Section 475. Crowd control plans in certain places of public assembly


Latest version.
  • 1.
      (a) For the purposes of this section places of public assembly shall  be
      those  with  an occupancy capacity of at least five thousand persons and
      shall include: (i) all  stadiums,  ballparks,  gymnasiums,  fieldhouses,
      arenas,  civic  centers  and  similar facilities used for the conduct of
      sporting events; and (ii) concert halls, recital halls, theatres, indoor
      and outdoor amphitheatres or other auditoriums used for the presentation
      of musical renditions or concerts by living persons who  appear  in  the
      immediate presence of their audience and which rely primarily for effect
      on  the  use  of electronic amplification of accompaniment and principal
      voice or instrument together with visual and other special  effects  and
      whose  musical  renditions or concerts are represented by the performers
      to be,  or  advertised  by  the  management  of  such  halls,  theatres,
      amphitheatres   or  auditoriums  as,  rock  and/or  rapp  renditions  or
      concerts. Such places of public assembly  shall  include  the  means  of
      ingress  thereto  and  egress therefrom. Places of public assembly shall
      not include halls owned by churches, religious  organizations,  granges,
      public  associations,  free  libraries as defined by section two hundred
      fifty-three of the education law, and facilities for the performance  of
      sporting events or rock and/or rapp musical renditions owned and used by
      public  and  nonpublic  primary  and  secondary  schools  and  boards of
      cooperative educational services.
        (b) For the purposes of  this  section,  operator  shall  include  the
      primary  tenant  of  a place of public assembly or the person or persons
      responsible for the operation and management of  said  place  of  public
      assembly.  If  no  operator  of  said  place  of  public assembly can be
      ascertained, then the owner shall be deemed the operator. In any  event,
      the  designation of such operator of said place of public assembly shall
      be included in all plans of compliance filed  in  accordance  with  this
      section.
        2.  The  operators  of  places  of  public assembly as defined in this
      section shall establish a plan to be used  for  the  purposes  of  crowd
      control  in  the  event of a riot. Said plan shall include and set forth
      any programs mandated by section one  hundred  six-b  of  the  alcoholic
      beverage  control  law  or  any  other  requirement  of  such  law,  and
      additional  procedures  designed  to  control  the  over-consumption  of
      alcoholic  beverages  at such places of public assembly, which operators
      deem to be necessary or desirable for inclusion in the plan.  Said  plan
      shall  be  filed  with the New York state emergency management office as
      follows: (i) with respect to places of public assembly in  existence  on
      the  effective  date  of  this section which have been used for sporting
      events or presentations described in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph  (a)
      of  subdivision  one  of  this  section,  said plan shall be filed on or
      before March first, in the year next succeeding the year in  which  this
      section  shall  have  become  a  law; and (ii) with respect to places of
      public assembly constructed after the effective date of this section  or
      with  respect  to  existing  facilities  used  for  the  first  time for
      presentation of  sporting  events  or  musical  renditions  or  concerts
      described  in  subparagraph  (ii) of paragraph (a) of subdivision one of
      this section, said plan shall be filed thirty days before  the  sporting
      event  or  the  presentation  of  such musical renditions or concerts so
      described. Additionally, the plan shall be filed  with  the  police  and
      fire  departments of the locality in which such place of public assembly
      is located, as well as with the state or county law  enforcement  agency
      having  the  primary  responsibility  to  respond  with the local police
      department in the event of an emergency. With respect to  the  operation
      of places of public assembly by a governmental entity which provides its
      own   police   and  fire  protection,  plans  shall  be  established  in
    
      consultation with the officers charged with responsibility for providing
      such protection and enforcement.
        3. The New York state emergency management office shall issue a report
      with recommendations to the governor and the legislature relative to the
      sufficiency  of  crowd  control  planning  on or before March fifteenth,
      nineteen hundred ninety.
        4. No owner, operator, governmental entity or any  employee,  officer,
      or  agent  thereof shall be liable for any claim filed by a person based
      upon negligence in the preparation or  filing  of  such  plans  required
      under this section.