N.Y. Transportation Law § 135: Rail safety fee

§ 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.