NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9548
SPONSOR: Solages TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the New York state urban development corporation act, in
relation to obligations of members of economic development entities
PURPOSE::
To increase transparency of the Regional Economic Development Councils
that provide advice or recommendations on the allocation or disbursement
of state or federal monies and ensure that members of such councils do
not have conflicts of interest related to such advice.
SUMMARY::
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 32
Section 2. Sets the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Public Officers Law section 73-a governs financial disclosure rules for
various state officers and employees. Articles 6 and 7 of the public
officers govern the freedom of information law rules and open meetings
law rules, respectively.
Currently, Regional Economic Development Councils (REDCs) are not
covered by these laws yet they have significant input into the distrib-
ution of billions of dollars of state funds.
Since its inception in 2011, REDC has been empowered to help direct more
than $5.4 billion of state monies to community development projects
throughout the State. The 2018-19 State budget provides for an eighth
round of REDCs awards with up to $750 million to fund regional priority
projects which, once again, the REDCs will have a significant role in
directing. Despite having influence over billions of dollars of state
moneys, members of the REDCs do not file any financial disclosure state-
ments; most of their meetings are not open to the public; and they do
not make most of their records available to the public for inspection
and copying.
This bill would provide much needed increased transparency of the REDCs
by ensuring its members file financial disclosures statements as
required by other state officers and employees and are subject to the
requirements of the open meetings law and freedom of information law.
RACIAL JUSTICE IMPACT:
TBD.
GENDER JUSTICE IMPACT:
TBD.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::
2018- A10849, Referred to Economic Development
2020- A1597, Referred to Economic Development
2021-2022- A6687, Referred to Economic Development
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE::
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9548
IN ASSEMBLY
March 20, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SOLAGES -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Economic Development
AN ACT to amend the New York state urban development corporation act, in
relation to obligations of members of economic development entities
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 32-a to read as follows:
4 § 32-a. Special provisions relating to economic development entities.
5 (1) For the purposes of this section, an "economic development entity"
6 shall mean any entity created by the executive branch, including the
7 executive chamber of the governor and lieutenant governor, and any state
8 agency whose function includes providing advice, recommendations or
9 determinations to or on behalf of the executive branch or any state
10 agency, as defined in paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section seven-
11 ty-three-a of the public officers law, on the allocation or disbursement
12 of state or federal monies or tax credits and/or benefits.
13 (2) (a) The provisions of article seven of the public officers law
14 applicable to public bodies shall apply to an economic development enti-
15 ty.
16 (b) The provisions of article six of the public officers law applica-
17 ble to agencies shall apply to an economic development entity. In addi-
18 tion to the requirements of subdivision three of section eighty-seven of
19 the public officers law, an economic development entity shall maintain
20 and make available for public inspection and copying any and all
21 proposals submitted to it through a centralized application process,
22 including the consolidated funding applications process, except that an
23 economic development entity may redact or withhold portions of a
24 proposal if such portion would be exempt from disclosure pursuant to
25 article six of the public officers law.
26 (c) For the purpose of section seventy-three-a of the public officers
27 law, any member of an economic development entity shall be deemed a
28 state officer or employee and shall be deemed a policy maker and shall
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04635-01-3
A. 9548 2
1 file an annual statement of financial disclosure set forth in subdivi-
2 sion three of section seventy-three-a of the public officers law.
3 (d) The provisions of section seventy-four of the public officers law
4 applicable to an officer or employee of a state agency shall apply to
5 any member of an economic development entity.
6 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
7 those incumbents who have not filed a disclosure form for the calendar
8 year 2022 shall have thirty days from the effective date of this act to
9 file such form with the commission on ethics and lobbying in government.
