What's happening
This bill requires that only county or state agencies act as lead agency for projects involving religious exercise in small municipalities, sets deadlines, and limits related fees.
Why it matters
Shifts environmental review oversight for religious land use projects in small towns. By requiring only county or state agencies to serve as the “lead agency” for actions related to religious exercise in municipalities under 50,000 people, the bill removes this authority from potentially less-experienced or more locally-biased town or village boards.
Imposes a strict 12-month deadline for decisions. If a county or state agency can’t act as lead, the local municipality must issue a final determination within one year, providing religious groups more predictability and potentially speeding up what can otherwise be lengthy approval processes.
Caps and clarifies professional fees charged to applicants. The bill requires municipalities to give a reasonable estimate of charges for planners or engineers and sets a maximum fee of $50,000, making costs more transparent and preventing prohibitively high expenses that could stymie religious projects.
Mandates binding arbitration for disputes. If an applicant disagrees with a municipality’s determination, the matter must go to binding arbitration, offering religious organizations a defined path to resolve conflicts without protracted litigation.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Limit Local Lead Agency Power
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
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History
- Referred to environmental conservation
- Referred to environmental conservation
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4343
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 4, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Environmental Conservation
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to the requirements for lead agency
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 6 of section 8-0111 of the environmental conservation law, as added by chapter 612 of the laws of 1975, is amended to read as follows:
6. Lead Agency. (a) When an action is to be carried out or approved by two or more agencies, the determination of whether the action may have a significant effect on the environment shall be made by the lead agency having principal responsibility for carrying out or approving such action and such agency shall prepare, or cause to be prepared by contract or otherwise, the environmental impact statement for the action if such a statement is required by this article. In the event that there is a question as to which is the lead agency, any agency may submit the question to the commissioner and the commissioner shall designate the lead agency, giving due consideration to the capacity of such agency to fulfill adequately the requirements of this article.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article or any other law to the contrary, in any circumstance when an action to be carried out or approved by two or more agencies involves the religious exercise of a person, as such is defined by the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000cc, et seq., only a county or state agency may act as the lead agency. In the event the county or state agency does not have the ability to be the lead agency, the municipality shall give a final determination within twelve calendar months from the date of the application. If the applicant disagrees with such determination, the disagreement shall be settled by binding arbitration. In the event a municipality charges the applicant
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08433-01-9
A. 4343 2
a fee for an engineer or planner in relation to making such a determination, the municipality shall provide the applicant with a reasonable estimate of the total fee or charge of such engineer or planner. Such fee or charge shall not exceed fifty thousand dollars. The provisions of this subdivision shall only apply to municipalities with a population of fifty thousand or less.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.