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SCAFFOLD LAW
COSTS NEW YORK TAXPAYERS
$1.1B*
+
NEW YORK PRIVATE BUSINESSES
$2.2B*
*ANNUAL COST ESTIMATE
ACTUAL COSTS FOR 2013:
NEW YORK TAXPAYERS: $785M** + NEW YORK PRIVATE BUSINESSES: $1.49B**
** "The Costs of Labor Law 240 on New York’s Economy and Public Infrastructure.”
The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. 2013.
New York City and New York State combined are experiencing a $755 million loss in tax revenue compared to last year.
REBNY - October 15, 2020
First enacted in the late 1800's, New York Labor Law sections 240/241, commonly called the “Scaffold Law,” holds contractors and property owners absolutely liable for any gravity related injuries sustained by a worker, regardless of the worker's own negligence.
New York is the only state in the nation which still has such a law.
New York’s general liability insurance costs, the highest in the nation for construction, are directly correlated to the Scaffold Law, and the number of carriers that write general liability policies in New York has plummeted.
Local governments pay higher costs for capital projects, whether the work is done directly or through private contractors. For example, liability costs on one joint NY-NJ bridge project are more than double on the NY side.
Illinois was the last state that had a similar statue. They redeemed it in 1995 and after that, the amount of accidents went down, the amount of construction went up and the insurance premiums leveled off with the rest of the country.
The Governor of New York has a unique opportunity to use the executive power granted to him due to the emergency of the Covid-19 pandemic, and issue a 12-month moratorium on the provision of the Labor Law from absolute to comparative.
This would be a clear message that he is committed to jumpstart the reconstruction, especially of all the needed infrastructure work that he has on the table.
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