A07173 Summary:

BILL NOA07173
 
SAME ASNo Same As
 
SPONSORDe La Rosa
 
COSPNSRCrespo, Rozic
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Add §409-m, Ed L
 
Prohibits wireless communication facilities on school property; provides that a school may not negotiate for or enter into a contract for the placement or operation of any wireless communication facility on school property and schools with wireless communication facilities already on school property are allotted 180 days to terminate any contracts and remove the towers off the property.
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A07173 Actions:

BILL NOA07173
 
04/12/2017referred to education
01/03/2018referred to education
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A07173 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A7173
 
SPONSOR: De La Rosa
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the education law, in relation to prohibiting the placement and operation of wireless communication facil- ities on school property   PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: Prohibits the placement and operation of wireless communication facili- ties upon school property because of the harmful negative impact on living tissue caused by microwave radiation.   SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: The legislation amends the education law by adding a new section 4094 to prohibit wireless communication facilities on school property. A school may not negotiate for or enter into a contract for the placement or operation of any wireless communication facility on school property. A school with a cell tower already would have 180 days to terminate any contracts and remove the towers off its property.   JUSTIFICATION: Experts on the negative Impact of radiation on humans are warning that cell phone towers on, and near schools are a terrible danger to our children, school staff and administrators. According to Dr. David Carpenter, Md., Director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany, "There is increasingly strong evidence that prolonged exposure to radiofrequency radiation, such as that from radio and cell towers, Increases the risk of leukemia, and that prolonged use of a cell phone held against the head increases the risk of brain cancer. It is foolish and dangerous to put a cell tower on a school where children will be exposed constantly to radiofrequency radiation." Dr. Carpenter is just one of many health experts cautioning us as to the dangers of microwave radiation on living tissue. Yet 50 school districts out of 700 in New York State have already moved to build and operate cell towers on school buildings or on school property, thereby putting everyone learning and working in these schools at danger of suffering from a range of health problems linked to exposure to microwave radi- ation, including cancer, childhood leukemia, memory loss and others. School districts across New York are considering leasing school property to cell phone companies hi an attempt to raise revenue. However, the revenue potential is insignificant as a percentage of district budgets (in best case scenario of full leasing ability, revenue would be less then .003% of district budget). Considering the harmful impact on chil- dren and school staff, school districts should not be in the business of building cell towers to be built on schools and on school property. Throughout Europe, children and school staff are being protected against exposure to microwave radiation used to operate cell phones: *France has banned the use of cell phone for 5th graders and under, *Sweden researchers just concluded that cell phone radiation will cause a 400% increase in brain cancers; *Germany has placed strict limits on the distance between schools and cell towers; and *England has documented cancer clusters near cell towers and British citizens are pushing to ban them near schools. *Brain tumor specialist Dr, Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD works as both an oncologist and a researcher at Orebro University Hospital in Sweden. He is an expert on cell phones and brain tumors. 'The evidence for risks from prolonged cell phone and cordless phone use is quite strong. For people who have used these devices for 10 years or longer, and when they are used mainly on one side of the head, the risk of malignant brain tumor is doubled for adults and is even higher for persons with first use before the age Of 20 years' *An international working group of scientists, researchers and public health policy professionals (The Bioinitialive Working Group) has released its report on electromagnetic fields (EMF) and health. They document serious scientific concerns about current limits regulating how much EMF is allowable from power lines, cell phones, cell towers and many other sources of EMF exposure in daily life. *Cindy Sage of Sage Associates says, "Prolonged exposure to radiofre- quency and microwave radiation from cell phones, cordless phones, cell towers, WI-FI and other wireless technologies has been linked to inter- ference with short-term memory and concentration, sleep disruption, headache and dizziness, fatigue, immune disruption, skin rashes and changes in cardiac function."   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2009-2010: referred to education 2011-2012: A.3572 died in education   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: N/A   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.
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A07173 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          7173
 
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                     April 12, 2017
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M. of A. DE LA ROSA, CRESPO -- read once and referred to
          the Committee on Education
 
        AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to prohibiting the place-
          ment and operation of  wireless  communication  facilities  on  school
          property
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section  409-m
     2  to read as follows:
     3    § 409-m. Prohibition of wireless communication facilities.  1. For the
     4  purposes  of  this  section the following terms shall have the following
     5  meanings:
     6    (a) "School" shall mean any school district or  board  of  cooperative
     7  educational services.
     8    (b) "School property" shall mean any school building used for instruc-
     9  tional  purposes and its surrounding grounds, sites and other grounds to
    10  be used for playgrounds, athletics and other instructional purposes, and
    11  any administrative offices.
    12    (c) "Wireless communication facility" shall mean an unstaffed facility
    13  used in the receipt  and  transmission  of  wireless  telephone  service
    14  including,  but  not  limited to, antennas, ancillary telecommunications
    15  equipment, and telecommunications towers and poles.
    16    2. No wireless communication facility shall be placed or operated upon
    17  school property. Nor shall any school negotiate  for  or  enter  into  a
    18  contract  for  the  placement or operation of any wireless communication
    19  facility upon school property.
    20    3. Any school which is in violation of subdivision two of this section
    21  on the effective date of this section, shall, within one hundred  eighty
    22  days  of  such  date,  terminate  all contracts for the placement and/or
    23  operation of a wireless communication  facility  upon  school  property,
    24  and/or  remove any and all wireless communication facilities upon school
    25  property.
    26    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10472-01-7
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A07173 LFIN:

 NO LFIN
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