Amd §606, Tax L; amd §2346, Ins L; add §170-c, Exec L
Enacts the residential structure fire prevention act of 2019; provides a tax credit to homeowners who remove cock loft fire hazards in their homes; provides an insurance discount for the installation of smoke detecting alarm devices in cock lofts; provides that the repair of cock lofts for the purpose of fire prevention and safety shall be qualifying expenditures under state housing programs.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4406B
SPONSOR: Lentol TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the tax law, the insurance law and the
executive law, in relation to enacting the residential structure fire
prevention act of 2019
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Provides a tax credit to homeowners who repair cock loft fire hazards in
their homes.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: -Section 606 of the Tax Law is
amended by adding a new subsection (jjj) to provide for a 25% tax cred-
it, up to a maximum of $5000, for repairing fire hazards commonly known
as cocklofts, which are defined as a completely enclosed space between
the rafters and a suspended ceiling.
-Section 2346 of the Insurance Law is amended by adding a new section 6
to appropriate the reduction in the rates of fire insurance premiums
when there is a smoke alarm in the cock loft.
-The Executive Law is amended by adding a new section 170-c to allow the
repair of cocklofts for the purpose of fire prevention and safety to be
a qualifying expenditure under state funding programs At NYSERDA NYS
Homes and Community Renewal and NYSHCR and SONYMA
JUSTIFICATION:
This legislation is introduced as a result of major fires that have
taken place in Queens and Brooklyn. In these cases, the fire began as a
single family home fire which quickly spread down the entire block of
homes because of the existence of cock lofts which connected these hous-
es. Homes on the block were quickly consumed by the fire. If the cock
lofts were closed off, the devastation these fires caused would probably
not have been so great.
Row houses are no longer designed and built with cock lofts because of
the fire hazard. Closing, off these, already in existence, passage-ways
is not considered by homeowners because there is no inducement to do so.
This legislation will give homeowners the tax incentive they may need to
correct this building flaw, which may one day prove useful in avoiding
another catastrophe.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2017: S. 3065B - Passed Senate.
2018: S. 30658 - Passed Senate.
Vetoed - Veto Memo 308.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To Be Determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to taxable years
beginning on or after January 1, 2020.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4406--B
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 4, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LENTOL -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Ways and Means -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- again
reported from said committee with amendments, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the tax law, the insurance law and the executive law, in
relation to enacting the residential structure fire prevention act of
2019
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "residen-
2 tial structure fire prevention act of 2019".
3 § 2. Section 606 of the tax law is amended by adding a new subsection
4 (kkk) to read as follows:
5 (kkk) Credit for removing certain fire hazards. (1) Any resident owner
6 of real property as defined in section one hundred two of the real
7 property tax law shall be allowed a credit against the tax otherwise
8 imposed under this article in an amount equal to twenty-five percent of
9 the cost of removing fire hazards commonly known as cock lofts, provided
10 that such credit shall not exceed five thousand dollars. For purposes of
11 this section the term "cock loft" shall mean a completely enclosed space
12 between rafters and a suspended ceiling.
13 (2) If the amount of the credit allowed under this subsection for any
14 taxable year shall exceed the taxpayer's tax for such year, the excess
15 shall be treated as an overpayment of tax to be credited or refunded in
16 accordance with the provisions of section six hundred eighty-six of this
17 article, provided, however, that no interest shall be paid thereon.
18 § 3. Section 2346 of the insurance law is amended by adding a new
19 subsection 6 to read as follows:
20 6. The superintendent shall provide for an actuarially appropriate
21 reduction in the rates of fire insurance premiums or the fire insurance
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08238-04-9
A. 4406--B 2
1 component of homeowners insurance premiums applicable to residential
2 real property equipped with smoke detecting alarm devices in cock lofts.
3 The superintendent shall by regulation establish standards for smoke
4 detecting alarm devices in cock lofts, including the safe and secure
5 installation thereof. For the purposes of this subsection, "cock loft"
6 shall mean a completely enclosed space between rafters and a suspended
7 ceiling.
8 § 4. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 170-c to
9 read as follows:
10 § 170-c. Repair of certain fire hazards. Any state agency or authori-
11 ty, including but not limited to the New York state energy research and
12 development authority, division of housing and community renewal and
13 state of New York mortgage agency, that provides a housing program shall
14 include the repair of cock lofts for the purpose of fire prevention and
15 safety as a qualifying expenditure under any such program. For the
16 purposes of this section, "cock loft" shall mean a completely enclosed
17 space between rafters and a suspended ceiling.
18 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to taxable
19 years beginning on or after January 1, 2020.
