Bill Text: NY A01518 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
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 9-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to environmental conservation [A01518 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A01518-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1518 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 11, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL, GLICK, WEPRIN, DINOWITZ, GOTTFRIED, EPSTEIN, SEAWRIGHT, FERNANDEZ, ZEBROWSKI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Environmental Conservation 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 Black20Rhinoceros (Dicero bicornis)] Rhinoceros (Rhinocerotidae) or Giraffe 21 (Giraffa camelopardalis). EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00786-01-1A. 1518 2 1 § 2. Section 71-0924 of the environmental conservation law, as amended 2 by chapter 326 of the laws of 2014, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 71-0924. Illegal commercialization of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, 4 and wildlife. 5 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, when a 6 violation involves the sale, trade or barter of fish, shellfish, crusta- 7 ceans, wildlife, or parts thereof, the sale, trade or barter of which is 8 prohibited by the fish and wildlife law, the following additional penal- 9 ties shall be imposed: 10 [1.] a. where the value of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, wildlife, or 11 parts thereof, is two hundred fifty dollars or less, the offense shall 12 be a violation punishable by a fine of five hundred dollars and/or not 13 more than fifteen days of imprisonment; 14 [2.] b. where the value of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, wildlife, or 15 parts thereof, is more than two hundred fifty dollars but does not 16 exceed one thousand five hundred dollars, the offense shall be a misde- 17 meanor punishable by a fine of five thousand dollars and/or not more 18 than one year of imprisonment; 19 [3.] c. where the value of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, wildlife, or 20 parts thereof, exceeds one thousand five hundred dollars, the offense 21 shall constitute a class E felony under the provisions of the penal law; 22 [and] 23 [4.] d. where the value of ivory articles, as defined in section 24 11-0535-a of this chapter, exceeds twenty-five thousand dollars, the 25 offense shall constitute a class D felony under the provisions of the 26 penal law; and 27 e. with respect to a violation of the provisions of section 11-0536 of 28 this chapter, in addition to any other fines or penalties, where the 29 value of wildlife, or parts thereof, exceeds twenty-five thousand 30 dollars, the offense shall constitute a class D felony under the 31 provisions of the penal law, and shall be punishable by a fine of the 32 greater of: (i) twenty thousand dollars; or (ii) up to twice the fair 33 market value of the wildlife, or parts thereof. 34 [5.] 2. For the purposes of this section the value of fish, shellfish, 35 crustaceans and wildlife shall be the fair market value of or actual 36 price paid for such resource, whichever is greater. For purposes of this 37 section, "sale" shall include the acts of selling, trading or bartering 38 and all related acts, such as the act of offering for sale, trade or 39 barter, and shall also include the illegal possession of fish, shellf- 40 ish, wildlife or crustacea with intent to sell. It shall be presumptive 41 evidence of possession with intent to sell when such fish, shellfish, 42 wildlife or crustacea is possessed in quantities exceeding the allowable 43 recreational quantities, or is possessed in a retail or wholesale outlet 44 commonly used for the buying or selling of such fish, shellfish, wild- 45 life or crustacea, provided, however, that nothing in this subdivision 46 shall preclude the admission of other evidence which may serve to inde- 47 pendently prove a defendant's intent to sell. 48 § 3. Subdivisions 1, 2 and 3 of section 71-0927 of the environmental 49 conservation law, subdivisions 1 and 2 as amended and subdivision 3 as 50 added by chapter 284 of the laws of 2004, are amended to read as 51 follows: 52 1. Anyone convicted of violating the prohibition against harvesting, 53 taking, possessing or transporting shellfish under facts and circum- 54 stances meeting the criteria for imposition of sanctions pursuant to 55 paragraph c of subdivision [3] 1 of section 71-0924; or anyone convicted 56 two or more times within five years of violating the prohibition againstA. 1518 3 1 harvesting, taking, possessing or transporting shellfish under facts and 2 circumstances meeting the criteria for imposition of sanctions pursuant 3 to paragraph b of subdivision [3] 1 of section 71-0924, or of violating 4 subdivision 1 or 2, paragraph e or f of subdivision 3, subdivision 6, 8, 5 9, 10, 11, or 13 of section 13-0309, section 13-0317, subdivision 2 of 6 section 13-0323, section 13-0325, [subdivision 3 or 5 of] section 7 13-0327, or section 13-0344 of this chapter shall have his license to 8 take and land shellfish revoked and shall not be relicensed for a mini- 9 mum of five years thereafter, in addition to any other sanction imposed 10 pursuant to this article. 11 2. Anyone convicted of unlawfully harvesting, taking, possessing or 12 transporting any marine fish, shellfish or crustacea under facts and 13 circumstances meeting the criteria for imposition of sanctions pursuant 14 to paragraph c of subdivision [3] 1 of section 71-0924; or anyone 15 convicted two or more times within five years of unlawfully harvesting, 16 taking, possessing or transporting any marine fish, shellfish or crusta- 17 cea under facts and circumstances meeting the criteria for imposition of 18 sanctions pursuant to paragraph b of subdivision [3] 1 of section 19 71-0924, or of violating subdivision 1, paragraph c of subdivision 2, 20 subdivision 5, 6, 7 or 9 of section 13-0329, or section 13-0344 of this 21 chapter shall have his license to take and land lobsters revoked and 22 shall not be relicensed for a minimum of five years thereafter, in addi- 23 tion to any other sanction imposed pursuant to this article. 24 3. Any person convicted of violating the prohibition against harvest- 25 ing, taking, possessing or transporting any marine food fish under facts 26 and circumstances meeting the criteria for imposition of sanctions 27 pursuant to paragraph c of subdivision [3] 1 of section 71-0924; or any 28 person convicted two or more times within five years of violating the 29 prohibition against harvesting, taking, possessing or transporting any 30 marine food fish under facts and circumstances meeting the criteria for 31 imposition of sanctions pursuant to paragraph b of subdivision [3] 1 of 32 section 71-0924, or of violating section 13-0344 of this chapter, shall 33 have his license to take and land marine food fish revoked and shall not 34 be licensed for a minimum of five years thereafter, in addition to any 35 other sanctions imposed pursuant to this article. 36 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately. Effective immediately, 37 the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation neces- 38 sary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are 39 authorized to be made and completed on or before such date.
