Wallace, McMahon, Brown K, Gallagher, Buttenschon, Lavine, Bendett, Sillitti
MLTSPNSR
Amd §§2023-a, 1608, 1716 & 2022, Ed L
Creates a school budget tax cap exemption for expenditures resulting from settlements or jury awards for civil actions brought against school districts under the child victims act.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8076
SPONSOR: Conrad TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to creating a school
budget tax cap exemption for expenditures resulting from settlement
awards in civil actions brought against school districts under the child
victims act
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
NYS School Districts will have the option of exempting any portion of
Child Victim Act Settlements from the tax levy limit.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Amends section 2023-a of education law so as to not include in the
school district tax levy limit any district expenditures arising out of
civil claims or causes of action brought pursuant to section 214-g of
the civil practice law and rules; (Child Victims Act)
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
Click hereto enter text.
JUSTIFICATION:
Under current tax law, an adjustment to the tax levy can only be made
for costs of those court orders or judgements that exceed 5% of the
total prior year's tax levy. This bill would provide an exemption for
school districts that face the financial obligation of any CVA settle-
ments. Without this amendment, school districts will be faced with no
alternative other than reducing current student programs. This will have
devasting consequences on the quality of public education for impacted
school districts.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
Varies according to district settlement obligations.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately and shall first apply to school district budgets and the
budget adoption process of the 2024-2025 school year.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8076
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
September 27, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CONRAD, WALLACE, McMAHON -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to creating a school
budget tax cap exemption for expenditures resulting from settlement
awards in civil actions brought against school districts under the
child victims act
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph i of subdivision 2 of section 2023-a of the
2 education law, as added by section 2 of part A of chapter 97 of the laws
3 of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
4 i. "Tax levy limit" means the amount of taxes a school district is
5 authorized to levy pursuant to this section, provided, however, that the
6 tax levy limit shall not include the following:
7 (i) a tax levy necessary for expenditures resulting from court orders
8 or judgments against the school district arising out of tort actions for
9 any amount that exceeds five percent of the total tax levied in the
10 prior school year;
11 (ii) a tax levy necessary for expenditures resulting from court orders
12 or judgments against the school district arising out of civil claims or
13 causes of action brought pursuant to section two hundred fourteen-g of
14 the civil practice law and rules;
15 (iii) in years in which the system average actuarial contribution rate
16 of the New York state and local employees' retirement system, as defined
17 by paragraph ten of subdivision a of section nineteen-a of the retire-
18 ment and social security law, increases by more than two percentage
19 points from the previous year, a tax levy necessary for expenditures for
20 the coming fiscal year for school district employer contributions to the
21 New York state and local employees' retirement system caused by growth
22 in the system average actuarial contribution rate minus two percentage
23 points;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13257-01-3
A. 8076 2
1 [(iii)] (iv) in years in which the normal contribution rate of the New
2 York state teachers' retirement system, as defined by paragraph a of
3 subdivision two of section five hundred seventeen of this chapter,
4 increases by more than two percentage points from the previous year, a
5 tax levy necessary for expenditures for the coming fiscal year for
6 school district employer contributions to the New York state teachers'
7 retirement system caused by growth in the normal contribution rate minus
8 two percentage points; and
9 [(iv)] (v) a capital tax levy.
10 § 2. Subdivision 1, subparagraph 4 of paragraph a of subdivision 3,
11 paragraph (a) of subdivision 6, and subdivision 9 of section 2023-a of
12 the education law, as added by section 2 of part A of chapter 97 of the
13 laws of 2011, are amended to read as follows:
14 1. Generally. Unless otherwise provided by law, the amount of taxes
15 that may be levied by or on behalf of any school district, other than a
16 city school district of a city with one hundred twenty-five thousand
17 inhabitants or more, shall not exceed the tax levy limit established
18 pursuant to this section, not including any tax levy necessary to
19 support the expenditures pursuant to subparagraphs (i) through [(iv)]
20 (v) of paragraph i of subdivision two of this section.
21 (4) Subtract the tax levy necessary to support the expenditures pursu-
22 ant to subparagraphs (i) and [(iv)] (v) of paragraph i of subdivision
23 two of this section for the prior school year, if any.
24 (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, in the
25 event the trustee, trustees or board of education of a school district
26 that is subject to the provisions of this section proposes a budget that
27 will require a tax levy that exceeds the tax levy limit for the corre-
28 sponding school year, not including any levy necessary to support the
29 expenditures pursuant to subparagraphs (i) through [(iv)] (v) of para-
30 graph i of subdivision two of this section, then such budget shall be
31 approved if sixty percent of the votes cast thereon are in the affirma-
32 tive.
33 9. Nothing in this section shall preclude the trustee, trustees, or
34 board of education of a school district, in their discretion, from
35 submitting additional items of expenditures to the voters for approval
36 as separate propositions or the voters from submitting propositions
37 pursuant to sections two thousand eight and two thousand thirty-five of
38 this part; provided however, except in the case of a proposition submit-
39 ted for any expenditure contained within subparagraphs (i) through
40 [(iv)] (v) of paragraph i of subdivision two of this section, if any
41 proposition, or propositions collectively that are subject to a vote on
42 the same date, would require an expenditure of money that would require
43 a tax levy and would result in the tax levy limit being exceeded for the
44 corresponding school year then such proposition shall be approved if
45 sixty percent of the votes cast thereon are in the affirmative.
46 § 3. Paragraph a of subdivision 7 of section 1608 of the education
47 law, as amended by chapter 514 of the laws of 2016, is amended to read
48 as follows:
49 a. Each year, commencing with the proposed budget for the two thou-
50 sand--two thousand one school year, the trustee or board of trustees
51 shall prepare a property tax report card, pursuant to regulations of the
52 commissioner, and shall make it publicly available by transmitting it to
53 local newspapers of general circulation, appending it to copies of the
54 proposed budget made publicly available as required by law, making it
55 available for distribution at the annual meeting, and otherwise dissem-
56 inating it as required by the commissioner. Such report card shall
A. 8076 3
1 include: (i) the amount of total spending and total estimated school tax
2 levy that would result from adoption of the proposed budget and the
3 percentage increase or decrease in total spending and total school tax
4 levy from the school district budget for the preceding school year; and
5 (ii) the district's tax levy limit determined pursuant to section two
6 thousand twenty-three-a of this title, and the estimated school tax
7 levy, excluding any levy necessary to support the expenditures pursuant
8 to subparagraphs (i) through [(iv)] (v) of paragraph i of subdivision
9 two of section two thousand twenty-three-a of this title, that would
10 result from adoption of the proposed budget; and (iii) the projected
11 enrollment growth for the school year for which the budget is prepared,
12 and the percentage change in enrollment from the previous year; and (iv)
13 the percentage increase in the consumer price index, as defined in para-
14 graph c of this subdivision; and (v) the projected amount of the unap-
15 propriated unreserved fund balance that will be retained if the proposed
16 budget is adopted, the projected amount of the reserved fund balance,
17 the projected amount of the appropriated fund balance, the percentage of
18 the proposed budget that the unappropriated unreserved fund balance
19 represents, the actual unappropriated unreserved fund balance retained
20 in the school district budget for the preceding school year, and the
21 percentage of the school district budget for the preceding school year
22 that the actual unappropriated unreserved fund balance represents, and a
23 schedule of reserve funds, setting forth the name of each reserve fund,
24 a description of its purpose, the balance as of the close of the third
25 quarter of the current school district fiscal year and a brief statement
26 explaining any plans for the use of each such reserve fund for the ensu-
27 ing fiscal year.
28 § 4. Paragraph a of subdivision 7 of section 1716 of the education
29 law, as amended by chapter 514 of the laws of 2016, is amended to read
30 as follows:
31 a. Each year, commencing with the proposed budget for the two thou-
32 sand--two thousand one school year, the board of education shall prepare
33 a property tax report card, pursuant to regulations of the commissioner,
34 and shall make it publicly available by transmitting it to local newspa-
35 pers of general circulation, appending it to copies of the proposed
36 budget made publicly available as required by law, making it available
37 for distribution at the annual meeting, and otherwise disseminating it
38 as required by the commissioner. Such report card shall include: (i) the
39 amount of total spending and total estimated school tax levy that would
40 result from adoption of the proposed budget and the percentage increase
41 or decrease in total spending and total school tax levy from the school
42 district budget for the preceding school year; and (ii) the district's
43 tax levy limit determined pursuant to section two thousand
44 twenty-three-a of this title, and the estimated school tax levy, exclud-
45 ing any levy necessary to support the expenditures pursuant to subpara-
46 graphs (i) through [(iv)] (v) of paragraph i of subdivision two of
47 section two thousand twenty-three-a of this title, that would result
48 from adoption of the proposed budget; and (iii) the projected enrollment
49 growth for the school year for which the budget is prepared, and the
50 percentage change in enrollment from the previous year; and (iv) the
51 percentage increase in the consumer price index, as defined in paragraph
52 c of this subdivision; and (v) the projected amount of the unappropri-
53 ated unreserved fund balance that will be retained if the proposed budg-
54 et is adopted, the projected amount of the reserved fund balance, the
55 projected amount of the appropriated fund balance, the percentage of the
56 proposed budget that the unappropriated unreserved fund balance repres-
A. 8076 4
1 ents, the actual unappropriated unreserved fund balance retained in the
2 school district budget for the preceding school year, a schedule of
3 reserve funds, setting forth the name of each reserve fund, a
4 description of its purpose, the balance as of the close of the third
5 quarter of the current school district fiscal year and a brief statement
6 explaining any plans for the use of each such reserve fund for the ensu-
7 ing fiscal year and the percentage of the school district budget for the
8 preceding school year that the actual unappropriated unreserved fund
9 balance represents.
10 § 5. The opening paragraph of subdivision 2-a of section 2022 of the
11 education law, as amended by section 7 of part A of chapter 97 of the
12 laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
13 Every common, union free, central, central high school district and
14 city school district to which this article applies shall mail a school
15 budget notice to all qualified voters of the school district after the
16 date of the budget hearing, but no later than six days prior to the
17 annual meeting and election or special district meeting at which a
18 school budget vote will occur. The school budget notice shall compare
19 the percentage increase or decrease in total spending under the proposed
20 budget over total spending under the school district budget adopted for
21 the current school year, with the percentage increase or decrease in the
22 consumer price index, from January first of the prior school year to
23 January first of the current school year, and shall also include the
24 information required by paragraphs a and b of this subdivision. The
25 notice shall also set forth the date, time and place of the school budg-
26 et vote, in the same manner as in the notice of annual meeting, and
27 shall also include the district's tax levy limit pursuant to section two
28 thousand twenty-three-a of this part, and the estimated school tax levy,
29 excluding any levy necessary to support the expenditures pursuant to
30 subparagraphs (i) through [(iv)] (v) of paragraph i of subdivision two
31 of section two thousand twenty-three-a of this part, that would result
32 from adoption of the proposed budget. Such notice shall be in a form
33 prescribed by the commissioner.
34 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately and shall first apply to
35 school district budgets and the budget adoption process or the 2024-2025
36 school year; and shall continue to apply to school district budgets and
37 the budget adoption process for any school year beginning in any calen-
38 dar year during which this act is in effect.
