Authorizes the board of trustees of the state university to contract with the research foundation of the state university for the establishment of a statewide network of 125 surface weather stations

Summary of provisions

Section 1: States the legislative findings that the establishment by the state university of New York of an advanced weather observing network to expand weather detection coverage across the state serves the public interest.

Section 2: Authorizes the SUNY Board of Trustees or its designee(s) to enter into contracts to permit the use of grounds of facilities of the campuses of the state university for the purpose of constructing, installing, erecting, maintaining, replacing, testing, calibrating and deconstructing surface weather stations with the approval of the president of the campus upon which the land is located. Rights of ingress and egress access to the plot of land would also be authorized for such purpose. Grounds would be limited to plots of contiguous land not to exceed 400 linear feet per site (less than 23 acres) and each site is required to be located at least 300 feet from the nearest obstacle or potential heat source. The legislation provides that only one surface weather station shall be constructed on a campus however, more than one station may be constructed on the same campus if such stations are 25 or more miles apart. Contracts for such properties would be limited to 40 years. In the event that the land ceases to be used for the purpose describe herein, the contract would terminate immediately and the land would be required to be restored to its original state.

Section 3: Requires any contacts entered into as a result of this act must include prevailing wage.

Section 4: States that nothing in this bill shall waive, impair any right or benefit of employees of SUNY and any work performed on property that ordinarily would be performed by employees will continue to be performed by employees.

Section 5: All contracts executed pursuant to this legislation shall include indemnity provision.

Section 6: Requires contracts entered due to this act between the research foundation for the state university of New York and parties contracting with the research foundation shall be awarded by competitive bidding process.

Section 7: Establishes a three year time frame within which any such contracts shall be executed.

Section 8: Insofar as the provisions of this act are inconsistent with the provisions of any other provision of law, the provisions of this act shall be controlling.

Section 9: This act shall take effect immediately.

Justification

Studies have shown that during recent decades there has been a clear trend toward more extreme precipitation in the northeastern United States, including New York State. Since 2006, there have been 20 FEMA declared disasters and emergencies in New York State. Four of these events were associated with winter weather (snowstorms and/or lake-effect snow) while the other sixteen were associated with severe weather and/or flooding (including tropical systems Irene and Sandy). According to a 2011 study published by the American Meteorological Society, New York is also the most vulnerable of the 50 states to the negative economic effects of weather variability.

There is a need and opportunity to strengthen the New York State infrastructure and economy with an enhanced Weather Enterprise based on modeling and prediction research combined with enhanced observing systems. Federal funding ($23.6 million) from FEMA through the NYS Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services has been secured by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York on behalf of University at Albany scientists for a weather station network consisting of up to 125 surface weather stations, with at least one in every county. The State University system's geographic diversity, particularly in Upstate NY make SUNY campuses suitable potential sites for these weather stations. However, the Research Foundation for the State University of New York ("RF") is not currently authorized to undertake the activities necessary to construct or maintain these towers on SUNY campuses. Leases or transfers of ownership for these plots of land are not necessary; however, a contract such as a use permit authorizing the RF to construct, install, erect, maintain, replace, test, calibrate, and deconstruct the weather station along with access rights to the plot of land for such activities would be sufficient. Under this bill, lands on SUNY campuses would not be available for such contracts unless the President of the campus authorizes the use of the land for such purposes.

The National Weather Service is currently served by 27 high quality weather stations which, while valuable, leave significant gaps in the network, New York would benefit from more accurate high quality atmospheric data, transmitted every five minutes by the new weather stations,, Real-time data such as rainfall totals, temperature change, and wind monitoring help emergency management officials assess situations and direct resources efficiently, whether to evacuate residents or mitigate damages for vulnerable sectors such as road and rail transportation, aviation, energy, agriculture, tourism, and commerce. As an example, the additional data will lead to more accurate short-term model predictions to help the State Transportation

Department decide when and where to deploy crews during blizzards and other extreme weather events.

Legislative history

This is a new bill.

Fiscal implications

The project has been awarded $23 6 million in Federal funding.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.