BILL NUMBER: S4175

SPONSOR: KENNEDY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to including extreme
winter weather preparedness in local comprehensive emergency management
plans

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill would amend the definition of a "disaster" to include extreme
winter weather and would require that local comprehensive emergency
management plans include plans for extreme winter weather, including
evacuation plans and sheltering-in-place plans, along with how to deal
with transit networks, utilities, and community warming centers. Addi-
tionally it provides for an annual inventory of the municipality's
extreme winter weather equipment, including the age and condition of
such equipment.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

              

Section one adds "extreme winter weather" to the definition of "disas-
ter" in paragraph A of subdivision 2 of section 20 of the executive law,
as amended by chapter 23 of the laws of 2020.

Section two amends section 23 of the executive law by adding a new
subdivision 8 and calls for local comprehensive emergency management
plans to provide for extreme winter weather planning, including evacu-
ation plans and sheltering-in-place plans, along with the management of
transit networks, utilities, and community warming centers. Additionally
it provides for an annual inventory of the municipality's extreme winter
weather equipment, including the age and condition of such equipment.

Section three provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

All parts of New York State are affected by extreme winter weather from
time to time. In some portions of Upstate New York, large cities are
regularly among the top snowfall recipients in the nation.  Addi-
tionally, as climate change continues to impact our weather outcomes,
extreme winter weather events are becoming more commonplace. For exam-
ple, during the 2022-23 Winter, Lake Erie was largely unfrozen. In
regions like Western New York, that means that the plentiful source of
surface water that is necessary to generate lake-effect snow remained in
place throughout the season, bypassing the traditional end/decrease of
lake-effect snow in the region that occurs when Lake Erie freezes.

Recently, in December 2022, a historic blizzard hit the Buffalo Metro
Region. The blizzard, which lasted for multiple dates, had wind gusts of
nearly 80 miles per hour, dropped up to four feet of snow on the region,
which then drifted into massive piles that quickly covered vehicles,
vents, electric substations, and more, knocked out power to tens of
thousands of homes and places of business, and, tragically, led to the
deaths of at least 47 individuals from a variety of causes. In addition
to this horrific loss of life, tens of thousands were left without elec-
tricity in the midst of extreme cold temperatures, and at least two of
the warming centers set up in the City of Buffalo for residents also
lost power. Travel was next-to-impossible, with whiteout conditions
continuing for dozens of hours upon end, and, for the first time in its
history, the Buffalo Fire Department was, for a period of time, unable
to respond to any emergency calls.

While storms of this magnitude were previously considered to be genera-
tional storms that occur only once or twice a century, climate change is
unfortunately making them much more common. As a result, municipalities
in New York State need to ensure that they have plans and resources in
place to address these historic, but now more common, storms. This bill
will ensure that municipalities across New York State take extreme
winter weather into account when formulating and updating their disaster
preparedness plans.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This law shall take effect immediately after it shall become a law.