A party line vote in the state Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee means legislation that would exempt Chautauqua Lake from the state’s new freshwater wetlands regulations won’t make it to the Assembly floor this session.

The Assembly committee met Tuesday, with 19 Democrats voting to hold the bill for further consideration while Republicans, including Assemblyman Joe Sempolinski, R-Canisteo, voting to move the bill to the Assembly floor for a vote by the full Assembly. There has been no committee vote yet in the state Senate.

“As a member of the Environmental Conservation Committee, I advocated for this common-sense bill from Assemblyman Molitor and Senator Borrello because it would balance environmental protection with protecting the rights of New Yorkers who live around inland lakes like Chautauqua Lake and those who use them for recreational purposes,” Sempolinski said regarding his committee vote. “The Freshwater Wetlands Act, signed by Gov. Hochul in 2022, is another example of Albany overreach. Calling navigable lakes “wetlands” is ridiculous on its face. It’s nothing more than an attempt to remove local control from responsible conservation efforts which have been ongoing for generations by the people who actually live on and use these waterways. Chautauqua Lake and other navigable inland lakes should be exempt from the Freshwater Wetlands Act.”

A.4962/S.3656 was reintroduced earlier this session by Assemblyman Andrew Molitor and state Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, after the bill was introduced in 2024 by Borrello and former Assemblyman Andy Goodell, while Molitor backed the legislative change as a candidate for the Assembly last fall. The bill would exempt inland lakes that are navigable waterways and have an area of 150 acres or more from freshwater wetlands designations. The bill will further exclude the Great Lakes from the definition of “inland lake.”

Two of the four lawsuits challenging the Freshwater Wetlands Act changes that took effect Jan. 1, 2025, have been filed by Chautauqua County organizations – one led by the Chautauqua Lake Property Owners Association and another by the Chautauqua Lake Partnership. Response filings from state officials aren’t expected until later this summer at the earliest, according to a timeline filed by the state in the CLPOA lawsuit.

Legislative action would have provided more immediate relief from the wetlands regulations

Molitor wasn’t in the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee meeting, but expressed his disappointing in the vote in a statement late Tuesday.

“The state’s confusing wetland rules are creating unnecessary burdens for homeowners and local governments,” said Molitor. “This bill would have restored balance and supported local control without compromising environmental oversight.”