New York State Senator Catherine Young has sponsored S5917-2013.  This bill matches New York State Assembly Bill A3675A-2013 which is sponsored by Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo.  Both bills make changes to the Asbestos Project Notification Fee schedule.  The following are the reasons these bills should be supported:

• Original notification fees were arbitrarily set.

• In 2009 notification fees were arbitrarily doubled to raise income.

• From 2009 to 2010 income from fees rose from
  $6,606,700 to $12, 223,750.

• From 2009 to 2010 the Asbestos Control Bureau  (ACB) budget remained flat at $3,315,044 to
  $3,462, 574.

• The largest amount of asbestos in residential
  homes is non-friable

• A very small percentage of asbestos notifications are from residential
  homes

• Homes condemned 
  from disasters and, thus, not surveyed are being required to pay fees of
  $2,000 each for friable and non-friable material whether existing or not

• Most commercial projects of 1,500 square feet (SF) or less of non-friable material are not
  notified because of cost for a few hours of work.

• A home owner with 1,000 SF of floor tile
  pays the same fee as a commercial
  project of 100,000 SF.

• The bill refers to the footprint of a building
  as the ACB has taken the SF on some projects to include walls, floors, and
  ceilings.

• The proposed bill would be not be revenue neutral,
  however, the recent NYS Comptroller’s audit of the NYS Department of Labor (DOL) determined the DOL
  is not assessing and collecting all required fees and penalties in the ACB.  The audit recommended for the DOL to “Review the asbestos fee
  structure to determine whether a more equitable fee structure could be created
  based on the size of a project to possibly increase revenue.” Note: this can
  only be done through legislative action.

• This does not take into account the increase in
  residential, commercial, and industrial notifications because of the lower fees.

• Higher fees for larger projects above 5,000 SF will max out at the current $2,000 fee at 1,000 SF.

• Memos of support have come from Unshackle
  Upstate, NFIB, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, Broome County Chamber of
  Commerce, Southern Tier Builders Association, Rochester Builders Exchange,
  Associated Building Contractors of the Triple Cities, Syracuse Builders
  Exchange, Northern New York Builders Exchange, Building Industry Employers and
  the Broome County Realtors Association.