BILL NUMBER:  S6630

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act establishing a moratorium on the department of environmental
conservation's plan to declare mute swans a "prohibited invasive
species"; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon
expiration thereof

 PURPOSE OF THE BILL :

The purpose of this bill is to impose restrictions on the eradication
of the mute swan population.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of the bill requires the department of environmental
conservation, prior to finalizing any management plan for mute swans,
to hold not less than two public hearings and to respond to all public
comments.

In addition, any proposed management plan would be required to
prioritize non-lethal management techniques and include scientific
evidence of projected and current environmental damage caused by the
mute swan population of only 2,200 across the state.

              

Section 2 establishes the effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

In 2013, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced
its intention to completely eliminate mute swans in New York State by
2025. An official draft management plan for the eradication of mute
swans was subsequently released in January 2014. Thousands of
individuals and organizations submitted comments due to the
controversial nature of this plan. Based on this input, DEC released a
revised draft management plan for additional comment in March 2015.
DEC has received thousands of additional comments.

Wildlife experts, rehabilitators and environmentalists do not
unanimously agree that exterminating the mute swan population is
justified. In addition, there is debate amongst such experts about
whether the planned eradication of the mute swan population is even
minimally beneficial to our environment.

While there has been a comment period for after the release of each
draft management plan, DEC has failed to hold one public hearing to
give individuals or organizations the opportunity to express their
opposition to this plan.

Further frustrating the public, DEC has only sought input from very
specific organizations-none of whom oppose a lethal plan. No
organizations who were expressly in opposition of the original draft
management plan and have submitted comments have received any
acknowledgement from the authority

Thus, it is necessary-despite the fact that there have been comment
periods-to require DEC to hold two public hearings and respond to all
public comments. Doing so will ensure that the process for finalizing
the management plan is more inclusive and uniformly applied to all no
matter one's viewpoint.

Further, DEC should be required to illustrate the necessity of
eradicating this non-native species by demonstrating the actual damage
to the environment or other species that is caused by mute swans.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2015: S1555/A3675 (Cymbrowitz): Passed Both Houses, Vetoed - Veto
Message No. 249/2015
2013-2014: S6589-A/A8790-A (Cymbrowitz): Passed Both Houses, Vetoed -
Veto Message No. 543/2014

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be deemed
repealed two years after such effective date.