BILL NUMBER:  S7193

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the parks, recreation and historic
preservation law, in relation to the duties of the office

 PURPOSE OF THE BILL :

To expand the availability of swimming within parks under the
jurisdiction of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic
Preservation (OPRHP) by limiting OPRHP's legal duty with regard to
persons who choose to swim at unguarded areas within state parks.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

The bill would amend section 3.09 of the Parks, Recreation and
Historic Preservation Law by adding a new subdivision 23 to limit the
agency's liability when patrons swim in areas not designated for
swimming or where lifeguards are not on duty.

Section 2 of the bill would make it effective immediately.

 JUSTIFICATION :

OPRHP operates approximately 75 designated swimming beaches on lakes,
ponds, and ocean shorelines in state parks across New York and
provides trained lifeguards, safety equipment and other generally
              

accepted items, practices and procedures for guarded swimming areas.
OPRHP offers these guarded areas for public swimming, encourages the
public to use them and presently limits public swimming to only those
guarded areas during particular times.

However, OPRHP's designated swimming beaches represent only a small
portion of the hundreds of miles of coastline and available in-land
water bodies in New York's state parks. This bill seeks to expand
opportunities for the public to enjoy swimming in New York State
waters under the jurisdiction of the agency.

New York State's current policy is the most restrictive in the nation.
OPRHP limits public swimming to guarded areas out of concern for
public safety and liability. This practice prevents many people from
swimming who would like to do so. All other coastal states have some
form of either statutory immunity or recognized common law sovereign
immunity that provides these states with the legal protection needed
to open up their shorelines to swimming even when lifeguards are not
on duty.

Because New York State lacks a similar statutory provision, it has
been the long standing practice at OPRHP facilities to limit swimming
to designated beaches at designated times. As a result, OPRHP staff
will remove patrons from unguarded areas and severely limit the areas
where, and times when, the public can use and enjoy the State's
treasured coasts and in-land water bodies. Under current law, whether
OPRHP has a legal duty to keep the public out of these unguarded water
bodies is dependent on a host of factors that will vary from case to
case. This proposal seeks to alleviate that uncertainty by limiting
OPRHP's legal duty by statute for these unguarded areas and times.
This will open up a wealth of new water bodies and coastline areas to
recreational swimming which are now unavailable to the public.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

This is a new proposal.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :


As the proposal will likely increase revenue as attendance will likely
increase due to the availability of more swimming opportunities.

 LOCAL IMPACT :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately