Enacts the "schools impacted by gross highways (SIGH) act"; prohibits the commissioner of education from approving the plans for the erection of any new schoolhouse within five hundred feet of a controlled-access highway unless the commissioner of education determines that space limitations are so severe that there is no other site to erect such new schoolhouse.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5735C
SPONSOR: Joyner TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to enacting the "schools
impacted by gross highways (SIGH) act"
PURPOSE:
The purpose of thiS bill is to prohibit the construction of new schools
within 500 hundred feet of a controlled-access highway unless space is
so limited that there is no other site to erect a school.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: sets the name.
Section 2: adds a new subdivision 3-a to section 408 of the education
law. This new subdivision prohibits the commissioner of education from
approving the plans for the erection of any new school within 500 feet
of a controlled-access highway unless the commissioner determines that
space is so limited that there is no other site to erect such school. A
"controlled-access highway" shall mean (a) a controlled-access highway
as defined by section one hundred nine of the vehicle and traffic law
under the jurisdiction of the commissioner of transportation which has
been functionally classified by the department of transportation as
principal arterial - interstate or principal arterial - other
freeway/expressway on official functional classification maps approved
by the federal highway administration pursuant to part 470.105 of title
23 of the code of federal regulations, as amended from time to time and
(b) a divided highway under the jurisdiction of the New York state thru-
way authority for mixed traffic with access limited as the authority may
determine and generally with grade separations at intersections.
Section 3: adds a new subdivision 5-a to section 2556 of the education
law. This new subdivision provides that it is unlawful for a new school
to be constructed in the City of New York within 500 feet of a cont-
rolled-access highway unless the chancellor determines that space is so
limited that there is no other site to erect such school. A "cont-
rolled-access highway" shall mean (a) a controlled-access highway as
defined by section one hundred nine of the vehicle and traffic law under
the jurisdiction of the commissioner of transportation which has been
functionally classified by the department of transportation as principal
arterial - interstate or principal arterial other freeway/expressway on
official functional classification maps approved by the federal highway
administration pursuant to part 470.105 of title 23 of the code of
federal regulations, as amended from time to time and (b) a divided
showed Black zip codes are less healthy places for all children because
they tend to be close to sources of pollution such as busy highways;
resulting in poorer air quality.
Decades of racial segregation, redlining, and the systemic placement of
pollution-emitting infrastructure in Black and Brown communities have
played a role in this disparity. The American Lung Association says that
one of the major reasons that respiratory illnesses are so prevalent in
communities of color is the proximity of those communities to producers
of hazardous air pollutants, such as major roadways.
FISCAL IMPACT :
To be determined.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
September 2020 - Assembly Bill A.10998 Referred to Transportation
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding the date
upon which it shall have become a law; provided, however, that sections
two and three of this act shall take effect five years after it shall
have become a law; and provided, further, that school districts which
have a new schoolhouse construction project prior to such effective
date, or which have acquired real property to construct a new school-
house as approved by the board of education or trustees of a school, or
which have had a building permit issued by the state education depart-
ment shall be exempt from the provisions of this act; and provided
further that in a city school district in a city having a million inhab-
itants or more, school construction projects with advertisements for
bids or requests for proposals issued prior to such effective date shall
be exempt from the provisions of this act.
