NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9674
SPONSOR: Brown K TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
establishing a town of Huntington deer management pilot program; and
providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof
PURPOSE:
To establish a Town of Huntington deer management pilot program.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1: The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a new
section 11-0522-a to establish a Town of Huntington deer management
pilot program. A certified nuisance wildlife specialist, who has been
certified by the department and at minimum requires a minimum level of
marksmanship certification appropriate to the firearm or hunting imple-
ment to be used, liability insurance coverage or other financial
arrangements approved by the department and reporting requirements.
The department may, after reviewing the town of Huntington's site
specific deer management plan, issue a certified nuisance wildlife
specialist a deer cull permit for use within boundaries of the Town of
Huntington.
Each cull-permit application shall at a minimum include requirements
for: a timeframe of use, a site-specific deer management plan, a
geographic description of the area for which the permit is being
requested, a written contract with the Town of Huntington, and requests
for any authorization pursuant to subdivisions of sections. Nothing in
this section shall be construed as requiring or obligating the depart-
ment to issue a permit to take deer when in its opinion the nuisance
will not be effectively abated.
Section 2: A certified nuisance wildlife specialist may provide activ-
ities which are in furtherance of the site-specific deer management
plan. The specialist may entice deer in the manner prohibited in subdi-
vision eight of this section provided that such activities are in furth-
erance of the site-specific deer management plan.
Section 6: A certified nuisance wildlife specialist may discharge a
firearm within five hundred feet of any dwelling houses, structures,
schools or playgrounds, provided the owners or lessees thereof have been
notified by certified mail of the date and time of the expected activ-
ity, and discharge a firearm within two hundred and fifty feet of any
dwelling houses, structures, schools or playgrounds, provided the owners
or lessees thereof have provided written consent.
Section 9: Identifies effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
As stated on the Deprtment of Environmental Conservation's website, deer
play vital roles in the natural and cultural environment of New York
State and are highly valued for their beauty and grace as well as the
utilitarian benefits they provide. However, the abundance of deer in
many parts of the state is causing an increased number of problems,
particularly in suburban and urban areas. In a paper on Deer Management
from Binghampton University, it was noted that there were dramatic
increases in deer numbers leading to overpopulation. In New York alone,
deer numbers rose from around 20,000 in the early 1900s to a current
population of over 1 million. The World Population Review currently has
the numbers in New York for 2024 listed at 1.2 million. Suffolk county
is estimated to have between 25,000 and 36,000 deer.
In the Town of Huntington, the over-abundance of deer is causing adverse
effects. As noted in a letter from November 2016 from the Mayor of the
Incorporated Village of Lloyd Harbor to its residents, "the explosion of
the deer population is of the utmost concern". In a Village Deer Survey
where approximately 33% of the residents responded:63% reported daily
sightings of deer, 95% reported property damage due to the deer popu-
lation, there were 81 reports of tick-borne illnesses and 24% reported
deer-vehicle collisions within the preceding five years.
Based on insurance claims, State Farm estimates that there are over
70,000 deer-vehicle collisions annually in New York and that nationally
the average property-damage cost per collision is over $4,000. Losses
are not limited to property;. in 2015 (the most recent year for which
data is available) 238 people were killed in the U.S. due to vehicles
striking or attempting to avoid an animal, many of which were most like-
ly deer.
Additionally, deer browsing on ornamental trees, shrubbery, and gardens
in suburban and residential financially impacts homeowners. Wildlife
damages incurred by metropolitan residents in the U.S. have been esti-
mated at $4.5 billion annually. This is in addition to spending billions
of dollars and thousands of hours trying to solve or prevent the prob-
lem.
This bill will help to mitigate these rising problems by reducing the
number of deer through the establishment of a Town of Huntington deer
management pilot program and implemented by the NYSDEC. By using a
certified nuisance wildlife specialist with a cull permit the reduction
in the number of deer in the area will be done in a safe and profes-
sional manner.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law and shall expire and be deemed
repealed three years after such date; provided that the amendments to
subdivision 3 of section 11-505, subdivision 2 of section 11-0931 of the
environmental conservation law made by sections two, four, and six of
this act shall be subject to the expiration and reversion of such
provisions pursuant to section six of chapter 683 of the laws of 2023
and section six of chapter 704 of the laws of 2023, when upon such date
the provisions of sections, three, five, and seven of this act shall
take effect.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9674
IN ASSEMBLY
April 3, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. K. BROWN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Environmental Conservation
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
establishing a town of Huntington deer management pilot program; and
providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The environmental conservation law is amended by adding a
2 new section 11-0522-b to read as follows:
3 § 11-0522-b. Town of Huntington deer management pilot program.
4 1. For the purposes of this section, "certified nuisance wildlife
5 specialist" shall mean an employee of or a contractor for the federal or
6 state government responsible for wildlife management and acting pursuant
7 to a deer management plan, who has been certified by the department as
8 complying with the criteria established by the department that at a
9 minimum require:
10 a. a minimum level of marksmanship certification appropriate to the
11 firearm or hunting implement to be used, including ongoing certif-
12 ication;
13 b. liability insurance coverage levels or other financial arrangements
14 approved by the department; and
15 c. reporting requirements.
16 2. The department may, after reviewing the town of Huntington's site-
17 specific deer management plan, and upon a finding by the town of Hunt-
18 ington that deer have become a nuisance, destructive to public or
19 private property or a threat to public health or welfare, issue a certi-
20 fied nuisance wildlife specialist a deer cull permit for use within the
21 boundaries of the town of Huntington.
22 3. Each cull permit application shall at a minimum include require-
23 ments for: the timeframe during which the permit must be used, a site-
24 specific deer management plan, a geographic description of the area for
25 which the permit is being requested, a written contract with the town of
26 Huntington, requests for any authorization pursuant to subdivisions
27 three-a and eleven of section 11-0505 of this title, subdivision two-a
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13879-02-4
A. 9674 2
1 of section 11-0901 of this article, and subdivisions two-a and four-a of
2 section 11-0931 of this article, provided that any such authorization
3 subsequently granted shall be explicitly included on any cull permit,
4 and details regarding expected local law enforcement participation.
5 4. Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring or obligat-
6 ing the department to issue a permit to take deer when in its opinion
7 the nuisance, destruction of property or threat to public health and
8 welfare will not be effectively abated thereby.
9 § 2. Section 11-0505 of the environmental conservation law is amended
10 by adding two new subdivisions 3-a and 11 to read as follows:
11 3-a. Notwithstanding subdivision three of this section, a salt lick
12 may be made, set, or used upon land inhabited by deer or bear by a
13 nuisance wildlife specialist with a permit issued pursuant to section
14 11-0522-b of this title provided that such activities are in furtherance
15 of the site-specific deer management plan.
16 11. A nuisance wildlife specialist with a permit issued pursuant to
17 section 11-0522-b of this title may, in accordance with the parameters
18 of such permit and the consultation of local law enforcement, entice
19 deer in the manner prohibited in subdivision eight of this section
20 provided that such activities are in furtherance of the site-specific
21 deer management plan.
22 § 3. Section 11-0901 of the environmental conservation law is amended
23 by adding a new subdivision 2-a to read as follows:
24 2-a. Notwithstanding subdivision two of this section, wildlife may be
25 taken by a nuisance wildlife specialist with a permit issued pursuant to
26 section 11-0522-b of this article provided that such activities are in
27 furtherance of the site-specific deer management plan.
28 § 4. Section 11-0931 of the environmental conservation law is amended
29 by adding two new subdivisions 2-a and 4-a to read as follows:
30 2-a. No person except a law enforcement officer in the performance of
31 such officer's official duties or a nuisance wildlife specialist with a
32 permit issued pursuant to section 11-0522-b of this article, provided
33 that such activities are in furtherance of the site-specific deer
34 management plan, shall, while in or on a motor vehicle, use a jacklight,
35 spotlight or other artificial light upon lands inhabited by deer if such
36 person is in possession or is accompanied by a person who is in
37 possession, at the time of such use, of a longbow, crossbow or a firearm
38 of any kind except a pistol or revolver, unless such longbow or crossbow
39 is unstrung or such firearm or crossbow is taken down or securely
40 fastened in a case or locked in the trunk of the vehicle. For purposes
41 of this subdivision, motor vehicle shall mean every vehicle or other
42 device operated by any power other than muscle power, and which shall
43 include but not be limited to automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, trac-
44 tors, trailers and motorboats, snowmobiles and snowtravelers, whether
45 operated on or off public highways. Notwithstanding the provisions of
46 this subdivision, the department may issue a permit to any person who is
47 non-ambulatory, except with the use of a mechanized aid, to possess a
48 loaded firearm in or on a motor vehicle as defined in this section,
49 subject to such restrictions as the department may deem necessary in the
50 interest of public safety. Nothing in this section permits the
51 possession of a pistol or a revolver contrary to the penal law.
52 4-a. The prohibitions contained in subparagraph two of paragraph a of
53 subdivision four of this section shall not apply to a nuisance wildlife
54 specialist with a permit issued pursuant to section 11-0522-b of this
55 article acting in furtherance of the site specific deer management plan;
56 provided, however: (a) prior to the discharge of a firearm within five
A. 9674 3
1 hundred feet of any dwelling houses, structures, schools or playgrounds,
2 the owners or lessees thereof have been notified by certified mail of
3 the date or dates and time period of the expected activity; and (b)
4 prior to the discharge a firearm within two hundred fifty feet of such
5 dwelling houses, structures, schools or playgrounds all the owners or
6 lessees thereof have provided written consent.
7 § 5. The department of environmental conservation, following consulta-
8 tion with the town of Huntington shall prepare a report examining the
9 effectiveness of the town of Huntington deer management pilot program
10 established pursuant to section 11-0522-b of the environmental conserva-
11 tion law in addressing deer overpopulation and the effectiveness in
12 addressing destruction to public or private property in the town of
13 Huntington as well as the impacts on surrounding communities. The report
14 shall include estimates regarding the size of the deer population in the
15 town of Huntington prior to the issuance of deer cull permits pursuant
16 to section 11-0522-b of the environmental conservation law, the number
17 of cull permits issued, and the number of deer taken. The report shall
18 also include recommendations for program improvements, including the
19 potential effectiveness of authorizing future programs. The report shall
20 be delivered to the governor, the speaker of the assembly and the tempo-
21 rary president of the senate, as well as published on the department's
22 public website, no later than thirty months after the effective date of
23 this act.
24 § 6. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
25 ing the date on which it shall have become a law and shall expire and be
26 deemed repealed three years after such date.
