What's happening
This bill requires New York City to create and implement plans to mitigate property damage caused by its own environmental actions or omissions.
Why it matters
Holds NYC accountable for environmental harm. The bill specifically addresses situations where city actions or failures (like poor maintenance or policy decisions) cause environmental crises that damage property and threaten residents’ health, making the city responsible for responding.
Mandates proactive mitigation. NYC is required to create and implement concrete, measurable plans using its own infrastructure to address and reduce property damage and health risks caused by these environmental issues, rather than leaving residents to cope on their own.
Emphasizes urgency and transparency. The city must provide a “clear, objective and quantifiable” plan for relief “in a timely manner,” which could lead to faster, more transparent municipal responses when city-caused environmental problems occur—potentially reducing long-term harm and legal disputes for residents.
Potential for citywide impact. Because the bill applies to crises impacting a “sizable segment” of citizens, it could affect a wide range of situations (e.g., flooding, pollution, infrastructure failure), making it relevant to many NYC residents and neighborhoods.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Fix City-Caused Property Damage
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 14
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to cities
- Referred to cities
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
NYC Must Fix City-Caused Damage
In Assembly Committee · Environmental Conservation · Sponsor Alicia Hyndman
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2758
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 29, 2019
Introduced by Sen. COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Cities
AN ACT relating to requiring the city of New York to mitigate certain property damage caused by environmental issues which are caused by acts or omissions of such municipality
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. In the city of New York, where the municipality or its departments by acts of omission or commission either creates or greatly contributes to an environmental crisis which impacts a sizable segment of its citizens, creating property damage and threatening residents' health, and where such municipality or its departments either owns or controls the infrastructure that can substantially mitigate this environmental issue and bring relief to those residents, then such municipality shall be required and directed to utilize that infrastructure to provide a clear, objective and quantifiable plan to obtain relief in a timely manner.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06204-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act relating to requiring the city of New York to mitigate certain property damage caused by environmental issues which are caused by acts or omissions of such municipality
Purpose
To ensure that residents are reimbursed for flood damages caused by municipalities action or inaction failure in resolving flood crisis problems.
Summary of provisions
In a city with a population of one million or more, where the munici- pality or its departments, by acts of omission or commission either creates or greatly contributes to a flooding crisis which impacts the Southeast Queens community, creating property damage and threatening residents' health, and where such municipality or its departments either owns or controls the infrastructure that can substantially mitigate this flooding crisis and bring relief to those residents, then such munici- pality shall be required and directed to utilize that infrastructure to provide a clear, objective and quantifiable plan to obtain relief in timely manner.
Read the full memo (801 words)
Justification
For one hundred years, from 1897 to 1996, Southwest Queens (in New York City) received its drinking water from a private company, Jamaica Water Supply Co. (JWS). That company had 69 wells from which is pumped 60 million gallons of water per day from underground. Besides providing water for this community, this pumping extracted water from the ground and kept the standing water level at manageable levels. In 1996, New York City purchased JWS and stopped pumping water from these wells. This water left underground began rising at an alarming level. In testimony before a NY City Council committee in September 2007, the Department of Environmental Preservation Commissioner Emily Lloyd stated that the ground water level in Jamaica, Queens had risen 35 feet since pumping of the wells was discontinued in 1996. This rising level was flooding homes and backing up in the existing sewers, hindering their effectiveness. She stated that resolving the ground water problem was "as imperative as continuing to install sewers in Southeast Queens. DEP officials told Southeast Queens residents in the early 2000's they would face severe flooding if this water was-not pumped out of the ground, and DEP began only to quietly discontinue it because it was "too expensive".
That rising water level is now flooding large parts of Southern Queens, where the standing water level is now higher than many basements or lower level offices. As a result, York College (CUNY) pumps hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per day from its lower levels; the Parsons Blvd. subway is flooded; the Jamaica MIA Bus Depot is flooded, (rain or shine); 108 Jamaica, PS37, Springfield Gardens, The Allen Senior Housing Complex, Carter Community Church, Queens Bridge Home and other locations are running electric pumps in their basements 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to get rid of the water constantly invading their premises. This is in addition to hundreds of homes and businesses throughout Southeast Queens that are forced to run electric pumps to remove basement flood- ing, and have had their home or-businesses literally ruined by the rising water levels. One resident of St. Albans literally refuses to enter her basement for the last year due to the water damage and mold spores the size of golf balls that have grown on her walls due to constant water presence. She runs two electric pumps in her basement, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In the Summer of 2011, NYC DEP awarded a contract to begin pumping water from the JWS wells in 2018, when NYC must shut down the Delaware Water Tunnel that supplies a large share of New York City's water, and they consider this well water to be part of their plan to replace the water supplied by the Delaware system. However, they have refused to bring any of these wells on line earlier, even though they are fully aware of the flood damage throughout South Queens, and they know that dumping or extracting the ground water is the key to reducing the water level and easing the flooding plaguing the area.
Additionally, NYC sued Exxon-Mobil on the grounds that their operations in Southeast Queens had damaged the ground water in the area. They won a judgment for $104 million, which is being appealed by Exxon. Five other oil companies sued by NYC because of damage to the ground water in Southeast Queens settled with the city for an additional $15 million. The community's position is that NYC was awarded this money based on damage to the Southeast Queens water supply, and should be used to resolve the problem that this water is now creating for the residents and businesses in Southeast Queens.
Legislative history
S 1671 COMRIE Same as AA7811 Hyndman
Fiscal implications
None to the State.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.