Relates to duties of the office of parks, recreation and historic preservation

1 Co-sponsor

• David Carlucci

Title of bill

An act to amend the parks, recreation and historic preservation law, in relation to the duties of the office

Purpose of the bill

To expand the availability of swimming within parks under the jurisdiction of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) by limiting OPRHP's legal duty with regard to persons who choose to swim at unguarded areas within state parks.

Summary of provisions

The bill would amend section 3.09 of the Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Law by adding a new subdivision 23 to limit the agency's liability when patrons swim in areas not designated for swimming or where lifeguards are not on duty.

Section 2 of the bill would make it effective immediately.

Justification

OPRHP operates approximately 75 designated swimming beaches on lakes, ponds, and ocean shorelines in state parks across New York and provides trained lifeguards, safety equipment and other generally accepted items, practices and procedures for guarded swimming areas. OPRHP offers these guarded areas for public swimming, encourages the public to use them and presently limits public swimming to only those guarded areas during particular times.

However, OPRHP's designated swimming beaches represent only a small portion of the hundreds of miles of coastline and available in-land water bodies in New York's state parks. This bill seeks to expand opportunities for the public to enjoy swimming in New York State waters under the jurisdiction of the agency.

New York State's current policy is the most restrictive in the nation. OPRHP limits public swimming to guarded areas out of concern for public safety and liability. This practice prevents many people from swimming who would like to do so. All other coastal states have some form of either statutory immunity or recognized common law sovereign immunity that provides these states with the legal protection needed to open up their shorelines to swimming even when lifeguards are not on duty.

Because New York State lacks a similar statutory provision, it has been the long standing practice at OPRHP facilities to limit swimming to designated beaches at designated times. As a result, OPRHP staff will remove patrons from unguarded areas and severely limit the areas where, and times when, the public can use and enjoy the State's treasured coasts and in-land water bodies. Under current law, whether OPRHP has a legal duty to keep the public out of these unguarded water bodies is dependent on a host of factors that will vary from case to case. This proposal seeks to alleviate that uncertainty by limiting OPRHP's legal duty by statute for these unguarded areas and times. This will open up a wealth of new water bodies and coastline areas to recreational swimming which are now unavailable to the public.

Prior legislative history

This is a new proposal.

Fiscal implications

As the proposal will likely increase revenue as attendance will likely increase due to the availability of more swimming opportunities.

Local impact

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately