Bill Text: NY A04488 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Prohibits the sale or promotional distribution of machetes to minors; defines machete as a large heavy knife with a broad blade, used primarily for cutting brush or vegetation.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to consumer affairs and protection [A04488 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A04488-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          4488

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 16, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M. of A. RAMOS, DICKENS, SIMON -- read once and referred
          to the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection

        AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to prohibiting the
          sale or promotional distribution of machetes to minors

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Section  399-qq  of the general business law, as added by
     2  chapter 243 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as follows:
     3    § 399-qq.  Sale  or  promotional  distribution  of  machetes,  utility
     4  knives,  box cutters, or box cart cutters. 1. No person, firm, or corpo-
     5  ration shall sell or offer to sell or give away as either  a  retail  or
     6  wholesale  promotion  a  machete, utility knife, box cutter, or box cart
     7  cutter to any person under eighteen years of age.
     8    2. For purposes of  this  section,  the  term  "utility  knife",  "box
     9  cutter", or "box cart cutter" means a knife consisting of a razor blade,
    10  retractable  or non-retractable, attached to or contained within a plas-
    11  tic or metal housing.   For the  purposes  of  this  section,  the  term
    12  "machete"  means  a large heavy knife with a broad blade, used primarily
    13  for cutting brush or vegetation.
    14    3. The provisions of this section shall  not  preclude  the  temporary
    15  transfer  of a machete, utility knife, box cutter, or box cart cutter to
    16  a person under eighteen years of age by  such  person's  employer  where
    17  such device is possessed only on the employer's premises and only during
    18  the course and scope of such person's employment.
    19    4.  No  provision  of  this  section  shall  be deemed to restrict the
    20  authority of any county, city, town or  village  to  enact  and  enforce
    21  additional  local  laws,  ordinances  or  codes,  or  portions  thereof,
    22  provided the provisions thereof are not inconsistent with the provisions
    23  of this section.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08244-01-3
        A. 4488                             2

     1    5. Any person, firm, or corporation who  violates  the  provisions  of
     2  this  section  shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than five
     3  hundred dollars.
     4    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.