Requires the commissioner of labor to adopt regulations prescribing the methodology for establishing an annual employment statistics index which shows unemployment rates of hamlets and unincorporated villages of the state; directs such commissioner shall prepare and submit an annual report on such index.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A4854
SPONSOR: Ramos
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to requiring the establish-
ment of an annual employment statistics index for unemployment rates of
hamlets and villages of the state
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill would require the Department of Labor to report unemployment
statistics on hamlet and village levels.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
This bill would make available unemployment statistics from the Depart-
ment of Labor for the purpose of allocating funds from the Emergency
Food and Shelter National Board Fund.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) began in 1983 with a $50
million federal appropriation. The program was created by Congress to
help meet the needs of hungry and homeless people throughout the United
States and its territories by allocating federal funds for the provision
of food and shelter. Program funds are used to provide the following:
food, in the form of served meals or groceries; lodging in a mass shel-
ter or hotel; payment of one month's rent or mortgage payment; payment
of one month's utility bill; minimal repairs to allow a mass feeding or
sheltering facility to function during the program year; and fund equip-
ment purchases necessary to feed or shelter people.
The National Board awards funds to jurisdictions based upon high unem-
ployment rates. The New York State Department of Labor (DOL) regularly
reports at-large employment statistics at the town and incorporated
village level. Towns in Long Island are frequently bigger than counties
in the rest of the state. This at-large system fails to calculate
employment statistics for hamlets within the larger town borders, making
hamlets with high unemployment, or "poverty pockets", ineligible for
federal funding under the EFSP. The unintended result is that town
communities that would otherwise be eligible for EFSP funding lose
access to these vital federal dollars.
This bill seeks to remedy this problem by directing the DOL to collect
employment statistics at the hamlet level.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A5792 of 2021-22 referred to labor
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Undetermined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of October next succeeding the
date on which it shall become law. .Effective immediately, the addition,
amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the
implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be
made and completed on or before such effective date.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4854
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 23, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RAMOS -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to requiring the establish-
ment of an annual employment statistics index for unemployment rates
of hamlets and villages of the state
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 21 of the labor law is amended by adding a new
2 subdivision 13-a to read as follows:
3 13-a. Shall adopt regulations prescribing the methodology for estab-
4 lishing an annual employment statistics index which shows the rates of
5 unemployment specifically for the hamlets and unincorporated villages of
6 the state.
7 a. Such an index shall be in addition to any statistics or indexes
8 already compiled, recorded or published by the department.
9 b. The commissioner shall prepare and submit to the governor, the
10 temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly on or
11 before the thirtieth day of September an annual report on the index
12 required by this subdivision. Such report shall describe in detail the
13 unemployment rates of the hamlets and unincorporated villages of the
14 state. The report shall consider the comparison of such rates to the
15 larger municipalities which contain such hamlets or villages, and the
16 need for improved use by unemployed workers within such hamlets and
17 villages of publicly funded programs for employment training and employ-
18 ment-related services.
19 c. The annual report and statistics index required by this subdivision
20 shall be made available to the public.
21 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of October next succeed-
22 ing the date on which it shall have become a law. Effective immediate-
23 ly, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation
24 necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are
25 authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08271-01-3