N.Y. Canal Law § 6: Transfer of canal lands and other assets

§ 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.