Snow removal bill for commercial vehicles

It took four years and one of the worst winters in memory, but Suffolk County legislators have approved a measure that would require commercial drivers to scrape snow and ice off their vehicles before driving.

The measure, passed Tuesday night, on the first day of summer, still must be signed by County Executive Steve Levy. Levy is waiting to see the response to the bill at a public hearing he plans to hold in about two weeks, said spokesman Dan Aug.

The measure, sponsored by Legis. Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor), passed by a vote of 13-5, a margin that would be wide enough to override a veto.

The snow removal measure, if enacted, would subject owners of commercial motor vehicles to a $150 fine if they do not make all reasonable efforts to remove as much snow and ice as possible from their vehicles.

The penalty would go up to between $500 and $1,500 if uncleared snow or ice leads to an injury or property damage. Cooper initially proposed the bill after a snowstorm in March 2007. "I was driving on the LIE with my family and there were a half-dozen instances when I had to swerve out of my lane to avoid the large blocks of ice and large chunks of snow that were flying off the trucks in front of me," he said.

Some legislators questioned whether it was necessary to legislate common sense, and Cooper was unable to gather enough votes for passage in two previous attempts.

This winter, however, "we had a particularly tough winter with a lot of blizzards and wind storms. So it was fresh on people's minds," Cooper said.

Cooper also revised the bill. Responding to concerns that elderly people would have trouble clearing snow, Cooper restricted the requirement to only commercial vehicles. School, paratransit and transit buses also are exempt from the requirement. In addition, the measure does not apply while it's still snowing.

Also Tuesday, the legislature passed a campaign finance proposal spurred by the questions surrounding Levy's fundraising.

Aug said Wednesday that Levy is studying a measure, approved by a vote of 10-8, that would create a task force to recommend within six months a way to create a public finance system in the county and to devise a mechanism to pay for it.

The proposal, also by Cooper, is among four campaign finance bills proposed by legislators in the wake of Levy's agreement, announced March 24, to not run for re-election and to turn over his $4.1-million campaign war chest to District Attorney Thomas Spota to end a probe of his fundraising.

Cooper said his approach of soliciting a proposal from a task force of independent academics and campaign finance reform advocates "makes it much more difficult for the legislature to fail to act."