What's happening
This bill requires a minimum staffing level of state park police officers and mandates staffing plans before opening new state park facilities.
Why it matters
Sets a legally required minimum number of full-time state park police officers (385), potentially improving public safety and emergency response at all state park facilities. This could lead to more consistent law enforcement presence and faster reaction to incidents across the state’s parks, beaches, campgrounds, and historic sites.
Links police staffing levels in each park region to visitor attendance averages,. ensuring areas with higher usage receive a proportional police presence. This aims to match resources to actual public demand and risk.
Requires detailed police staffing plans before any new state park, beach, campground, or venue can open,. adding a layer of legislative oversight. This may slow the expansion of new facilities but ensures safety is considered from the outset.
Allows flexibility to redeploy park police officers statewide during emergencies (like natural disasters or mass casualty events),. but otherwise keeps officers assigned to their regions, balancing local familiarity with statewide readiness for major incidents.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Require Park Police Staffing
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to cultural affairs, tourism, parks and recreation
- Referred to cultural affairs, tourism, parks and recreation
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.
Set Minimum Park Police
In Assembly Committee · Tourism, Parks, Arts And Sports Development · Sponsor Philip Ramos
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
534
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by Sens. GALLIVAN, HELMING -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation
AN ACT to amend the parks, recreation and historic preservation law, in relation to police staffing at certain parks
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 3.07 of the parks, recreation and historic preservation law is amended by adding three new subdivisions 3, 4 and 5 to read as follows:
3. The commissioner shall provide for the health, safety and welfare of the public using facilities under its jurisdiction, which shall include ensuring a minimum staff of three hundred eighty-five permanently appointed, full time regional state park police officers at state parks, beaches, campgrounds, historic sites and concert venues. The number of regional state park police officers deployed to each region shall be equivalent to the percentage of each region's five year attendance average.
4. The commissioner shall not open a new state park, beach, campground, historic site or concert venue unless it submits a staffing plan to the legislature that demonstrates there is a sufficient number of regional state park police to provide adequate and appropriate delivery of police services to patrons visiting the new site.
5. The commissioner may redeploy regional state park police officers outside of their assigned region in the case of an emergency. Emergencies are defined as natural disasters, declared emergencies and mass casualty incidents.
§ 2. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02707-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the parks, recreation and historic preservation law, in relation to police staffing at certain parks
Purpose
The purpose of this bill is to ensure that the Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation provide for the health, safety and welfare of the public using the facilities under its jurisdiction by ensuring adequate state park police officers at such facilities.
Summary of provisions
Section 1. Calls for a minimum staff of 385 permanent appointed, full time regional state park police officers at state parks, beaches, camp- grounds, historic sites and concert venues. Calls for the commissioner to submit a staffing plan to the legislature prior to opening any new state park facilities, and allows for the commissioner to redeploy regional state park police officers outside their region in case of an emergency.
Section 2. Establishes the effective date.
Justification
This bill would ensure the more than 62 million visitors to New York State's parks, beaches, and historic sites are kept safe for the general public by ensuring a minimum of 385 State Park Police officers are employed by the state.
Legislative history
2017-18: S.1383/A.5254 Reported to Finance/Referred to Tourism 2015-16: S.5882/A.8020 Reported to Finance/Referred to Tourism
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Effective date
This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.