§ 135. Rail safety fee. 1. For the fiscal year commencing on April
first, nineteen hundred ninety-one and for each fiscal year thereafter,
the expenses of the administration and enforcement of the department's
railroad safety functions shall be assessed in the form of a fee.

2. The annual fee referred to in subdivision one of this section shall
be established and levied by the commissioner, subject to the approval
of the director of the division of the budget, in an amount that is
sufficient to raise funds to defray the expenses of the department in
administering and enforcing its railroad safety and related duties
pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and the railroad law. Such
expenses shall consist of the direct costs in the department's rail
safety program of personal service, the cost of maintenance and
operation, retirement contributions, workers' compensation premiums, and
health and dental premiums which are paid by the state for or on account
of personnel involved in the department's railroad safety program and
any other indirect costs involved in administering and enforcing rail
safety as deemed appropriate by the commissioner, provided, however,
that such indirect costs shall not exceed twenty percent of total direct
costs.

3. The fee shall be assessed against all railroads operating in the
state of New York and shall be based on railroad gross operating
revenues derived or earned from operations within the state in the
preceding calendar year. In instances where railroad gross operating
revenues are reported on a system basis and its operations cross state
lines, the revenues derived or earned from operations within the state
shall be the ratio of revenue freight ton miles operated within the
state to total revenue freight ton miles times the total railroad gross
operating revenues for freight operations and the ratio of passenger
miles travelled within the state to total system passenger miles of
routes operating through the state times the total gross operating
revenues for passenger operations.

4. Fees will be based on revenues from the preceding calendar year and
shall be assessed on or before July first and are payable by September
first of each year. On or before January first of each year following
assessment of fees pursuant to this section, the commissioner shall
report to the railroad companies annual costs associated with this
assessment.

5. The department shall annually submit a report by February first of
each year to the chairmen of the senate finance and assembly ways and
means committees which provides: a listing of department positions
funded in part or whole by the rail safety fee established pursuant to
this section; for the current state fiscal year and the next state
fiscal year, the dollar amount of total direct costs and the dollar
amount of total indirect costs funded or anticipated to be funded by
said rail safety fee; and a listing by railroad of the total annual fee
assessed, the total annual fee collected to date and the total annual
fee anticipated to be collected by the end of the current state fiscal
year and during the next state fiscal year. In addition, the
commissioner shall include within this report any plans to increase or
decrease said rail safety fee and provide an explanation for, and
description of the impact of, such increase or decrease in fee amount.