§ 6. Transfer of canal lands and other assets. 1. The jurisdiction of
the thruway authority over the New York state canal system and over all
state assets, equipment and property, both tangible and intangible,
owned or used in connection with the planning, development,
construction, reconstruction, maintenance and operation of the New York
state canal system, as set forth in articles one through and including
fourteen, except article seven, of this chapter, and except properties
in use on the effective date of this article in support of highway
maintenance, equipment management and traffic signal operations of the
department of transportation, heretofore transferred by the commissioner
of transportation to the thruway authority, are hereby transferred
without consideration to the authority, to be held by the authority in
the name of the people of the state of New York. In addition the
commissioner of transportation and the chair of the authority or his or
her designee may, in their discretion, enter into an agreement or
agreements transferring jurisdiction over any or all of the bridges and
highways set forth in article seven of this chapter, and any or all
state assets, equipment and property, both tangible and intangible,
owned or used in connection with the planning, development,
construction, reconstruction, maintenance and operation of such bridges
and highways, which shall be transferred without consideration to the
authority, to be held by the authority through the corporation in the
name of the people of the state of New York. Any other rights and
obligations resulting from or arising out of the planning, development,
construction, reconstruction, operation or maintenance of the New York
state canal system shall be deemed assigned to and shall be exercised by
the authority through the corporation, except that the authority may
designate the chair of the thruway authority to be its agent for the
operation and maintenance of the New York state canal system, provided
that such designation shall have no force or effect after January first,
two thousand seventeen. Such canal system shall remain the property of
the state and under its management and control as exercised by and
through the authority, through the corporation which shall be deemed to
be the state for the purposes of such management and control of the
canals but for no other purposes.

2. The department of transportation and thruway authority shall
deliver to the authority all books, policies, procedures, papers, plans,
maps, records, equipment and property of such department pertaining to
the functions transferred pursuant to this article.

3. All rules, regulations, acts, determinations, orders and decisions
of the commissioner of transportation, department of transportation, or
thruway authority pertaining to the functions transferred pursuant to
this article in force at the time of such transfer shall continue in
force and effect as rules, regulations, acts, determinations, orders and
decisions of the authority and corporation until duly modified or
abrogated by such authority or corporation.

4. Any business or other matters undertaken or commenced by the
thruway authority, including executed contracts, permits and other
agreements, but excluding bonds, notes or other evidences of
indebtedness, pertaining to or connected with the powers, duties and
obligations transferred pursuant to this article, and in effect on the
effective date of the transfer of such matters from the thruway
authority to the authority provided for in this article, shall, except
as otherwise agreed by the authority and the thruway authority, be
conducted and completed by the authority through the corporation in the
same manner and under the same terms and conditions and with the same
effect as if conducted and completed by the thruway authority, provided
that nothing in this subdivision shall be deemed to require the
authority to take any action in a manner that would in its judgment be
inconsistent with the provisions of any bond or note resolution or any
other contract with the holders of the authority's bonds, notes or other
obligations.

5. No existing rights or remedies of the state, authority, thruway
authority, or canal corporation shall be lost, impaired or affected by
reason of this article.

6. (a) No action or proceeding pending on the effective date of the
transfer of powers, duties and obligations from the thruway authority to
the authority brought by or against the thruway authority, the
commissioner of transportation, the corporation, the department of
transportation or the authority shall be affected by this article. Any
liability arising out of any act or omission occurring prior to the
effective date of the transfer of the powers, duties and obligations
from the thruway authority to the authority, of the officers, employees
or agents of the thruway authority, the department of transportation, or
any other agency of the state, other than the authority, in the
performance of their obligations or duties under the canal law, any
other law of the state or any federal law, or pursuant to a contract
entered into prior to the effective date of such transfer, shall remain
a liability of the thruway authority, the department of transportation
or such other agency of the state and not of the authority.

(b) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary contained in
paragraph (a) of this subdivision, the state shall indemnify and hold
harmless the thruway authority, the corporation and the authority for
any and all claims, damages, or liabilities, whether or not caused by
negligence, including civil and criminal fines, arising out of or
relating to any generation, processing, handling, transportation,
storage, treatment, or disposal of solid or hazardous wastes in the
canal system by any person or entity other than the thruway authority or
the authority occurring prior to August third, nineteen hundred
ninety-two. Such indemnification shall extend to, without limitation,
any releases into land, water or air, including but not limited to
releases as defined under the federal comprehensive environmental
response compensation and liability act of nineteen hundred eighty,
occurring or existing prior to August third, nineteen hundred
ninety-two; provided that the thruway authority, the corporation and the
authority shall cooperate in the investigation and remediation of
hazardous waste and other environmental problems.

(c) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary contained in
paragraph (a) of this subdivision, the thruway authority shall indemnify
and hold harmless the corporation and the authority for any and all
claims, damages, or liabilities, whether or not caused by negligence,
including civil and criminal fines, arising out of or relating to any
generation, processing, handling, transportation, storage, treatment, or
disposal of solid or hazardous wastes in the canal system by any person
or entity other than the authority occurring after August third,
nineteen hundred ninety-two and no later than the effective date of the
transfer of powers, duties and obligations from the thruway authority to
the authority. Such indemnification shall extend to, without limitation,
any releases into land, water or air, including but not limited to
releases as defined under the federal comprehensive environmental
response compensation and liability act of nineteen hundred eighty,
occurring or existing prior to the effective date of the transfer of
powers, duties and obligations from the thruway authority to the
authority; provided that the corporation and the authority shall
cooperate in the investigation and remediation of hazardous waste and
other environmental problems.

(d) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the thruway
authority shall retain all liabilities, whether or not caused by
negligence, arising out of any acts or omissions occurring on or after
August third, nineteen hundred ninety-two, in connection with its
powers, duties and obligations with respect to the corporation. The
authority and the state shall not be held liable in connection with any
liabilities arising out of such acts or omissions.

7. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, in connection
with the transfer of jurisdiction of the corporation to the authority
and the assumption of management of the corporation as a subsidiary
corporation of the authority pursuant to the chapter of the laws of two
thousand sixteen which added this subdivision, the thruway authority
shall have the power to fulfill any existing agreements or obligations,
make any agreements, receive, retain or pay any funds, deemed necessary
and in the public interest to effectuate the provisions and intent of
this chapter, including but not limited to, the entering into any
agreements with the corporation, the authority and any other federal,
state, municipal or other entities, and to receive funds from the
federal emergency management agency or the state, to fulfill the thruway
authority's existing financial or other obligations arising from its
jurisdiction over the canal system and the corporation.