Provides that entities eligible to receive economic development subsidies must: pay each employee a minimum wage that's at least one dollar higher than state minimum wage levels; offer health insurance benefit plans to employees employed at least 35 hours per week; and offer at least twenty percent of its workers a worker training program.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5914
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 23, 2009
___________
Introduced by M. of A. TOWNS, GREENE -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce and Industry
AN ACT to amend the economic development law, in relation to establish-
ing the "minimum standards for subsidized jobs act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "minimum standards for subsidized jobs act."
3 § 2. Findings and purpose. The legislature hereby finds and declares
4 that every year, the state of New York awards increasingly large amounts
5 of dollars in economic development subsidies to for-profit businesses.
6 When government invests in economic development, it makes no economic
7 sense to support the creation or promotion of jobs that do not give
8 workers the chance to earn a decent living. When state-subsidized jobs
9 provide low wages and poor benefits, they increase the need for govern-
10 ment services, including public assistance for food, housing, health
11 care, and childcare.
12 The purpose of this act is to improve the effectiveness of economic
13 development expenditures, take pressure off state social services
14 programs, and improve the public health and welfare by ensuring that
15 major state subsidies are used to support at least minimum living stand-
16 ards for working families.
17 § 3. The economic development law is amended by adding a new article
18 17 to read as follows:
19 ARTICLE 17
20 MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR SUBSIDIZED JOBS ACT
21 Section 350. Definitions.
22 351. Minimum standards for wages and benefits.
23 352. Enforcement.
24 § 350. Definitions. For purposes of this article:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02366-01-9
A. 5914 2
1 1. "Economic development subsidy" means any expenditure of public
2 funds with a value of at least $100,000, for the purpose of stimulating
3 economic development within the state, including but not limited to
4 bonds, grants, loans, loan guarantees, enterprise zones, empowerment
5 zones, tax increment financing, grants, fee waivers, land price subsi-
6 dies, matching funds, tax abatements, tax exemptions, and tax credits.
7 2. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of labor, or the commission-
8 er's designee or designees.
9 § 351. Minimum standards for wages and benefits. 1. No person, associ-
10 ation, corporation or other entity shall be eligible to receive any
11 economic development subsidy unless that entity:
12 (a) pays each of its employees in the state a minimum wage that is at
13 least one dollar per hour higher than the state minimum wage provided in
14 article nineteen of the labor law;
15 (b) offers to each of its employees in the state who work at least
16 thirty-five hours per week a health insurance benefits plan for which
17 the employer pays at least eighty percent of the monthly premium, and
18 the coverage pays at least eighty percent of the costs of physician
19 office visits, emergency care, surgery, and prescriptions with an annual
20 deductible of no more than one thousand dollars; and
21 (c) offers to at least twenty percent of its workers in the state a
22 worker training program that meets minimum standards issued by the
23 commissioner.
24 2. This section does not apply to:
25 (a) a not-for-profit entity that is exempt from taxation under the
26 internal revenue code; or
27 (b) an intern or trainee who is under twenty-one years of age and who
28 is employed for a period not longer than three months.
29 3. If the commissioner determines that application of this section
30 would conflict with a federal program requirement, the commissioner,
31 after notice and public hearing, may grant a waiver from the require-
32 ments of this section.
33 § 352. Enforcement. 1. The commissioner shall promulgate such regu-
34 lations as are necessary to implement and administer compliance of this
35 section.
36 2. No person, association, corporation or other entity shall
37 discharge, demote, harass or otherwise take adverse actions against any
38 individual because such individual seeks the enforcement of this
39 section, or testifies, assists or participates in any manner in an
40 investigation, hearing or other proceeding to enforce the provisions of
41 this section.
42 3. No entity shall pay an employee through a third party, or treat an
43 employee as a subcontractor or independent contractor, to avoid the
44 requirements of this section.
45 § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
46 the date on which it shall have become a law and shall apply to any
47 economic development subsidy awarded or renewed on or after such date;
48 provided, however, that effective immediately, the addition, amendment
49 and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation
50 of this act on its effective date are authorized and directed to be made
51 and completed on or before such date.
