S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  5967--A
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                May 9, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. VALESKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conservation
   -- reported favorably from said committee and committed to the Commit-
   tee on Rules -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered  reprinted
   as amended and recommitted to said committee

 AN ACT to require the department of environmental conservation to report
   on deer management techniques in urban and suburban areas
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1.   The department of environmental  conservation  shall,  no
 later  than January 1, 2019, prepare a report to the legislature regard-
 ing deer management techniques in urban and suburban areas of the state.
 Such report, which shall be  based  on  the  best  available  scientific
 information, shall include:
   (i)  an  evaluation  of  alternative  deer control methods, other than
 traditional hunting, that may be employed  to  reduce  deer  population,
 which may include, but need not be limited to capture and euthanization,
 capture and removal, and fertility control;
   (ii)  methods  to  mitigate crop, vegetation, and property damage from
 deer, including vehicle collisions;
   (iii) management measures currently taken by the department  to  mini-
 mize conflict between humans and deer;
   (iv)  methods  to  enhance  public engagement in and awareness of deer
 management issues;
   (v) methods to reduce the  spread  of  wildlife-transmitted  illnesses
 such as Lyme disease;
   (vi)  identification and evaluation of urban and suburban areas of the
 state with high concentrations of deer populations;
   (vii) the basis for the department's current deer  population  manage-
 ment levels; and
   (viii)  review  of  effective management measures being taken in other
 states.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
              

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD09693-03-7