Enacts the rainy day act; moves funds from the tax stabilization fund to the rainy day reserve fund; increases the maximum balance; requires certain deposits; prohibits establishment of funds except by statute.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3537
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 28, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RAJKUMAR -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Ways and Means
AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in relation to enacting the rainy
day act; to increase the maximum balance of the rainy day reserve
fund; and to repeal certain provisions of such law relating to the tax
stabilization reserve fund
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 "rainy day act".
3 § 2. All funds currently held in or due to be deposited into the tax
4 stabilization reserve fund pursuant to section 92 of the state finance
5 law as of the effective date of this section shall be transferred to and
6 deposited into the rainy day reserve fund established in section 92-cc
7 of the state finance law.
8 § 3. Section 92 of the state finance law is REPEALED.
9 § 4. Section 92-cc of the state finance law is amended by adding a new
10 subdivision 6 to read as follows:
11 6. a. The aggregate amount disbursed from the general fund during the
12 fiscal year shall constitute the norm for such fiscal year of the amount
13 of revenues from such taxes, fees and other sources, and the term
14 "norm," as used in this section, shall mean such aggregate amount.
15 b. At the close of each fiscal year any cash surplus remaining in the
16 general fund over and above the norm for such fiscal year shall be
17 transferred from or retained in such fund as hereinafter in this subdi-
18 vision provided. There shall be transferred to the rainy day reserve
19 fund all of such surplus moneys, up to and including an amount equiv-
20 alent to two-tenths of one per centum of such norm, unless such transfer
21 would increase such reserve fund to an amount in excess of two per
22 centum of the amount of the norm for such fiscal year, in which event
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07474-01-5
A. 3537 2
1 such transfer shall be limited to such amount as will increase such
2 reserve fund to such two per centum limitation.
3 § 5. Subdivision 2 of section 92-cc of the state finance law, as
4 amended by section 25 of part PP of chapter 56 of the laws of 2023, is
5 amended and three new subdivisions 2-a, 2-b and 2-c are added to read as
6 follows:
7 2. Such fund shall have a maximum balance not to exceed [twenty-five]
8 thirty per centum of the aggregate amount projected to be disbursed from
9 the general fund during the then-current fiscal year. At the request of
10 the director of the budget, the state comptroller shall transfer monies
11 to the rainy day reserve fund up to and including an amount equivalent
12 to [fifteen] twenty per centum of the aggregate amount projected to be
13 disbursed from the general fund during the then-current fiscal year,
14 unless such transfer would increase the rainy day reserve fund to an
15 amount in excess of [twenty-five] thirty per centum of the aggregate
16 amount projected to be disbursed from the general fund during the then-
17 current fiscal year, in which event such transfer shall be limited to
18 such amount as will increase the rainy day reserve fund to such [twen-
19 ty-five] thirty per centum limitation.
20 2-a. The state comptroller shall annually deposit into the rainy day
21 reserve fund an amount equal to two-thirds of common rate and base tax
22 receipts growth in excess of two percent. "Common rate and base tax
23 receipts" shall mean revenue calculated presuming there is no change in
24 tax laws or other tax-related policies.
25 2-b. No less than ten per centum of any nonrecurring extraordinary
26 monetary settlements of ten million dollars or more shall be deposited
27 into the rainy day fund, unless otherwise prohibited under the terms of
28 the receipt.
29 2-c. If mandatory transfers into the rainy day reserve fund as
30 provided by this section exceed thirty per centum of the aggregate
31 amount projected to be disbursed from the general fund during the then-
32 current fiscal year, such excess funds shall be deposited into the reti-
33 ree health benefits trust fund established by section ninety-nine-aa of
34 this article.
35 § 6. There shall be no fund established or maintained for the purpose
36 of transfers to the state operating funds in the event of economic
37 uncertainties, unless such fund is created pursuant to an act of the
38 legislature in the consolidated laws of the state. Any amounts existing
39 in any fund currently maintained for such purpose shall be transferred
40 to the rainy day reserve fund established by section 92-cc of the state
41 finance law.
42 § 7. This act shall take effect on the first of April next succeeding
43 the date upon which it shall have become a law.
