Section 135. Rail safety fee

1.  For the fiscal year commencing on April
  first, nineteen hundred ninety-one and for each fiscal year  thereafter,
  the  expenses  of the administration and enforcement of the department's
  railroad safety functions shall be assessed in the form of a fee.
    2. The annual fee referred to in subdivision one of this section shall
  be established and levied by the commissioner, subject to  the  approval
  of  the  director  of  the  division of the budget, in an amount that is
  sufficient to raise funds to defray the expenses of  the  department  in
  administering  and  enforcing  its  railroad  safety  and related duties
  pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and the railroad law.    Such
  expenses  shall  consist  of  the  direct costs in the department's rail
  safety  program  of  personal  service,  the  cost  of  maintenance  and
  operation, retirement contributions, workers' compensation premiums, and
  health and dental premiums which are paid by the state for or on account
  of  personnel  involved  in the department's railroad safety program and
  any other indirect costs involved in administering  and  enforcing  rail
  safety  as  deemed  appropriate  by the commissioner, provided, however,
  that such indirect costs shall not exceed twenty percent of total direct
  costs.
    3. The fee shall be assessed against all railroads  operating  in  the
  state  of  New  York  and  shall  be  based  on railroad gross operating
  revenues derived or earned from  operations  within  the  state  in  the
  preceding  calendar  year.  In  instances where railroad gross operating
  revenues are reported on a system basis and its operations  cross  state
  lines,  the  revenues derived or earned from operations within the state
  shall be the ratio of revenue freight  ton  miles  operated  within  the
  state  to total revenue freight ton miles times the total railroad gross
  operating revenues for freight operations and  the  ratio  of  passenger
  miles  travelled  within  the  state  to total system passenger miles of
  routes operating through the  state  times  the  total  gross  operating
  revenues for passenger operations.
    4.  All revenues collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited
  to  the  miscellaneous  special  revenue  fund--rail  safety  inspection
  account  for  the  purposes  established in this section.   Fees will be
  based on revenues from the preceding calendar year and shall be assessed
  on or before July first and are payable by September first of each year.
  On or before January first of each year  following  assessment  of  fees
  pursuant  to this section, the commissioner shall report to the railroad
  companies annual costs associated with this assessment.
    5. The department shall annually submit a report by February first  of
  each  year  to  the chairmen of the senate finance and assembly ways and
  means committees which provides:   a  listing  of  department  positions
  funded  in  part or whole by the rail safety fee established pursuant to
  this section; for the current state  fiscal  year  and  the  next  state
  fiscal  year,  the  dollar  amount  of total direct costs and the dollar
  amount of total indirect costs funded or anticipated  to  be  funded  by
  said  rail safety fee; and a listing by railroad of the total annual fee
  assessed, the total annual fee collected to date and  the  total  annual
  fee  anticipated  to be collected by the end of the current state fiscal
  year  and  during  the  next  state  fiscal  year.  In   addition,   the
  commissioner  shall  include within this report any plans to increase or
  decrease said rail safety  fee  and  provide  an  explanation  for,  and
  description of the impact of, such increase or decrease in fee amount.