Bill Text: NY S00284 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Directs the board to submit a recommendation regarding the central business district toll amounts to the legislature and also to recommend a privacy risk plan.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 5-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-08 - REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION [S00284 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-S00284-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 284 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. RHOADS, BORRELLO, GRIFFO, O'MARA, WEIK -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation AN ACT to amend the public authorities law, in relation to the board submitting a recommendation regarding the central business district toll amounts to the legislature and recommending a privacy risk plan The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature finds and declares that 2 legislative accountability is a core element in any democratic polity. 3 The commuter tax legislation tried to sidestep that accountability by 4 passing off the burden of establishing the commuter tax rates to 5 unelected bureaucrats and announcing such rates the week after the 2020 6 election. This legislation would restore the crucial element of legis- 7 lative accountability by requiring that the legislature approve any rate 8 established for the commuter tax. 9 § 2. Subdivisions 2 and 3 of section 553-k of the public authorities 10 law, as added by section 8 of subpart A of part ZZZ of chapter 59 of the 11 laws of 2019, are amended to read as follows: 12 2. The board shall make a recommendation regarding the central busi- 13 ness district toll amounts to be established pursuant to article forty- 14 four-C of the vehicle and traffic law, which shall include a variable- 15 pricing structure, no [sooner] later than [November] April fifteenth, 16 two thousand [twenty and no later than December thirty-first, two thou-17sand twenty, or no later than thirty days before a central business18district tolling program is initiated, whichever is later] twenty-seven. 19 Such recommendation shall be submitted to the legislature for approval. 20 The legislature shall vote on such recommendation by June thirty-first, 21 two thousand twenty-seven. The authority shall only be permitted to 22 establish central business toll district amounts if approved by the EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01041-01-5S. 284 2 1 legislature. If approved by the legislature, such recommendation shall 2 be submitted to the board of the Triborough bridge and tunnel authority 3 for consideration before the Triborough bridge and tunnel authority 4 board may approve central business district toll amounts that may be 5 established and adopted. 6 3. For purposes of recommending a central business district toll or 7 tolls in addition to the goal of reducing traffic within the central 8 business district, the board shall, at minimum, ensure that annual 9 revenues and fees collected under such program, less costs of such 10 program, provide for revenues into the central business district tolling 11 capital lockbox fund, established pursuant to section five hundred 12 fifty-three-j of this [chapter] title, necessary to fund fifteen billion 13 dollars for capital projects for the 2020 to [2024] 2027 capital 14 program, and any additional revenues above that amount to be available 15 for any successor program. The board shall consider for purposes of its 16 recommendations, factors including but not limited to, traffic patterns, 17 traffic mitigation measures, operating costs, public impact, public 18 safety, hardships, vehicle type, discounts for motorcycles, peak and 19 off-peak rates and environmental impacts, including but not limited to 20 air quality and emissions trends. The board shall recommend a plan for 21 credits, discounts, and/or exemptions for tolls paid on bridges and 22 crossings which shall be informed by a traffic study associated with the 23 impact of any such credits, discounts and/or exemptions on the recom- 24 mended toll. The board shall recommend a plan for credits, discounts, 25 and/or exemptions for for-hire vehicles defined, and subject to a 26 surcharge imposed by, article twenty-nine-C of the tax law for a for- 27 hire transportation trip based on factors including, but not limited to, 28 initial market entry costs associated with licensing and regulation, 29 comparative contribution to congestion in the central business district, 30 and general industry impact. The board shall recommend a privacy risk 31 plan in relation to the collection, processing, transfer and disclosure 32 of personal data, including, but not limited to, historical or real-time 33 geolocation data, under such a program and require that use, disclosure 34 or access to an individual's personal data shall require affirmative, 35 express consent of the individual. The board shall produce a detailed 36 report to be sent to the governor, the temporary president of the 37 senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority leader of the senate 38 and the minority leader of the assembly, that provides information 39 regarding the board's review and analysis for purposes of establishing 40 its recommendations, including but not limited to, all of the consider- 41 ations referred to in this subdivision. The board shall not recommend a 42 toll that provides for charging passenger vehicles registered pursuant 43 to subdivision six of section four hundred one of the vehicle and traf- 44 fic law more than once per day. 45 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
