Relates to asbestos project notification fees

Summary of provisions

This bill would amend Section 904 of the Labor Law to provide that the asbestos notification fees for non-friable material in square feet be changed from the current structure of: (note: square footage fees for friable material would stay the same)

Project Size/Square Feet Fee

160-259 $200 260-499 $400 500-999 $1,000 1000 or more $2,000

To the following:

Project Size/Square Feet (Friable) Fee

160-259 $200 260-499 $400 500-999 $1,000 1000 or more $2,000

Project/Size/Square Feet Fee (Non friable/RACM)

160-259 $50 260-499 $75 500-999 $100 1,000-1,999 $200 2,000-2,999 $500 3,000-3,999 $800 4,000-4,999 $1,000 5,000 or more $2,000

Additionally, all owner occupied one and two family homes that were occupied during a disaster and then condemned due to a disaster would be required to pay a fixed $200 notification fee. Residential one and two family homes acquired by municipalities and subsequently condemned would still be required to notify the department of labor, but would not be required to pay any notification fee.

Section two provides an immediate effective date.

Justification

Several years ago as a means of raising income the Legislature arbitrarily doubled the notification fees across the board. From 2009 to 2010 notification fees almost doubled from $6,606,700 to 12,223,750, while the budget for the Asbestos Control Bureau remained fairly stable, from $3,315,044. to $3,462,574. Prior to increasing the fees, they were out of line and never provided a fair or balanced approach for asbestos projects. The largest number of reported projects are non-friable (reported in square feet)In 2010, just non-friable projects alone accounted for 57.6%.

In May of 2013, the NYS Comptroller issued an audit of the NYS Department of Labor's fee assessment and collection practices. Among other things, the report found that the Asbestos Control Bureau has no mechanism for determining whether there are contractors who should be paying the fee but do not. Additionally, the Audit found that the existing fee structure was not equitable in that small asbestos removal projects can pay as much as much larger asbestos removal projects. Specifically, for example, the audit found that a project with 1,725 linear feet and 35,263 square feet would pay the same $4,000 maximum fee as a project with 1,650 linear feet. The audit recommends that a more equitable fee structure be developed.

It should be noted that the largest amount of asbestos in residential homes is non-friable and very few homes have friable material that even meets the notification levels. Currently, a very small percentage of asbestos project notifications are received from projects involving owner occupied one or two family structures.While most roofing contractors have asbestos licenses for doing commercial asbestos roof replacements very few residential roofs are ever notified or surveyed for asbestos prior to removal. Demolition and redevelopment projects funded by the public sector are the one area where these notifications occur. These notifications are paid for by the public.

Another problem has occurred with disaster areas. Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee devastated the Catskill, Adirondack and Southern Tier regions and made a large number of homes declared condemned. As a result under the Asbestos Code Rule 56 the maximum fees of Lineal Feet ($2,000.) and Square Feet ($2,000.) have to be paid to be able to demolish the homes. The Asbestos Control Bureau (ACB) was asked to provide an exemption for these homeowners who have lost everything only to be saddled with an additional cost of up to $4,000. to have their homes demolished. The ACB refused. If the homeowners walk away the government will have to assume these responsibilities.

On the commercial, industrial, development end of the asbestos abatement industry when an abatement contractor is contacted to quote a removal project of 1,000 square feet of non-friable floor tile, not a big area approximately 30 feet by 33 feet, he is quoted anywhere from $4,000 to $6,000. for something that two men in a couple of hours can scrape up and throw in a dumpster, because a notification fee of $2,000 is required. The choice has become all too familiar as the law has encouraged people to break it. When a homeowner replacing an asbestos roof or floor tile has to pay the same notification fee as a 100,000 square foot asbestos roofing or floor tile project for a warehouse something is inherently wrong, The new notification fees would bring a large amount of projects, ones that people wouldn't

notify because of the unreasonable notification fees, now into the legal structure of the Code Rule 56.

Regarding notifications for engineer condemned buildings, many cities and municipalities have had literally hundreds of condemned buildings demolished and scheduled for demolition. In addition New York has suffered many disasters, as mentioned above, where people have had their homes and businesses condemned and had to pay the maximum lineal and square footage notification fees, $4000 total. The fee structure for square footage, because of inaccessibility, has been determined by the Asbestos Control Bureau to be the maximum amount, that is, 1,000 square feet or more. However, many times , they have taken into account not just the square footage of the footprint but the walls and ceilings as well. The square footage for notification should be determined by the footprint of the building in order to ensure consistency.

Legislative history

2014 S. 5917- Senate Labor Committee

Fiscal implications

An analysis of the total all non-friable notifications as reviewed by the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY) indicates that the proposed new fee structure is likely be minimal due to increased notification fee collection for smaller residential projects which had previously been unreported. A 2013 Comptroller's audit of the Department of Labor's Asbestos Control Bureau confirms this and finds that the department has no way to identify those contractors required to pay an asbestos project notification fee and should develop a method of verifying that notification applicable fees are paid by contractors. More importantly the audit recommends that a new fee structure be implemented by the Legislature to ensure that the fees are more equitable for smaller projects resulting in less violations in avoiding the fee.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.