Section 534-D - General powers of the commission In addition to the powers and duties elsewhere prescribed herein, the commission shall have the power:
1. To have a seal and alter the same at pleasure.2. To determine the location, size and suitability of accommodations necessary and desirable for the establishment and maintenance of the employment information centers provided in section five hundred thirty-four-o of this article and for administrative offices for the commission.3. To administer and enforce the provisions of this act.4. To promulgate and enforce such rules and regulations as the commission may deem necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act or to prevent the circumvention or evasion thereof. As used in this act, "regulations" include those rules and regulations of the bi-state commission which shall continue in effect as the rules and regulations of the commission until amended, supplemented, or rescinded by the commission pursuant to the state administrative procedure act. Previously promulgated regulations inconsistent with the provisions of this act shall be deemed void. No later than one hundred eighty days after this act shall have become law, the commission shall commence review of its regulations in order to recommend necessary changes. In its review, the commission shall consult with relevant employers and labor organizations.5. To appoint such officers, agents and employees as it may deem necessary, prescribe their powers, duties and qualifications and fix their compensation and retain and employ counsel and private consultants on a contract basis or otherwise, within the limits provided by appropriation.6. By its commissioner and its properly designated officers, agents and employees, to administer oaths and issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the giving of testimony and the production of other evidence.7. To have for its commissioner and its properly designated officers, agents and employees, full and free access, ingress and egress to and from all vessels, piers and other waterfront terminals or other places in the port of New York district in this state, for the purposes of making inspection or enforcing the provisions of this act; and no person shall obstruct or in any way interfere with any such commissioner, officer, employee or agent in the making of such inspection, or in the enforcement of the provisions of this act or in the performance of any other power or duty under this act.8. To recover possession of any suspended or revoked license issued under this act.9. To make investigations, collect and compile information concerning waterfront practices generally within the port of New York district in this state and upon all matters relating to the accomplishment of the objectives of this act.10. To advise and consult with representatives of labor and industry and with public officials and agencies concerned with the effectuation of the purposes of this act, upon all matters which the commission may desire, including but not limited to the form and substance of rules and regulations, the administration of the act, maintenance of the longshore workers' register, and issuance and revocation of licenses.11. To make annual and other reports to the governor and legislature.12. To cooperate with and receive from any department, division, bureau, board, commission, or agency of this state, or of any county or municipality thereof, such assistance and data as will enable it properly to carry out its powers and duties hereunder; and to request any such department, division, bureau, board, commission, or agency, with the consent thereof, to execute such of its functions and powers, as the public interest may require.13. To designate officers, employees and agents who may exercise the powers and duties of the commission except the power to make rules and regulations. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the officers, employees and agents of the commission established by this act may be appointed or employed without regard to their state of residence.14. To issue temporary permits and permit temporary registrations under such terms and conditions as the commission may prescribe which shall be valid for a period to be fixed by the commission not in excess of six months.15. To require any applicant for a license or registration or any prospective licensee to furnish such facts and evidence as the commission may deem appropriate to enable it to ascertain whether the license or registration should be granted.16. In any case in which the commission has the power to revoke or suspend any stevedore license the commission shall also have the power to impose as an alternative to such revocation or suspension, a penalty, which the licensee may elect to pay to the commission in lieu of the revocation or suspension. The maximum penalty shall be five thousand dollars for each separate offense. The commission may, for good cause shown, abate all or part of such penalty.17. To designate any officer, agent or employee of the commission to be an investigator who shall be vested with all the powers of a peace or police officer of the state of New York.18. To confer immunity, in the manner prescribed by subdivision one of section five hundred thirty-four-v of this article.19. To require any applicant for registration as a longshore worker, any applicant for registration as a checker or any applicant for registration as a telecommunications system controller and any person who is sponsored for a license as a pier superintendent or hiring agent, any person who is an individual owner of an applicant stevedore or any persons who are individual partners of an applicant stevedore, or any officers, directors or stockholders owning five percent or more of any of the stock of an applicant corporate stevedore or any applicant for a license as a security officer or any other category of applicant for registration or licensing within the commission's jurisdiction to be fingerprinted by the commission at the cost and expense of the applicant.20. To exchange fingerprint data with and receive state criminal history record information from the division of criminal justice services and federal criminal history record information from the federal bureau of investigation for use in making the determinations required by this act.21. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, to require any applicant for employment or employee of the commission to be fingerprinted and to exchange fingerprint data with and receive state criminal history record information from the division of criminal justice services and federal criminal history information from the federal bureau of investigation for use in the hiring or retention of such person.22. To cooperate with a similar entity established in the state of New Jersey, to exchange information on any matter pertinent to the purposes of this act, and to, in its discretion, enter into reciprocal agreements for the accomplishment of such purposes, including but not limited to the following objectives: (a) To give reciprocal effect to any approval, revocation, suspension or reprimand with respect to any licensee, and any inclusion in, or reprimand or removal from a longshore workers' register;(b) To provide that any act or omission by a licensee or registrant in either state which would be a basis for disciplinary action against such licensee or registrant if it occurred in the state in which the license was issued or the person registered shall be the basis for disciplinary action in both states; and(c) To provide that longshore workers registered in either state, who perform work or who apply for work at an employment information center within the other state, shall be deemed to have performed work or to have applied for work in the state in which they are registered.Added by New York Laws 2024, ch. 58,Sec. L-2, eff. 6/30/2024.