Establishes the electronic public bond sale pilot program for counties, cities, towns, villages and school districts; such provisions shall remain in effect for 3 years.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9608
IN ASSEMBLY
March 20, 2012
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, GALEF, GUNTHER, LUPARDO, P. RIVERA,
ROBERTS -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BOYLAND, THIELE -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Local Governments
AN ACT to amend the local finance law, in relation to the establishment
of an electronic public bond sale pilot program for municipalities;
and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration there-
of
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The local finance law is amended by adding a new section
2 58.20 to read as follows:
3 § 58.20 Electronic public bond sale program; municipalities. a. As
4 used in this section:
5 1. "Closed auction" means a bond sale procedure that does not allow a
6 bidder to receive information with respect to the ranking of its bids
7 prior to the conclusion of the bidding period.
8 2. "Municipality" means a county, city, town, village or school
9 district.
10 3. "Nationally recognized electronic securities bidding service" means
11 a bidding service that is recognized nationally by the predominant users
12 of electronic securities bidding services as providing an accurate,
13 secure and reliable on-line bidding system.
14 4. "Open auction" means a bond sale procedure that allows a bidder to
15 receive information with respect to the ranking of its bids prior to the
16 conclusion of the bidding period in accordance with the municipality's
17 notice of such bond sale circulated in accordance with applicable
18 requirements of this chapter.
19 5. "Program" means the electronic public bond sale pilot program
20 established pursuant to this section.
21 b. There is hereby established an electronic public bond sale pilot
22 program authorizing municipalities to conduct public bond sales through
23 any nationally recognized electronic securities bidding service.
24 c. If the finance commissioner of a municipality has authorized the
25 receipt of bids in electronic format, such electronic bids may be
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14222-04-2
A. 9608 2
1 submitted in the form of open auctions or closed auctions conducted
2 through a nationally recognized electronic securities bidding service
3 which shall be deemed to be the designated receiving device. Notice of
4 any bond sale shall provide for the manner in which the bidding period
5 may be extended and the basis for determination of the winning bidder.
6 d. Notwithstanding the provisions of section three hundred five of the
7 state technology law or any other law, if the notice of sale contains a
8 provision that bids will only be accepted electronically in the manner
9 provided in such notice of sale, the municipality shall not be required
10 to accept non-electronic bids in any form.
11 e. The municipality's chief fiscal officer shall administer the
12 program and shall publish its policies and procedures for the procure-
13 ment of electronic securities bidding services on the municipality's
14 internet website and in a nationally recognized publication used by
15 professionals in the bond market. Except as modified by this section,
16 each municipal program shall comply with this chapter and all other
17 applicable laws, rules and regulations related to the sale of bonds.
18 f. The municipality's chief fiscal officer shall review the electronic
19 bidding process to ensure that the bond sale was completed in a timely
20 fashion; the sale was completed without errors; and the results achieved
21 were favorable as compared to the manual method currently used by the
22 municipality.
23 g. Each municipality, or two or more municipalities acting jointly or
24 in cooperation with any entity representing municipalities, shall, on or
25 before February first, conduct annual evaluations of their pilot program
26 or programs with a summary evaluation at the end of the three year pilot
27 program. The municipality or municipalities will submit the evaluations
28 to the state comptroller. Such report shall include, but not be limited
29 to, any demonstrated evidence that sale of public bonds using electronic
30 auctions is comparable to the cost of issuing public bonds through the
31 current sealed bid process, that the use of electronic auctions resulted
32 in an increased number of bidders and whether the results achieved for
33 public bond sales conducted through electronic auctions achieved savings
34 compared to the current bid process used by the municipality. Annually,
35 the state comptroller shall compile all the information received from
36 municipalities pursuant to this paragraph, and, on or before April
37 first, submit such compiled information to the legislature, the tempo-
38 rary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority
39 leader of the senate and the minority leader of the assembly.
40 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately, and shall expire and be
41 deemed repealed 3 years after such effective date.
