BILL NUMBER: S8442

SPONSOR: SEPULVEDA
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the general business law, in relation
to prohibiting the transport of lithium and lithium metal batteries on
all aircraft

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This purpose of this bill is to protect pilots and passengers from
aircraft accidents involving fires started by lithium.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Prohibits any aircraft departing from a New York airport to
transport Lithium batteries as cargo. The only exception to this being
the lithium or lithium metal found in cell phones.

Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

 
              

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION:

N/A

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Lithium and lithium metal batteries pose a grave danger to our pilots
and passengers on aircrafts. Research has shown time after time that
lithium batteries can self-ignite when damages, defective, or exposed to
a heat source. The transportation of these batteries puts our pilots in
compromising positions where they may be traveling with cargo that could
potentially down an aircraft. The threat is especially important because
fires involving lithium batteries are unresponsive to halon, the tradi-
tional extinguishing agent used aboard aircraft. This means that in
cases when fires start, they plane needs to come down in able to put it
out because FAA testing has shown that they burn incredibly hot.

This is not an isolated incident, we have seen with Boeing's 787 "Dream-
liner" during a 2013 rollout. The Federal Aviation Administration
discovered several incidents with battery transportation. Fires are a
huge expense and become an economic burden on aircrafts and insurance
companies in our state. This bill will function not only as a safety net
for the American public, but also as a preemptive fiscally responsible
policy to stop preventable aircraft fires.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2016: A.9616 - Referred to Transportation

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of next July.