Senate Bill S458

                                BILL NUMBER:S458

TITLE OF BILL:

An act
to amend the general business law, in relation to the rebuttable
presumption relating to identifying information on an unsolicited
advertisement in cities with a population of one million or more

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF THE BILL:

The purpose of this legislation
is amend the "lawn litter law" rebuttable presumption provisions
which require that advertising materials be placed at "two or more
premises".

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends subdivision 3 or section 397-a of the
general business law, as amended by chapter 3 of the laws of 2008, to
repeal certain provisions of the "rebuttable presumption" section
that require advertising materials to be placed at "two or more
premises" for the presumption to be applicable.

Section 2 of the bill sets forth an immediate effective date.

              

JUSTIFICATION:

Under the current "lawn litter law", a rebuttable presumption of
liability is imposed on those persons whose name, telephone number or
other identifying information appears on any unsolicited advertising
materials that have been placed at two or more premises.

The New York City Department of Sanitation has stated that it cannot
enforce the law on the basis of a property owner's affidavit of
receiving unsolicited materials unless there are affidavits which
show that such materials were placed at two or more premises as
required by the law in order to trigger the "rebuttable presumption"
provision.

The requirement that such materials be "placed at two or more
premises" serves no legitimate purpose in triggering the "rebuttable
presumption" of liability for persons who place unsolicited
advertising materials on private property.

If a property owner has received unsolicited materials they should be
allowed to seek protection of the "lawn litter law" and its
rebuttable presumption provisions without first having to prove that
such materials were placed at more than one location.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2011-12: S.7195

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:


None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect immediately.