STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5245
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 20, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Local Government
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to establishing
regional industrial development agencies; and to repeal certain
provisions of such law relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 856 of the general municipal law, as added by chap-
2 ter 1030 of the laws of 1969, paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 as added by
3 chapter 692 of the laws of 1989 and subdivision 2 as amended by chapter
4 356 of the laws of 1993, is amended to read as follows:
5 § 856. [Organization] Establishment and organization of regional
6 industrial development agencies. 1. (a) [Upon the establishment of an
7 industrial development agency by special act of the legislature, the
8 governing body of the municipality for whose benefit such agency is
9 established shall file within six months after the effective date of the
10 special act of the legislature establishing such agency or before the
11 first day of July, nineteen hundred sixty-nine, whichever date shall be
12 later, in the office of the secretary of state, a certificate setting
13 forth: (1) the date of passage of the special act establishing the agen-
14 cy; (2) the name of the agency; (3) the names of the members and their
15 terms of office, specifying which member is the chairman; and (4) facts
16 establishing the need for the establishment of an agency in such munici-
17 pality.
18 (b) Every such agency shall be perpetual in duration, except that if
19 (1) such certificate is not filed with the secretary of state within six
20 months after the effective date of the special act of the legislature
21 establishing such agency or before the first day of July, nineteen
22 hundred sixty-nine, whichever date shall be later, or if (2) at the
23 expiration of ten years subsequent to the effective date of the special
24 act, there shall be outstanding no bonds or other obligations thereto-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08910-01-5
S. 5245 2
1 fore issued by such agency or by the municipality for or in behalf of
2 the agency, then the corporate existence of such agency shall thereupon
3 terminate and it shall thereupon be deemed to be and shall be dissolved.
4 (c) On or before March first of each year, the secretary of state
5 shall prepare a list of agencies which failed to file a certificate in
6 accordance with provisions of paragraph (a) of this subdivision within
7 the preceding calendar year and transmit a copy of such list to the
8 state comptroller and the commissioner of the department of economic
9 development. On or before March first of each year the commissioner of
10 the department of economic development shall prepare a list of agencies
11 which have dissolved pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subdivision or
12 have ceased to exist pursuant to section eight hundred eighty-two of
13 this chapter and shall transmit a copy of such list to the state comp-
14 troller.] There is hereby established ten regional industrial develop-
15 ment agencies, one for each of the following regions of the state:
16 (i) Long Island (which consists of Suffolk and Nassau counties);
17 (ii) the city of New York (which consists of Bronx, New York, Queens,
18 Brooklyn, and Richmond counties);
19 (iii) the Mid-Hudson region (which consists of Sullivan, Ulster,
20 Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Westchester, and Rockland counties);
21 (iv) the Southern tier (which consists of Steuben, Schuyler, Tompkins,
22 Chemung, Tioga, Chenango, Broome, and Delaware counties);
23 (v) the Capital region (which consists of Warren, Washington, Sarato-
24 ga, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Albany, Columbia, and Greene counties);
25 (vi) the Mohawk valley (which consists of Oneida, Herkimer, Fulton,
26 Montgomery, Otsego, and Schoharie counties);
27 (vii) the North country (which consists of Clinton, Franklin, St.
28 Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Hamilton, and Essex counties);
29 (viii) the Central region (which consists of Oswego, Cayuga, Onondaga,
30 Madison, and Cortland counties);
31 (ix) the Finger Lakes region (which consists of Orleans, Monroe,
32 Wayne, Genesee, Wyoming, Livingston, Ontario, Seneca, and Yates coun-
33 ties); and
34 (x) the Western region (which consists of Niagara, Erie, Chautauqua,
35 Cattaraugus, and Allegany counties).
36 (b) Any municipal industrial development agency established under the
37 former title two of this article shall consolidate into the regional
38 entity where such municipal industrial development agency was located.
39 2. An agency shall be a corporate governmental agency, constituting a
40 public benefit corporation. Except as otherwise provided by special act
41 of the legislature, an agency shall consist of not less than [three nor
42 more than seven] fifteen members who shall be appointed by the governing
43 body of each [municipality and who] county within the agency in propor-
44 tion to the population within that regional jurisdiction of that agency,
45 provided that each county should be entitled to at least one member. A
46 member shall serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority. Such
47 members may include representatives of local government, school boards,
48 organized labor and business. A member shall continue to hold office
49 until [his] their successor is appointed and has qualified. The [govern-
50 ing body of each municipality] appointed members shall designate the
51 first [chairman] chair and file with the secretary of state a certif-
52 icate of appointment or reappointment of any member. Such members shall
53 receive no compensation for their services but shall be entitled to the
54 necessary expenses, including traveling expenses, incurred in the
55 discharge of their duties.
56 3. A majority of the members of an agency shall constitute a quorum.
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1 4. Any one or more of the members of an agency may be an official or
2 an employee of [the] a municipality in a county under the jurisdiction
3 of the agency. In the event that an official or an employee of the muni-
4 cipality shall be appointed as a member of the agency, acceptance or
5 retention of such appointment shall not be deemed a forfeiture of [his]
6 their municipal office or employment, or incompatible therewith or
7 affect [his] their tenure or compensation in any way. [The term of
8 office of a member of an agency who is an official or an employee of the
9 municipality when appointed as a member thereof by special act of the
10 legislature creating the industrial development agency shall terminate
11 at the expiration of the term of his municipal office.]
12 § 2. Subdivisions 1, 4 and 11 of section 854 of the general municipal
13 law, subdivision 1 as added by chapter 1030 of the laws of 1969, subdi-
14 vision 4 as amended by section 5 of part X of chapter 59 of the laws of
15 2021 and subdivision 11 as added by chapter 803 of the laws of 1980, are
16 amended to read as follows:
17 (1) "Agency" or "IDA"--shall mean [an Industrial Development Agency
18 created pursuant to this act] the regional industrial development agency
19 established in each region of the state, pursuant to subdivision one of
20 section eight hundred fifty-six of this title.
21 (4) "Project" - shall mean any land, any building or other improve-
22 ment, and all real and personal properties located within the state of
23 New York and within or outside or partially within and partially outside
24 the [municipality] region for whose benefit the agency was created,
25 including, but not limited to, machinery, equipment and other facilities
26 deemed necessary or desirable in connection therewith, or incidental
27 thereto, whether or not now in existence or under construction, which
28 shall be suitable for manufacturing, warehousing, research, commercial,
29 renewable energy or industrial purposes or other economically sound
30 purposes identified and called for to implement a state designated urban
31 cultural park management plan as provided in title G of the parks,
32 recreation and historic preservation law and which may include or mean
33 an industrial pollution control facility, a recreation facility, educa-
34 tional or cultural facility, a horse racing facility, a railroad facili-
35 ty, a renewable energy project or an automobile racing facility,
36 provided, however, no agency shall use its funds or provide financial
37 assistance in respect of any project wholly or partially outside the
38 [municipality] region for whose benefit the agency was created without
39 the prior consent thereto by the governing body or bodies of all the
40 [other] municipalities in which a part or parts of the project is and
41 the corresponding agency for such region, or is to be, located, and such
42 portion of the project located outside such [municipality] region for
43 whose benefit the agency was created shall be contiguous with the
44 portion of the project inside such [municipality] region.
45 (11) "Railroad facility"--shall mean, but shall not be limited to,
46 railroad rights-of-way, beds, bridges, viaducts, tracks, switches and
47 rolling stock and any other attendant structure, equipment, facility or
48 property necessary or appropriate to railroading conducted in conjunc-
49 tion with industrial, [commerical] commercial, manufacturing, recre-
50 ational or warehousing operations; provided, however, that (i) no agency
51 shall itself operate a railroad facility for freight or passenger
52 service, but may lease or otherwise make such facility available to an
53 operator, subject to an agreement for the maintenance and operation of
54 such facility for freight or passenger service, provided that passenger
55 service does not constitute the primary purpose of the railroad facili-
56 ty; (ii) prior to undertaking any project involving acquisition,
S. 5245 4
1 construction, reconstruction, improvement, maintenance, equipping or
2 furnishing of a railroad facility, an agency shall submit its plans for
3 the proposed project to the commissioner of transportation; the commis-
4 sioner shall, within sixty days of [his] their receipt of the proposal,
5 submit an analysis of the financial and operational feasibility of the
6 proposed project, along with any recommendations for modification for
7 improving the project's viability, to the agency, the governor, the
8 commissioner of commerce, the temporary president of the senate, the
9 speaker of the assembly and the governing body of the municipality in
10 which the [agency] proposed project is located; and (iii) no agency
11 shall enter into any contract for the acquisition, construction, recon-
12 struction, improvement, maintenance, equipping or furnishing of a rail-
13 road facility until fifteen days after the submission of the analysis
14 and recommendations of the commissioner of transportation, or seventy-
15 five days after submission of the agency's plan to the commissioner,
16 whichever is earlier.
17 § 3. The opening paragraph and subdivisions 6, 7 and 8 of section 858
18 of the general municipal law, the opening paragraph as amended by
19 section 6 of part X of chapter 59 of the laws of 2021, subdivision 6 as
20 added by chapter 1030 of the laws of 1969, subdivision 7 as amended by
21 chapter 559 of the laws of 2021 and subdivision 8 as amended by chapter
22 356 of the laws of 1993, are amended to read as follows:
23 The purposes of the agency shall be to promote, develop, encourage and
24 assist in the acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, improving, main-
25 taining, equipping and furnishing industrial, manufacturing, warehous-
26 ing, commercial, research, renewable energy and recreation facilities
27 including industrial pollution control facilities, educational or
28 cultural facilities, railroad facilities, horse racing facilities, auto-
29 mobile racing facilities, renewable energy projects and continuing care
30 retirement communities, [provided, however, that, of agencies governed
31 by this article, only agencies created for the benefit of a county and
32 the agency created for the benefit of the city of New York shall be
33 authorized to provide financial assistance in any respect to a continu-
34 ing care retirement community,] and thereby advance the job opportu-
35 nities, health, general prosperity and economic welfare of the people of
36 the state of New York and to improve their recreation opportunities,
37 prosperity and standard of living; and to carry out the aforesaid
38 purposes, each agency shall have the following powers:
39 (6) With the consent of [the] a municipality under the jurisdiction of
40 the agency, to use agents, employees and facilities of the municipality,
41 paying the municipality its agreed proportion of the compensation or
42 costs;
43 (7) To appoint officers, agents and employees, to prescribe their
44 qualifications and to fix their compensation and to pay the same out of
45 funds of the agency, provided, however, that an elected officer of [the]
46 a municipality under the jurisdiction of the agency may not serve as a
47 compensated officer, agent or employee of the agency;
48 (8) (a) To appoint an attorney, who may be the counsel of [the] a
49 municipality under the jurisdiction of the agency, and to fix the attor-
50 ney's compensation for services which shall be payable to the attorney,
51 and to retain and employ private consultants for professional and tech-
52 nical assistance and advice;
53 (b) An attorney acting as bond counsel for a project must file with
54 the agency a written statement in which the attorney identifies each
55 party to the transaction which such attorney represents. If bond counsel
56 provides any legal services to parties other than the agency the written
S. 5245 5
1 statement must describe the nature of legal services provided by such
2 bond counsel to all parties to the transaction, including the nature of
3 the services provided to the agency.
4 § 4. Paragraphs (b) and (e) of subdivision 1 and subdivisions 2 and 3
5 of section 859 of the general municipal law, paragraph (b), the opening
6 paragraph of paragraph (e) and subparagraph (v) of paragraph (e) of
7 subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 357 of the laws of 1993, paragraph
8 (e) of subdivision 1 and subdivision 3 as added and subdivision 2 as
9 amended by chapter 356 of the laws of 1993, are amended to read as
10 follows:
11 (b) Within ninety days following the close of its fiscal year, each
12 agency [or authority] shall prepare a financial statement for that
13 fiscal year in such form as may be prescribed by the state comptroller.
14 Such statement shall be audited within such [ninety day] ninety-day
15 period by an independent certified public accountant in accordance with
16 government accounting standards established by the United States general
17 accounting office. The audited financial statement shall include supple-
18 mental schedules listing all straight-lease transactions and bonds and
19 notes issued, outstanding or retired during the applicable accounting
20 period whether or not such bonds, notes or transactions are considered
21 obligations of the agency. For each issue of bonds or notes such sched-
22 ules shall provide the name of each project financed with proceeds of
23 each issue, and whether the project occupant is a not-for-profit corpo-
24 ration, the name and address of each owner of each project, the esti-
25 mated amount of tax exemptions authorized for each project, the purpose
26 for which each bond or note was issued, date of issue, interest rate at
27 issuance and if variable the range of interest rates applicable, maturi-
28 ty date, federal tax status of each issue, and an estimate of the number
29 of jobs created and retained by each project. For each straight-lease
30 transaction, such schedules shall provide the name of each project, and
31 whether the project occupant is a not-for-profit corporation, the name
32 and address of each owner of each project, the estimated amount of tax
33 exemptions authorized for each project, the purpose for which each tran-
34 saction was made, the method of financial assistance utilized by the
35 project, other than the tax exemptions claimed by the project and an
36 estimate of the number of jobs created and retained by each project.
37 (e) If an agency [or authority] shall fail to file or substantially
38 complete, as determined by the state comptroller, the financial state-
39 ment required by this section, the state comptroller shall provide
40 notice to the agency [or authority]. The notice shall state the follow-
41 ing:
42 (i) that the failure to file a financial statement as required is a
43 violation of this section, or in the case of an insufficient financial
44 statement, the manner in which the financial statement submitted is
45 deficient;
46 (ii) that the agency [or authority] has thirty days to comply with
47 this section or provide an adequate written explanation to the comp-
48 troller of the agency's [or authority's] reasons for the inability to
49 comply; and
50 (iii) that the agency's [or authority's] failure to provide either the
51 required financial statement or an adequate explanation will result in
52 the notification [of the chief executive officer of the municipality for
53 whose benefit the agency or authority was created] of [the] such agen-
54 cy's noncompliance with this section. Where such agency [or authority]
55 has failed to file the required statement, the comptroller shall addi-
56 tionally notify the agency [or authority] that continued failure to file
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1 the required statement may result in loss of the agency's [or authori-
2 ty's] authority to provide exemptions from state taxes.
3 (iv) If an agency [or authority] after thirty days has failed to file
4 the required statement or the explanation in the manner required by
5 subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, or provides an insufficient explana-
6 tion, the comptroller shall notify the [chief executive officer of the
7 municipality for whose benefit the agency or authority was created and
8 the] agency of [the] such agency's [or authority's] noncompliance with
9 this section. Such notice from the state comptroller shall further
10 delineate in what respect the agency [or authority] has failed to comply
11 with this section. If the agency [or authority] has failed to file the
12 required statement, the notice shall additionally state that continued
13 failure to file the required statement may result in loss of the agen-
14 cy's [or authority's] authority to provide exemptions from state taxes.
15 (v) If, thirty days after notification of the [chief executive officer
16 of the municipality for whose benefit the agency or authority was
17 created of the] agency's [or authority's] noncompliance, the agency [or
18 authority] fails to file the required statement, the comptroller shall
19 notify the [chief executive officer of the municipality for whose bene-
20 fit that agency or authority was created and the] agency [or authority]
21 that if such report is not provided within sixty days, that the agency
22 [or authority] will no longer be authorized to provide exemptions from
23 state taxes.
24 (vi) If, sixty days after the notification required by subparagraph
25 (v) of this paragraph, the comptroller has not received the required
26 statement, the agency [or authority] shall not offer financial assist-
27 ance which provides exemptions from state taxes until such financial
28 statement is filed and the comptroller shall so notify the agency [or
29 authority and the chief executive officer of the municipality for whose
30 benefit the agency was created]. Provided, however, that nothing
31 contained in this paragraph shall be deemed to modify the terms of any
32 existing agreements.
33 2. On or before September first of each year, the commissioner of the
34 department of economic development shall prepare and submit to the
35 governor, speaker of the assembly, majority leader of the senate, and
36 the state comptroller, a report setting forth a summary of the signif-
37 icant trends in operations and financing by the agencies [and authori-
38 ties]; departures from acceptable practices by agencies [and authori-
39 ties]; a compilation by type of the bonds and notes outstanding; a
40 compilation of all outstanding straight-lease transactions; an estimate
41 of the total number of jobs created and retained by agency [or authori-
42 ty] projects; and any other information which in the opinion of the
43 commissioner bears upon the discharge of the statutory functions of
44 agencies [and authorities].
45 3. On or before April first, nineteen hundred ninety-six, the commis-
46 sioner shall submit to the director of the division of the budget, the
47 temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the
48 [chairman] chair of the senate finance committee, the [chairman] chair
49 of the assembly ways and means committee, the [chairman] chair of the
50 senate local government committee, the [chairman] chair of the senate
51 committee on commerce, economic development and small business, the
52 [chairman] chair of the assembly committee on commerce, industry and
53 economic development, the [chairman] chair of the assembly local govern-
54 ments committee and the [chairman] chair of the assembly real property
55 taxation committee an evaluation of the activities of industrial devel-
56 opment agencies [and authorities] in the state prepared by an entity
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1 independent of the department. Such evaluation shall identify the effect
2 of agencies [and authorities] on: (a) job creation and retention in the
3 state, including the types of jobs created and retained; (b) the value
4 of tax exemptions provided by such agencies [and authorities]; (c) the
5 value of payments received in lieu of taxes received by municipalities
6 and school districts as a result of projects sponsored by such entities;
7 (d) a summary of the types of projects that received financial assist-
8 ance; (e) a summary of the types of financial assistance provided by the
9 agencies [and authorities]; (f) a summary of criteria for evaluation of
10 projects used by agencies [and authorities]; (g) a summary of tax
11 exemption policies of agencies [and authorities]; and (h) such other
12 factors as may be relevant to an assessment of the performance of such
13 agencies [and authorities] in creating and retaining job opportunities
14 for residents of the state. Such evaluation shall also assess the proc-
15 ess by which the agencies [and authorities] grant exemptions from state
16 taxes and make recommendations for the most efficient and effective
17 procedures for the use of such exemptions. Such evaluation shall further
18 include any recommendations for changes in laws governing the operations
19 of industrial development agencies [and authorities] which would enhance
20 the creation and retention of jobs in the state.
21 § 5. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 2 of section 862 of the general
22 municipal law, as added by section 1 of part J of chapter 59 of the laws
23 of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
24 (c) With respect to projects authorized pursuant to paragraph (b) of
25 this subdivision, no project shall be approved unless the agency shall
26 find after the public hearing required by section eight hundred fifty-
27 nine-a of this title that undertaking the project will serve the public
28 purposes of this article by preserving permanent, private sector jobs or
29 increasing the overall number of permanent, private sector jobs in the
30 state. [Where the agency makes such a finding, prior to providing finan-
31 cial assistance to the project by the agency, the chief executive offi-
32 cer of the municipality for whose benefit the agency was created shall
33 confirm the proposed action of the agency.]
34 § 6. Section 868 of the general municipal law, as added by chapter
35 1030 of the laws of 1969, is amended to read as follows:
36 § 868. Agreements of the municipality and state. The municipality
37 where a proposed project is located is authorized to, and the state does
38 hereby, pledge to and agree with the holders of the bonds or notes that
39 neither the municipality nor the state, respectively, will limit or
40 alter the rights, hereby vested in the agency to acquire, construct,
41 reconstruct, improve, maintain, equip and furnish the project or
42 projects, to establish and collect rentals, fees and other charges and
43 to fulfill the terms of any agreements made with the holders of the
44 bonds or notes nor in any way impair the rights and remedies of the
45 bondholders or noteholders until the bonds or notes, together with
46 interest thereon, with interest on any unpaid installments of interest
47 and all costs and expenses in connection with any action or proceeding
48 by or on behalf of the bondholders or noteholders are fully met and
49 discharged.
50 § 7. Section 870 of the general municipal law, as added by chapter
51 1030 of the laws of 1969, is amended to read as follows:
52 § 870. State and municipality not liable on bonds or notes. The bonds
53 or notes and other obligations of the [authority] agency shall not be a
54 debt of the state or of the municipality where a proposed project is
55 located, and neither the state nor the municipality shall be liable
S. 5245 8
1 thereon, nor shall they be payable out of any funds other than those of
2 the agency.
3 § 8. Subdivision 1 and paragraph (d) of subdivision 3 of section 875
4 of the general municipal law, as added by section 2 of part J of chapter
5 59 of the laws of 2013, are amended to read as follows:
6 1. For purposes of this section: "state sales and use taxes" means
7 sales and compensating use taxes and fees imposed by article twenty-
8 eight or twenty-eight-A of the tax law but excluding such taxes imposed
9 in a city by section eleven hundred seven or eleven hundred eight of
10 such article twenty-eight. "IDA" means [an] a regional industrial devel-
11 opment agency established in each region of the state by subdivision one
12 of section eight hundred fifty-six of this [article or an industrial
13 development authority created by the public authorities law] title.
14 "Commissioner" means the commissioner of taxation and finance.
15 (d) An IDA shall prepare an annual compliance report detailing its
16 terms and conditions described in paragraph (a) of this subdivision and
17 its activities and efforts to recover, recapture, receive, or otherwise
18 obtain state sales and use exemptions benefits described in paragraph
19 (b) of this subdivision, together with such other information as the
20 commissioner and the commissioner of economic development may require.
21 The report required by this subdivision shall be filed with the commis-
22 sioner, the director of the division of the budget, the commissioner of
23 economic development, the state comptroller, [the governing body of the
24 municipality for whose benefit the agency was created,] and may be
25 included with the annual financial statement required by paragraph (b)
26 of subdivision one of section eight hundred fifty-nine of this title.
27 Such report required by this subdivision shall be filed regardless of
28 whether the IDA is required to file such financial statement described
29 by such paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section eight hundred
30 fifty-nine. The failure to file or substantially complete the report
31 required by this subdivision shall be deemed to be the failure to file
32 or substantially complete the statement required by such paragraph (b)
33 of subdivision one of such section eight hundred fifty-nine, and the
34 consequences shall be the same as provided in paragraph (e) of subdivi-
35 sion one of such section eight hundred fifty-nine.
36 § 9. Section 861 of the general municipal law is REPEALED.
37 § 10. Section 882 of the general municipal law is REPEALED.
38 § 11. Title 2 of article 18-A of the general municipal law is
39 REPEALED.
40 § 12. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day
41 after it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition,
42 amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the
43 implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be
44 made and completed on or before such effective date.
