Senate Bill S5058

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S5058

SPONSOR: REICHLIN-MELNICK
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
prohibiting the use of lead ammunition in the taking of wildlife on
state-owned land and land contributing surface water to the New York
city water supply

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this bill is to prohibit the use of lead ammunition when
hunting on state-owned and land contributing surface water to the New
York City water supply

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one amends section 11-0901 of the environmental conservation law
so that ammunition that contains one or more percent of lead by weight
may not be used to take wildlife on state-owned land that is open for
              

hunting, or land contributing surface water to the New York City water
supply.

Section two establishes the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The naturally occurring metal lead has been known for some time to be
highly toxic to the human body. Lead poisoning is especially dangerous
to children, whose bodies absorb lead more readily than adults. Accord-
ing to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children's expo-
sure to lead increases the risk for brain and nervous system damage, and
can lead to many learning and behavioral problems, including a lowering
of IQ. Extreme levels of exposure can lead to seizures, coma, and death.
Although lead has been taken out of many products over the past few
decades most notably paint and gasoline - lead is still the most common
material used for hunting ammunition. When a lead bullet strikes an
animal, the round fragments into many small pieces, not all of which are
easily detectable by the naked eye. These lead fragments can then be
consumed by humans who eat the meat of the hunted animal.Additiopally,
fragments from lead bullets are also a danger to eagles and other
animals who consume the gut-piles left behind by hunters after they've
stripped a hunted animal of desirable meat.

The dangers of using lead ammunition are not limited to the fragments
that are left behind in meat. Small mammals and terrestrial birds that
forage for seeds are in danger of ingesting spent lead shot, as are
birds that ingest small stones for grit. Simply discharging lead ammuni-
tion increases environmental lead levels, posing a risk to the person
discharging the ammunition.

Prohibiting the use of ammunition made from lead in state-owned land
where hunting is allowed will further diminish the dangerous presence of
lead in humans and wildlife alike.  Sources:

https://www.cdc.gov/niosn/topics/lead/health.html

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs379/en/
http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6dq3h64x page-1

https://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/publications/fact sheets/pdfs/ lead poisoning
wildbirds2009.pdf

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

No Prior Senate History

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None noted.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
January 1, 2023. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
on or before such effective date.