 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          5422
 
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                    IN SENATE
 
                                     April 30, 2019
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  Sen. KENNEDY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation
 
        AN ACT to amend the highway law, in  relation  to  state  liability  for
          defects in highways
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Section 58 of the highway law, as amended by  chapter  1110
     2  of the laws of 1971, is amended to read as follows:
     3    §  58. Liability of state for damages. The state shall [not] be liable
     4  for damages suffered by any person  from  defects  in  state  highways[,
     5  except between the first day of May and the fifteenth day of November on
     6  such  highways  as  are maintained by the state under such system as the
     7  commissioner of transportation may adopt pursuant to section twelve, but
     8  the liability for such damages shall otherwise remain as now provided by
     9  law] maintained by the state under such system as  the  commissioner  of
    10  transportation  may  adopt  pursuant  to section twelve of this chapter,
    11  provided the state has received actual or constructive  notice  of  such
    12  defects, notwithstanding the construction or improvement and maintenance
    13  of  such  highways  by  the state under this chapter; but nothing herein
    14  contained shall be construed to impose on the state  any  liability  for
    15  defects  in  bridges  over  which  the  state has no control. Within the
    16  limits of incorporated villages the state  shall  maintain  a  width  of
    17  pavement  equal  to the width of pavement constructed or improved at the
    18  expense of the state, if a state highway, the location  of  the  state's
    19  portion of such roadway within said incorporated limits to be determined
    20  by the center line of the roadway as shown on the plans on file with the
    21  department  of  transportation and the state shall be liable for damages
    22  to persons or property only when such damage shall occur as a result  of
    23  the  defective  condition  of  the  portion of improved highway as above
    24  described.
    25    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and  shall  apply  to  any
    26  cause of action that accrues on or after such effective date.
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04409-01-9
Relates to state liability for potholes on state highways

What's Happening

Why It Matters
