Senate Bill S2259

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  2259

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            February 17, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  YOUNG  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation

AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to  authorizing
  the issuance of distinctive plates for members of the Seneca Nation of
  Indians

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature  finds  and  declares
that  the  sovereign  territory  of  the  Seneca  Nation of Indians (The
Nation) lies completely within the state of New York  and  as  such  the
relationship  between  the state and the Nation is governed by a complex
set of rules based upon various  state  statutes,  signed  treaties  and
agreements  that  have  resulted  over time from the 1794 signing of the
Treaty of Canandaigua. It is this treaty that the United States acknowl-
edged the Nation's independence and sovereignty.
  A most recent agreement, known as the 1976  Southern  Tier  Expressway
Agreement,  was  entered  into between the Nation and the New York state
Department of Transportation (NYSDOT). The 1976 Agreement was predicated
on chapter 962 of the laws of 1973 in which lands of the Allegany  State
park  were transferred from the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic
Preservation to the Seneca Nation of Indians in lieu of  lands  acquired
by the state as rights of way for the Southern Tier Expressway.
  One of the terms agreed to by the Nation included New York state issu-
ing members of the Nation distinctive motor vehicle license plates. This
legislation  acknowledges  the unique, historical and vital relationship
that the Seneca Nation of Indians has  held  with  New  York  state  and
specifically  authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to develop and
implement a series of specially numbered license plates  to  members  of
the Seneca Nation.
  S 2. Section 404 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a
new subdivision 1-b to read as follows:

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD01216-01-9
              

S. 2259                             2

  1-B.  (A) THE COMMISSIONER SHALL ISSUE SPECIAL NUMBER PLATES TO APPLI-
CANTS WHO ARE MEMBERS OF THE SENECA NATION OF INDIANS IN THE SAME MANNER
AS OTHER NUMBER PLATES ARE ISSUED PURSUANT TO THIS ARTICLE. SUCH SPECIAL
NUMBER PLATES SHALL BE ISSUED (I) FREE  OF  CHARGE  AND  ONLY  UPON  THE
PAYMENT  OF  THE  REGULAR  REGISTRATION  FEE  PRESCRIBED BY SECTION FOUR
HUNDRED ONE OF THIS ARTICLE, AND (II) UPON SUBMISSION OF  PROOF,  SATIS-
FACTORY TO THE COMMISSIONER, THAT THE APPLICANT IS PRESENTLY A MEMBER OF
THE  FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED INDIAN TRIBE, SENECA NATION OF INDIANS; ONE OF
THE HISTORIC SIX TRIBES OF THE IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY WHO OCCUPY LANDS  IN
WESTERN NEW YORK AS SET ASIDE BY THE TREATY OF CANANDAIGUA OF 1794. SUCH
MEMBERSHIP SHALL BE VERIFIED ANNUALLY BY THE APPLICANT.
  (B)  ANY  SENECA  NATION  INDIAN  RESIDING  IN  THIS STATE SHALL, UPON
REQUEST, BE ISSUED A "SENECA NATION OF INDIANS" SPECIALLY DESIGNATED AND
NUMBERED PLATE OF A DESIGN APPROVED BY THE COMMISSIONER. APPLICATION FOR
SUCH PLATES SHALL BE MADE IN ACCORDANCE WITH REGULATIONS PROMULGATED  BY
THE COMMISSIONER WITH RESPECT TO THE ISSUANCE OF SUCH PLATES.
  S 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
it shall have become a law.