Relates to the creation of a searchable database; requires the Urban Development Corporation to create or modify an existing searchable database including information on qualified participants receiving state economic development benefits.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2815
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 29, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Corporations, Authorities
and Commissions
AN ACT to amend the New York state urban development corporation act and
the economic development law, in relation to the creation of a search-
able database
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 1 of chapter 174 of the laws of 1968, constituting
2 the New York state urban development corporation act, is amended by
3 adding a new section 53 to read as follows:
4 § 53. Reporting. (1) Definitions. For the purposes of this section,
5 the following terms shall have the following meanings:
6 (a) "Economic development benefits" shall mean:
7 (i) the available state resources including, but not limited to, state
8 grants, loans, loan guarantees, loan interest subsidies, and/or subsi-
9 dies allocated through the corporation; and
10 (ii) tax credits, tax exemptions or reduced tax rates and/or benefits
11 which are applied for and preapproved or certified by a state agency;
12 (b) "Qualified participant" shall mean an individual, business, or any
13 other entity that has applied for and received approval for and/or is
14 the beneficiary of, any economic development benefits of ten thousand
15 dollars or more under any individual economic development program or
16 project overseen by the New York state urban development corporation or
17 economic development benefits that were originally allocated to the
18 corporation or that flow through the corporation;
19 (c) "State agency" shall mean any New York state department, board,
20 bureau, division, commission, committee, public authority, public corpo-
21 ration, council, office or other state governmental entity performing a
22 governmental or proprietary function for the state, as well as entities
23 created by any of the preceding or that are governed by a board of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03910-02-9
S. 2815 2
1 directors or similar body a majority of which is designated by one or
2 more state officials;
3 (d) "Full-time job" shall mean a job in which an individual is
4 employed by a qualified participant for at least thirty-five hours a
5 week;
6 (e) "Full-time equivalent" shall mean a unit of measure which is equal
7 to one filled, full-time, annual-salaried position;
8 (f) "Part-time job" shall mean a job in which an individual is
9 employed by a qualified participant for less than thirty-five hours a
10 week; and
11 (g) "Contract job" shall mean a job in which an individual is hired
12 for a season or for a limited period of time.
13 (2) Searchable state subsidy and economic development benefits data-
14 base. Notwithstanding any laws to the contrary, the corporation, in
15 cooperation with the department of economic development, shall create or
16 modify an existing searchable database, which includes the following
17 features and functionality:
18 (a) the ability to search the database by each of the reported infor-
19 mation to the corporation and for the public viewer to show a qualified
20 participant which is a recipient of an economic development benefit and
21 view a list of all types and amounts of benefits received by a qualified
22 participant;
23 (b) for the prior state fiscal year, the following information:
24 (i) a qualified participant's name and location;
25 (ii) the time span over which a qualified participant is to or has
26 received economic development benefits;
27 (iii) the type of such economic development benefits provided to a
28 qualified participant, including the name of the program or programs
29 through which economic development benefits are provided;
30 (iv) for any economic development benefits provided for job retention
31 and creation, the total number of employees at all sites covered by the
32 project utilizing such economic development benefits at the time of the
33 agreement including the number of permanent full-time jobs, the number
34 of permanent part-time jobs, the number of full-time equivalents, and
35 the number of contract jobs;
36 (v) the number of jobs that a qualified participant receiving economic
37 development benefits is contractually obligated to retain and create
38 over the life of the project utilizing such economic development bene-
39 fits, except that such information shall be reported on an annual basis
40 for agreements containing annual job retention or creation requirements,
41 and for each reporting year, the base employment level the entity
42 receiving economic development benefits agrees to retain over the life
43 of the project utilizing such economic development benefits, any job
44 creation scheduled to take place as a result of the project utilizing
45 such economic development benefits and where applicable, any job
46 creation targets for the current reporting year;
47 (vi) the amount of economic development benefits received by a quali-
48 fied participant during the year covered by the report, the amount of
49 economic development benefits received by a qualified participant since
50 the beginning of the project period, and the present value of the
51 further economic development benefits committed to by the state but not
52 yet received by a qualified participant for the duration of the project;
53 (vii) for any economic development benefits provided for job retention
54 and creation, the total actual number of employees at all sites covered
55 by the project utilizing such economic development benefits for the
56 current reporting year, including the number of permanent full-time
S. 2815 3
1 jobs, the number of permanent part-time jobs, the number of full-time
2 equivalents, and the number of contract jobs;
3 (viii) a statement of compliance indicating whether, during the
4 current reporting year, the corporation and/or any other state agency
5 has reduced, cancelled or recaptured economic development benefits from
6 such qualified participant, and, if so, the total amount of the
7 reduction, cancellation or recapture, and any penalty assessed and the
8 reasons therefor;
9 (c) the ability to digitally select defined individual fields corre-
10 sponding to any of the reported information from qualified participants
11 to create unique database views;
12 (d) the ability to download the database in its entirety, or in part,
13 in a common machine readable format;
14 (e) the ability to view and download contracts or award agreements for
15 each economic development benefit received by the qualified participant
16 to the extent such contracts or award agreements are available to the
17 public pursuant to article six of the public officers law;
18 (f) a definition or description of terms for fields in the database;
19 and
20 (g) a summary of each economic development benefit available to quali-
21 fied participants.
22 (3) Certification regarding reporting. The corporation shall certify
23 to the New York state authorities budget office, the corporation's board
24 of directors and post to its website that it has fulfilled all of its
25 reporting requirements as required by law, rules, regulations, or execu-
26 tive orders. The corporation shall provide a list of all reports, the
27 due dates of such reports, and certify to the New York state authorities
28 budget office and the corporation's board of directors, that each report
29 has been submitted to the individual, office, or entity as prescribed by
30 applicable laws, rules, and regulations.
31 (4) Database reporting. The corporation may request the specific data
32 from qualified participants, which is necessary and required in develop-
33 ing, updating and maintaining the searchable database. Such qualified
34 participants shall provide any such information requested by the corpo-
35 ration. Beginning on June first, two thousand twenty, the corporation
36 shall make all reported data on such database available to the public on
37 its website. Such database shall be updated on a quarterly basis with
38 qualified participants added to any programs and any new data provided
39 by existing qualified participants required reporting.
40 (5) Reporting. The corporation's senior staff shall report on a quar-
41 terly basis, to the corporation's board of directors with a status
42 update on the development and maintenance of the searchable database.
43 § 2. Section 100 of the economic development law is amended by adding
44 a new subdivision 18-j to read as follows:
45 18-j. to assist the urban development corporation to establish a
46 searchable database pursuant to section fifty-three of the urban devel-
47 opment corporation act.
48 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
49 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment
50 and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation
51 of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
52 completed on or before such effective date.