereof, the sale, trade or barter of which is
    10  prohibited by the fish and wildlife law, the following additional penal-
    11  ties shall be imposed:
    12    [1.]  a. where the value of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, wildlife, or
    13  parts thereof, is two hundred fifty dollars or less, the  offense  shall
    14  be  a  violation punishable by a fine of five hundred dollars and/or not
    15  more than fifteen days of imprisonment;
    16    [2.] b. where the value of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, wildlife,  or
    17  parts  thereof,  is  more  than  two  hundred fifty dollars but does not
    18  exceed one thousand five hundred dollars, the offense shall be a  misde-
    19  meanor  punishable  by  a  fine of five thousand dollars and/or not more
    20  than one year of imprisonment;
    21    [3.] c. where the value of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, wildlife,  or
    22  parts  thereof,  exceeds  one thousand five hundred dollars, the offense
    23  shall constitute a class E felony under the provisions of the penal law;
    24  [and]
    25    [4.] d. where the value of  ivory  articles,  as  defined  in  section
    26  11-0535-a  of  this  chapter,  exceeds twenty-five thousand dollars, the
    27  offense shall constitute a class D felony under the  provisions  of  the
    28  penal law; and
    29    e. with respect to a violation of the provisions of section 11-0536 of
    30  this  chapter,  in  addition  to any other fines or penalties, where the
    31  value of  wildlife,  or  parts  thereof,  exceeds  twenty-five  thousand
    32  dollars,  the  offense  shall  constitute  a  class  D  felony under the
    33  provisions of the penal law, and shall be punishable by a  fine  of  the
    34  greater  of:  (i)  twenty thousand dollars; or (ii) up to twice the fair
    35  market value of the wildlife, or parts thereof.
    36    [5.] 2. For the purposes of this section the value of fish, shellfish,
    37  crustaceans and wildlife shall be the fair market  value  of  or  actual
    38  price paid for such resource, whichever is greater. For purposes of this
    39  section,  "sale" shall include the acts of selling, trading or bartering
    40  and all related acts, such as the act of offering  for  sale,  trade  or
    41  barter,  and  shall also include the illegal possession of fish, shellf-
    42  ish, wildlife or crustacea with intent to sell. It shall be  presumptive
    43  evidence  of  possession  with intent to sell when such fish, shellfish,
    44  wildlife or crustacea is possessed in quantities exceeding the allowable
    45  recreational quantities, or is possessed in a retail or wholesale outlet
    46  commonly used for the buying or selling of such fish,  shellfish,  wild-
    47  life  or  crustacea, provided, however, that nothing in this subdivision
    48  shall preclude the admission of other evidence which may serve to  inde-
    49  pendently prove a defendant's intent to sell.
    50    §  3.  Subdivisions 1, 2 and 3 of section 71-0927 of the environmental
    51  conservation law, subdivisions 1 and 2 as amended and subdivision  3  as
    52  added  by  chapter  284  of  the  laws  of  2004, are amended to read as
    53  follows:
    54    1. Anyone convicted of violating the prohibition  against  harvesting,
    55  taking,  possessing  or  transporting  shellfish under facts and circum-
    56  stances meeting the criteria for imposition  of  sanctions  pursuant  to
        A. 1111--A                          3
     1  paragraph c of subdivision [3] 1 of section 71-0924; or anyone convicted
     2  two or more times within five years of violating the prohibition against
     3  harvesting, taking, possessing or transporting shellfish under facts and
     4  circumstances  meeting the criteria for imposition of sanctions pursuant
     5  to paragraph b of subdivision [3] 1 of section 71-0924, or of  violating
     6  subdivision 1 or 2, paragraph e or f of subdivision 3, subdivision 6, 8,
     7  9,  10,  11, or 13 of section 13-0309, section 13-0317, subdivision 2 of
     8  section 13-0323, section  13-0325,  [subdivision  3  or  5  of]  section
     9  13-0327,  or  section  13-0344 of this chapter shall have his license to
    10  take and land shellfish revoked and shall not be relicensed for a  mini-
    11  mum  of five years thereafter, in addition to any other sanction imposed
    12  pursuant to this article.
    13    2. Anyone convicted of unlawfully harvesting,  taking,  possessing  or
    14  transporting  any  marine  fish,  shellfish or crustacea under facts and
    15  circumstances meeting the criteria for imposition of sanctions  pursuant
    16  to  paragraph  c  of  subdivision  [3]  1  of section 71-0924; or anyone
    17  convicted two or more times within five years of unlawfully  harvesting,
    18  taking, possessing or transporting any marine fish, shellfish or crusta-
    19  cea under facts and circumstances meeting the criteria for imposition of
    20  sanctions  pursuant  to  paragraph  b  of  subdivision  [3] 1 of section
    21  71-0924, or of violating subdivision 1, paragraph c  of  subdivision  2,
    22  subdivision  5, 6, 7 or 9 of section 13-0329, or section 13-0344 of this
    23  chapter shall have his license to take and  land  lobsters  revoked  and
    24  shall not be relicensed for a minimum of five years thereafter, in addi-
    25  tion to any other sanction imposed pursuant to this article.
    26    3.  Any person convicted of violating the prohibition against harvest-
    27  ing, taking, possessing or transporting any marine food fish under facts
    28  and circumstances meeting  the  criteria  for  imposition  of  sanctions
    29  pursuant  to paragraph c of subdivision [3] 1 of section 71-0924; or any
    30  person convicted two or more times within five years  of  violating  the
    31  prohibition  against  harvesting, taking, possessing or transporting any
    32  marine food fish under facts and circumstances meeting the criteria  for
    33  imposition  of sanctions pursuant to paragraph b of subdivision [3] 1 of
    34  section 71-0924, or of violating section 13-0344 of this chapter,  shall
    35  have his license to take and land marine food fish revoked and shall not
    36  be  licensed  for a minimum of five years thereafter, in addition to any
    37  other sanctions imposed pursuant to this article.
    38    § 4. This act shall take effect  immediately.  Effective  immediately,
    39  the  addition,  amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation neces-
    40  sary for the implementation of  this  act  on  its  effective  date  are
    41  authorized to be made and completed on or before such date.