STATE OF NEW YORK
EXECUTIVE CHAMBER
ALBANY ?8224

 

VETO  November 20, 2019

TO THE SENATE:
I am returning herewith, without my approval, the following bill:
Senate Bill Number 25-B entitled:

ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to
enacting the bird-friendly building council act?

I A 9. .13. D.

This bill would establish within the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) a
fifteen-member council charged with studying the extent to which buildings pose a risk to
daytime and nighttime birds due to collisions. The study required by the bill would identify the
species most affected and the council would identify products or technologies which may reduce
the risk of bird collisions and identify funding sources to retrofit windows which pose a risk to
birds. The new council would be authorized to adopt rules and regulations necessary to carry out
their responsibilities under the act and the study required by the bill wonld have to be delivered
within eighteen months of the bill?s effective date.

The desire to prevent bird mortality from buildings is a laudable pursuit. However,
having a new c0uncil within DEC re~study the impact of buildings on bird mortality will not
advance the state of science in this ?eld. In this respect, it would require DEC, at great expense,
to-con?rm what experts in the field have already established.

This bill does not address the resources that would be necessary to complete a study of
this scope. The study imagined in the bill was not limited to one type of building or one area of
the state, and the need to review products and technologies to reduce bird mortality would
require expertise not currently available within DEC. Since the costs associated with this bill
were not addressed by the Legislature, DEC would be expected to bear the cost of setting up the
council and completing the study within currently budgeted resources. Given the potential costs
involved, this bill would be more appropriately addressed during negotiation of the state budget.

This bill is also problematic because it purports to give a council of appointed members
the authority to promulgate rules and regulations. Since the study required by the bill would be
produced Within eighteen months, it is wholly unnecessary to provide a council made up of
private citizens the right to promulgate, and presumably enforce, rules and regulations.

The bill is disapproved.