The 2016 New York State Legislative regular session has ended.

According to a statement issued by the New York State Conservation Council, “the 2016 session ended with very little legislation of concern to the sportsmen reaching the floor of both houses of the legislature for an actual vote.”  The Conservation Council recently highlighted the following Adirondack related bills in an e-mail sent to the organization’s supporters.

These bills passed both houses and now await action by Governor Andrew Cuomo:

• Hunters required to display fluorescent orange can now choose fluorescent pink instead. Intended to provide an incentive to women hunters, testing revealed that not only does the human eye picks up pink more distinctly than orange but that it is also less noticeable to deer. (S6863, same as A10188)

• Exempts regular folding knives from the definition of “gravity knife.” (A9042A, same as S6483A)

According to the Conservation Council, “some police agencies, particularly the New York City Police Department, consider anything that can be opened with one hand to be a prohibited weapon, for which NYPD alone has made 60,000 arrests in the ten years between 2003 and 2013. The definition they use includes your 2½ inch folding pocket knife that can easily be opened with a snap of the wrist after it has been used for a while.”

Bills concerning the Council’s major legislative interests that were not acted upon by either house include:
•Universal age of 12 for hunting with firearms.
•Expanding crossbow hunting opportunities.
•Authorize cable restraints for coyote trapping.
•Changes to the SAFE Act gun legislation.
•Additional and protected ATV and snowmobile trails.

A bill to exempt ATVs used exclusively on the owner’s property from registration requirements passed the Senate only. (S3076, same as A3782)

A bill to allow hunting of Moose in New York State passed the Assembly only.

And back for the third time, passed by both houses, is the A bill to overturn the DEC’s management plan for mute swans was passed by both houses. The same bill was vetoed by the Governor in 2014 and 2015. (A9289, same as S6630)