Dan Ladd: Will New York’s crossbow bill be signed, and if so, when?

The title of this column pretty much poses the question we’ve been hearing repeatedly during the past two months, and one that is being asked more frequently as big game archery hunting seasons approach.

Ever since both houses passed legislation in June to expand crossbow usage in New York, nearly unanimously, proponents have wondered if – and especially – when Gov. Kathy Hochul might sign the bill into law.

The “if” factor almost seems impossible to most. Again, given the overall support for the bill in both houses, it’s hard to imagine the governor not signing it. That said, stranger things have happened. But, the optimism that she eventually will sign it comes from legislators and advocates involved in the process alike. And so the questions become when it might be signed, and why is it taking so long?

Keep in mind, that the minute a bill passes both houses it is not marched into the governor’s office and placed on her desk with instructions that say “sign here.” I can’t tell you how many other bills await Hochul’s signature, but I reached out to my local senator, Dan Stec (R-45), who told me that number could be over a thousand.

Senator Stec also shed some light on the process of what happens to a bill after it has cleared both the Senate and Assembly. He said once a bill is passed by both houses it is returned to the house that passed it first – in this case the Senate – where it sits until it is delivered to the governor.

“Once it has been delivered, the 10-day clock starts,” Stec said. “If she doesn’t veto it within 10 days, then it’s as if she signed it and it becomes law. So the question is, when will it be delivered to her?”

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Stec continued to explain that the Senate majority legislative staff coordinates all of this with the second floor (governor’s office). Again, there could be a thousand bills with some being more time sensitive than others. He said some get signed on a significant date, and there are just too many to deliver all at once. “So the short answer,” Stec said of the crossbow bill “is sometime before the end of the calendar year.”

I also spoke with Sen. Jim Tedisco(R-44) recently who was on hand at the new Bass Pro Shops opener in Clifton Park. “Leaders can lobby for the bill, call her office and request that it come. I imaging if they really want it, they’ll be talking to her,” Tedisco said. “I know we’ve contacted them and we’re very interested in it, and my colleagues have contacted her office and given our support for it. So we’re hopeful that it gets done.”

So what does this all mean? Could it take until the end of the year for the bill to be signed, forgoing the hunting season that lies ahead? Perhaps.

On the optimistic side, think back to 2008 when during the middle of the summer then-Gov. David Patterson signed legislation that lowered the big game hunting age from 16 to 14, just in time for hunting season. The current timing of the crossbow bill is a little behind that passage.

As Stec reiterated, there’s no telling what might happen and when. Hunters, meanwhile, remain waiting in the wings while the process plays out. Some are also investing in new crossbows, many that don’t comply with the current regulations in place since 2014.

Supporters of the bill have been saying on social media that they’re repeatedly calling both their legislators and especially the governor’s office, asking for some movement. Right now, that is about all anyone can do.