S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6583
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 18, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  CANZONERI-FITZPATRICK  --  read  twice and ordered
   printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Environ-
   mental Conservation
 
 AN ACT to amend the  environmental  conservation  law,  in  relation  to
   authorizing  free  fishing,  hunting, and trapping licenses to certain
   individuals

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision  2  of  section  11-0715 of the environmental
 conservation law, as amended by section 4 of part R of chapter 58 of the
 laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
   2. (A) A member of the Shinnecock tribe or the Poospatuck tribe  or  a
 member  of the six nations, residing on any reservation wholly or partly
 within the state, is entitled  to  receive  free  of  charge  a  fishing
 license,  a  hunting  license,  a  muzzle-loading  privilege, a trapping
 license, and a bowhunting privilege;
   [a] (B) A resident of the state who is a member of the  United  States
 armed forces in active service who is not stationed within the state and
 has  not  been  herein  longer than thirty days on leave or furlough, is
 entitled to receive free of charge a fishing license, a hunting license,
 and a trapping license;
   [a] (C) A resident of the state who is an active member of the  organ-
 ized  militia  of the state of New York as defined by section one of the
 military law, or the reserve components  of  the  armed  forces  of  the
 United  States, and excluding members of the inactive national guard and
 individual ready reserve, is entitled to receive free of charge a  fish-
 ing license, a hunting license, and a trapping license; [and
   a]  (D)  A  resident  who  is  blind  is entitled to receive a fishing
 license free of charge. For the purposes of this subdivision a person is
 blind only if either: [(a) his or  her]  SUCH  PERSON'S  central  visual
 acuity  does not exceed 20/200 in the better eye with correcting lenses,
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01821-01-5
              

 S. 6583                             2
 
 or [(b) his or her] SUCH PERSON'S visual acuity is greater  than  20/200
 but  is accompanied by a limitation of the field of vision such that the
 widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20
 degrees[.];
   (E)  A  resident  in the state for a period of thirty days immediately
 prior to the date of application who has attained the age of seventy  is
 entitled to receive a fishing license, a trapping license, and a hunting
 license, at a cost of five dollars for each license[.];
   (F)  A  resident  in the state for a period of thirty days immediately
 prior to the date of application who has attained the age of seventy  is
 entitled  to receive free of charge a bowhunting privilege and a muzzle-
 loading privilege[.]; AND
   (G) A RESIDENT OF THE STATE WHO DEMONSTRATES IN A MANNER ACCEPTABLE TO
 THE DEPARTMENT THAT THEY WERE A PARTICIPANT IN THE  WORLD  TRADE  CENTER
 RESCUE,  RECOVERY,  OR CLEANUP, AS DEFINED IN SECTION ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-
 ONE OF THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION LAW AND SUFFERED A PERMANENT  DISABILI-
 TY,  AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION TWENTY-ONE OF SECTION TWO HUNDRED NINETY-
 TWO OF THE EXECUTIVE LAW, IS  ENTITLED  TO  RECEIVE  FREE  OF  CHARGE  A
 FISHING LICENSE, A HUNTING LICENSE, AND A TRAPPING LICENSE.
   § 2. This act shall take effect September 1, 2026.