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.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8325A
SPONSOR: Wallace TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the New York state urban development corporation act and
the economic development law, in relation to the creation of a searcha-
ble database
PURPOSE OF THE BILL:
This bill would require the Urban Development Corporation to create and
maintain a searchable State subsidy and economic development benefits
database.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
This bill would require the Urban Development Corporation with the
Commissioner of Economic Development to establish a searchable State
subsidy and economic development benefits database. The database would
include the name and location of the participant, the time span of
received economic development benefits, the type of benefit received,
the total number of employees at all sites of a project, the number of
jobs a participant is obligated to retain and create during the project,
the amount of economic development benefits received for the current
reporting year, and a statement of compliance indicating if any other
State agency has reduced, cancelled or recaptured economic development
benefits from a participant. The database must also have the ability to
narrow a search by individual fields, be able to be downloaded entirely
or in parts, allow contract and award agreements to be downloaded and
provide definitions for each field term and summary of each economic
development benefit available. It would be required that the UDC certi-
fies it has met the reporting requirement by posting to its website and
providing updates on a quarterly basis.
JUSTIFICATION:
New York State spends billions of dollars each year on economic develop-
ment programs which can be crucial tools to help our state's manufactur-
ers, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and emerging technology sectors
grow, thrive, and create jobs within the state. However, it is abso-
lutely essential that the State's economic development programs are
administered in a responsible, transparent, and open manner, and that
the performance of the programs can be reliably and accurately measured
so that policymakers and the public are able to make informed decisions
about future allocation of the State's resources. Entities receiving
state assistance often receive subsidies from multiple State funds or
programs, which can have different reporting requirements, making it
difficult for all but the most seasoned observers to track exactly how
much funding any given entity is receiving. The current lack of clarity
in reported program metrics and the flow of economic development funds
not only makes such decisions difficult, but invites criticism and scru-
tiny of the public accountability and openness of the State's programs.
To date, six other states have created and implemented searchable data-
bases which allow citizens to review programs administered by the state.
The creation of a comprehensive searchable database of all State subsidy
and economic development benefits would provide New York State citizens
and policy makers with•an important tool to monitor the use of taxpayer
money to grow our state's economy and create jobs. The public deserves
to know whether their money is being invested wisely and whether they
are receiving an appropriate return on their investment.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
S.6613-B of 2017-18/Passed Senate.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
Undetermined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Ninety days after enactment.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8325--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
October 20, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WALLACE, McDONALD -- read once and referred to
the Committee on Economic Development -- recommitted to the Committee
on Economic Development in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
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 58 to read as follows:
4 § 58. 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 and include the follow-
7 ing:
8 (i) available state resources and/or funds including, but not limited
9 to, state grants, loans, loan guarantees, loan interest subsidies,
10 and/or subsidies; and/or
11 (ii) tax credits, tax exemptions or reduced tax rates and/or benefits
12 which are applied for and preapproved or certified by a state agency;
13 and
14 (a-1) "Empire state economic development benefits" shall mean those
15 economic development benefits made available to the urban development
16 corporation and/or the department of economic development to award such
17 benefits to qualified recipients, or those economic development benefits
18 which are allocated to the corporation and/or such department but are
19 subsequently allocated to another state agency or other independent
20 entities for them to make such awards to qualified recipients;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10062-04-2
A. 8325--A 2
1 (a-2) "Aggregate economic development benefits" shall mean those bene-
2 fits provided for in paragraphs (a) and (a-1) of this subdivision and
3 displayed separately in the database created pursuant to subdivision two
4 of this section;
5 (b) "Qualified participant" shall mean an individual, business, limit-
6 ed liability corporation or any other entity that has applied for and
7 received approval for and/or is the beneficiary of, any aggregate
8 economic development benefits of ten thousand dollars or more per
9 project;
10 (c) "New York state agency" shall mean any state department, board,
11 bureau, division, commission, committee, public authority, public corpo-
12 ration, council, office or other state governmental entity performing a
13 governmental or proprietary function for the state, as well as entities
14 created by any of the preceding or that are governed by a board of
15 directors or similar body a majority of which is designated by one or
16 more state officials;
17 (d) "Full-time job" shall mean a job in which an individual is
18 employed by a qualified participant for at least thirty-five hours a
19 week;
20 (e) "Full-time equivalent" shall mean a unit of measure which is equal
21 to one filled, full-time, annual-salaried position;
22 (f) "Part-time job" shall mean a job in which an individual is
23 employed by a qualified participant for less than thirty-five hours a
24 week; and
25 (g) "Contract job" shall mean a job in which an individual is hired
26 for a season or for a limited period of time.
27 (2) Searchable state subsidy and aggregate economic development bene-
28 fits database. Notwithstanding any laws to the contrary, the corpo-
29 ration, in cooperation with the department of economic development,
30 shall create a searchable database, or modify an existing one, display-
31 ing Empire state economic development benefits that a qualified partic-
32 ipant has been awarded. Such database shall also display other Empire
33 state economic development benefits such qualified participant has
34 received from another state agency provided that it is for the same
35 particular project which received the Empire state economic development
36 benefits. Such searchable database shall include, at a minimum, the
37 following features and functionality:
38 (a) the ability to search the database by each of the reported infor-
39 mation to the corporation and for the public viewer to show a qualified
40 participant which is a recipient of an aggregate economic development
41 benefit and view a list of all types and amounts of benefits received by
42 a qualified participant;
43 (b) for the prior state fiscal year, the following information:
44 (i) a qualified participant's name and project, project location,
45 project's complete address, including the postal or zip code in a sepa-
46 rate searchable field, and the economic region of the state;
47 (ii) the time span over which a qualified participant is to receive or
48 has received aggregate economic development benefits;
49 (iii) the type of such aggregate economic development benefits
50 provided to a qualified participant, including the name of the program
51 or programs through which aggregate economic development benefits are
52 provided;
53 (iv) the total number of employees at all sites utilizing such aggre-
54 gate economic development benefits at the time of the agreement includ-
55 ing the number of permanent full-time jobs, the number of permanent
A. 8325--A 3
1 part-time jobs, the number of full-time equivalents, and the number of
2 contract employees;
3 (v) for any aggregate economic development benefit that provides for
4 job retention and creation that a qualified participant receiving aggre-
5 gate economic development benefits is contractually obligated to retain
6 and create over the life of the project utilizing such aggregate econom-
7 ic development benefits, except that such information shall be reported
8 on an annual basis for agreements containing annual job retention or
9 creation requirements, and for each reporting year, the base employment
10 level the entity receiving aggregate economic development benefits
11 agrees to retain over the life of the project utilizing such aggregate
12 economic development benefits, any job creation scheduled to take place
13 as a result of the project utilizing such aggregate economic development
14 benefits and where applicable, any job creation targets for the current
15 reporting year;
16 (vi) the amount of aggregate economic development benefits received by
17 a qualified participant during the year covered by the report, the
18 amount of aggregate economic development benefits received by a quali-
19 fied participant since the beginning of the project period, and the
20 present value of the further aggregate economic development benefits
21 committed to by the state, but not yet received by a qualified partic-
22 ipant for the duration of the project;
23 (vii) for the current reporting year, the total actual number of
24 employees at all sites covered by the project utilizing such aggregate
25 economic development benefits, including the number of permanent full-
26 time jobs, the number of permanent part-time jobs, the number of
27 contract jobs, the number of jobs filled by minorities or women.
28 (viii) a statement of compliance indicating whether, during the
29 current reporting year, the corporation and/or any other state agency
30 has reduced, cancelled or recaptured aggregate economic development
31 benefits from a qualified participant, and, if so, the total amount of
32 the reduction, cancellation or recapture, and any penalty assessed and
33 the reasons therefor.
34 (c) the ability to digitally select defined individual fields corre-
35 sponding to any of the reported information from qualified participants
36 to create unique database views;
37 (d) the ability to download the database in its entirety, or in part,
38 in a common machine readable format;
39 (e) the ability to view and download contracts or award agreements for
40 each aggregate economic development benefit received by the qualified
41 participant to the extent such contracts or award agreements are avail-
42 able to the public pursuant to article six of the public officers law;
43 (f) a definition or description of terms for fields in the database;
44 and
45 (g) a summary of each aggregate economic development benefit available
46 to qualified participants.
47 (3) Certification regarding reporting. The corporation shall certify
48 to the New York state authorities budget office, the corporation's board
49 of directors and post to its website that it has fulfilled all of its
50 reporting requirements as required by law, rules, regulations, or execu-
51 tive orders. The corporation shall provide a list of all reports, the
52 due dates of such reports, and certify to the New York state authorities
53 budget office and the corporation's board of directors, that each report
54 has been submitted to the individual, office, or entity as prescribed by
55 applicable laws, rules, and regulations.
A. 8325--A 4
1 (4) Database reporting. The corporation may request any data from
2 qualified participants, which is necessary and required in developing,
3 updating and maintaining the searchable database. Such qualified
4 participants shall provide any such information requested by the corpo-
5 ration. Beginning on June first, two thousand twenty-two, the corpo-
6 ration shall make all reported data on such database available to the
7 public on its website. Such database shall be updated on a quarterly
8 basis with qualified participants added to any programs and any new data
9 provided by existing qualified participants required reporting.
10 (5) Reporting. The corporation's senior staff shall report on a quar-
11 terly basis, to the corporation's board of directors with a status
12 update on the development and maintenance of the searchable database.
13 § 2. Section 100 of the economic development law is amended by adding
14 a new subdivision 18-j to read as follows:
15 18-j. to assist the urban development corporation to establish a
16 searchable database pursuant to section fifty-eight of the urban devel-
17 opment corporation act.
18 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
19 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
20 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
21 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
22 on or before such effective date.
