STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6777
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 8, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. JONES -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Local Governments
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to establishing a
state disaster emergency grant and loan program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 16 and 17 of section 858 of the general munic-
2 ipal law, as renumbered by chapter 356 of the laws of 1993 are renum-
3 bered subdivisions 18 and 19 and two new subdivisions 16 and 17 are
4 added to read as follows:
5 (16) To provide loans to small businesses as authorized in section
6 eight hundred fifty-nine-c of this title;
7 (17) To provide grants to small businesses, as defined in paragraph
8 (b) of subdivision one of section eight hundred fifty-nine-c of this
9 title, for the purpose of addressing qualified business losses, as
10 defined in paragraph (e) of subdivision one of section eight hundred
11 fifty-nine-c of this title, resulting from a state or local emergency,
12 as defined in paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section eight hundred
13 fifty-nine-c of this title, to be provided in a manner consistent with
14 uniform criteria, as defined in subdivision three of section eight
15 hundred fifty-nine-c of this title, said uniform criteria to be estab-
16 lished for the evaluation and selection of eligible entities, as defined
17 in paragraph (a) of subdivision one of section eight hundred
18 fifty-nine-c of this title;
19 § 2. The general municipal law is amended by adding a new section
20 859-c to read as follows:
21 § 859-c. Disaster emergency loan program. 1. For purposes of this
22 section:
23 (a) "eligible entity" shall mean a small business that:
24 (i) is physically located in the jurisdiction of the applicable agen-
25 cy; and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10119-01-3
A. 6777 2
1 (ii) was operational prior to, and during, to the extent possible, the
2 state or local emergency.
3 (b) "small business" means a business with not more than fifty employ-
4 ees.
5 (c) "state or local emergency" means the period beginning with (i) a
6 declaration by the governor pursuant to section twenty-eight of the
7 executive law, that a disaster has occurred in New York state, or (ii) a
8 proclamation by the chief executive, as defined in paragraph f of subdi-
9 vision two of section twenty of the executive law, of any county, that a
10 local state of emergency has occurred, and with respect to either of the
11 foregoing, said period ending on the termination thereof.
12 (d) "disaster emergency loan program" means a loan program to be
13 administered by an agency in relation to a state or local emergency.
14 (e) "qualified business losses" are defined as:
15 (i) damage to a business's interior or exterior structure, caused by a
16 state or local emergency;
17 (ii) losses of inventory caused by a state or local emergency, includ-
18 ing:
19 (1) shipping delays; and
20 (2) expiration of perishable goods due to power outages caused by the
21 state or local emergency or forced closure due to the state or local
22 emergency; and
23 (iii) loss of revenue due to impacts of the state or local emergency.
24 2. Any agency may administer a disaster emergency loan program to
25 provide loans from available revenue to such an eligible entity as
26 defined in subdivision one of this section.
27 3. (a) An agency shall develop, and adopt by resolution, uniform
28 criteria for the evaluation and selection of an eligible entity for a
29 loan through the disaster emergency loan program, such criteria may
30 include, but is not limited to, whether the eligible entity:
31 (i) was a financially viable entity prior to the state or local emer-
32 gency;
33 (ii) conducts business in the area served by the agency;
34 (iii) has been negatively impacted by the state or local emergency;
35 (iv) was creditworthy prior to the state or local emergency;
36 (v) has a proposed plan to use the funds received through this
37 program; and
38 (vi) will undertake efforts to retain jobs during and/or after the
39 state or local emergency.
40 (b) No applicant shall be permitted to receive loans from more than
41 one agency per each such state or local emergency.
42 (c) Any agencies that serve within the same municipalities shall coor-
43 dinate the distribution of loans in the disaster emergency loan program.
44 4. Prior to administering a disaster emergency loan program, an agency
45 shall develop, and adopt by resolution, the terms and conditions of such
46 loans, provided that the amount of any loan provided pursuant to this
47 section shall not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars, and further
48 provided that the total amount of all loans received by an eligible
49 entity shall not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars.
50 5. Each agency shall maintain records related to the disaster emergen-
51 cy loan program, including a record of the number of loans issued and of
52 payments received, the number of loans fully repaid, any outstanding
53 loans, defaults and bad debts, and include such information in the annu-
54 al report required by section twenty-eight hundred of the public author-
55 ities law.
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1 6. Any interest deferred or not charged related to a loan issued
2 pursuant the disaster emergency loan program shall be exempt from all
3 state taxes that may be applicable to such interest amounts as they
4 relate to an eligible entity. Agencies shall disclose to eligible entity
5 borrowers in loan documents that there may be federal tax consequences
6 to the program loans.
7 7. No new loan applications pursuant to this section shall be accepted
8 for qualified business losses that occur after the state or local emer-
9 gency ends and any such loan application so submitted for qualified
10 business losses must be submitted within thirty days of the end of a
11 state or local emergency.
12 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
