NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3451
SPONSOR: Bronson TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the labor law, in relation to the establishment of a
wage data clearinghouse
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Require the State Department of Labor (DOL) to issue an RFP to form a
partnership with an academic institution with proven experience in
analyzing labor market data to establish a research center to serve as
the State's clearinghouse for wage data. The clearinghouse would be
required to issue reports evaluating workforce preparation, worker
training and selected education programs, and to provide data
on.workforce trends This would allow the state to benefit from the
expertise of academics in conducting important research while keeping
the data protected.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Labor Law - § 44 wage data clearinghouse.
Section 1. The labor commissioner shall establish a wage data clearing-
house in consultation with the commissioner of education and the state
workforce investment board.
Section 2. The wage data clearinghouse shall be administered by an
academic institution in New York state with proven experience in analyz-
ing labor data.
Section 3. The department shall provide the wage data clearinghouse with
all state and federal wage and employment related data it has available.
Section 4. A nine member advisory board is established
Section S. The wage data clearinghouse shall provide analyses on the
effectiveness of workforce preparation programs and other related
research.
Section 6. The advisory board will consult with DOL, the commissioner of
education and the state workforce investment board.
Section 7. The clearinghouse shall release reports and aggregated data
to the department, which shall be made available online.
Section 8. DOL shall issue an evaluation of this data clearinghouse
within one year, and every four years thereafter.
EFFECTS OF PRESENT LAW WHICH THIS BILL WOULD ALTER:
Create new section 44 of Labor Law.
JUSTIFICATION:
The state spends billions of state and federal dollars each year on
educating and training future workers through the PK-12 system, public
colleges and universities, workforce development and preparation
programs, and adult literacy classes. Yet policymakers and the public
have little idea which programs are effective and actually help partic-
ipants get on career paths that lead to living wage employment. Since
enactment of a state law in 2013, colleges and public workforce programs
have had access to the earnings and employment information of people who
completed their programs. While most large institutions do have the
capacity to meet the state's exacting standards for using the informa-
tion safely and effectively, smaller workforce preparation programs
which might benefit from information do not have the technological
capacity and analytical expertise to use the data.
Most other states are using wage data, often in combination with educa-
tion data to assess education and workforce programs. Examples of Data
Aggregation:
*Colleges and universities can now look at earnings of graduates, see
not only whether students got a job after graduation but whether they
stayed in a job and were able to move into higher paying positions.
*Individuals and policymakers can identify which educational and work-
force development programs are producing the best outcomes for partic-
ipants.
*This data will help the state and localities identify how many people
are trained in specific skills, where they are, whether they are out of
work or are looking for similarly skilled jobs, how many went through
such skill programs, are grads of programs and are successful in train-
ing more.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A359 of 2023-24: referred to Labor
A2542 of 2021-22: referred to ways and means;
A1056 of 2019-20: referred to ways and means;
A9933 of 2015-16: passed the Assembly;
A2164 of 2017-18: passed the Assembly
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
Subject to available appropriations.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3451
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 27, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BRONSON, COLTON -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to the establishment of a
wage data clearinghouse
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 45 to read
2 as follows:
3 § 45. Wage data clearinghouse. 1. The commissioner, subject to avail-
4 able appropriations and in consultation with the commissioner of the
5 education department and the state workforce investment board, shall
6 establish a wage data clearinghouse. The purpose of the wage data
7 clearinghouse shall be to use existing unemployment insurance data as
8 described in section five hundred thirty-seven of this chapter and other
9 available labor, education and workforce development data to evaluate
10 the long-term effectiveness of workforce development and education
11 programs and to identify gaps in the availability of existing and
12 proposed workforce development training to meet employment needs, in
13 addition, the clearinghouse shall conduct any other research it identi-
14 fies as contributing to increasing the attainment of long-term employ-
15 ment of residents of this state, especially those who are unemployed or
16 underemployed.
17 2. The wage data clearinghouse shall be administered by an academic
18 institution in the state of New York with proven expertise in analyzing
19 labor data and shall be selected by the commissioner, in consultation
20 with the commissioner of the education department and the state work-
21 force investment board, through a request for proposals process. Crite-
22 ria shall include, but not be limited to, the demonstrated ability of
23 the chosen institution to analyze unemployment insurance and wage
24 reporting data and to leverage and attract federal funds and non-govern-
25 mental funds. The commissioner is authorized to provide funding to a
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05939-01-5
A. 3451 2
1 selected academic institution for operating a wage data clearinghouse of
2 up to six hundred thousand dollars, subject to appropriation. Any
3 unused allocation may be made available in the subsequent fiscal year.
4 3. The department shall provide the wage data clearinghouse with all
5 state and federal unemployment insurance and wage and employment related
6 data it has available, including but not limited to unemployment insur-
7 ance data as described in section five hundred thirty-seven of this
8 chapter. All disclosure requirements specified in section five hundred
9 thirty-seven of this chapter shall apply to all wage data clearinghouse
10 employees working with the data.
11 4. A statewide wage data clearinghouse advisory board is hereby estab-
12 lished for the purpose of determining statewide objectives and the wage
13 data clearinghouse's research and evaluation priorities after consulta-
14 tion with the director of the wage data clearinghouse. The advisory
15 board shall appoint a director with expertise in large data systems and
16 data security with preference given to a candidate who has experience
17 with workforce development. Such director shall receive an annual salary
18 within amounts appropriated. (a) The advisory board shall consist of
19 twelve members, including: the chancellor of the state university of New
20 York, or such chancellor's designee; the commissioner of the state
21 education department, or such commissioner's designee; the commissioner
22 of the state department of labor, or the commissioner's designee; a
23 representative of superintendents of schools, appointed by the governor;
24 a representative of a district superintendents of schools, appointed by
25 the governor; a representative of community colleges, appointed by the
26 governor; and, six members of the public, including three appointed by
27 the speaker of the assembly and three appointed by the president pro
28 tempore of the senate. The public members of the advisory board shall
29 have expertise in large data systems and data security, workforce devel-
30 opment programs, economic development, business management and/or organ-
31 ized labor. (b) The members of the advisory board shall receive no
32 compensation for their services, but shall be allowed their actual and
33 necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties pursuant
34 to this section, subject to the approval of the department. (c) Advisory
35 board members who represent state agencies shall be appointed for terms
36 of three years, and members who represent local governments shall serve
37 terms of two years and all other members shall serve terms of four
38 years. Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner as original appoint-
39 ments for the remainder of the unexpired term. (d) Advisory board
40 members shall each be granted voting rights and will together elect a
41 chair whose designation shall be made bi-annually. (e) The advisory
42 board shall meet at such times and places as may be determined by its
43 chair. The advisory board shall meet at a minimum of six times in the
44 first year and a minimum of three times per year thereafter. All meet-
45 ings shall be open to the public pursuant to article seven of the public
46 officers law. A majority of the members of such council shall constitute
47 a quorum for the transaction of business. (f) After consultation with
48 the director, the advisory board shall discuss and vote on research
49 priorities and topics for the clearinghouse that do not duplicate any
50 research or statistics the department undertakes and that focus on the
51 need of the users of the analysis, which are state and local policy
52 makers, educational entities, workforce development providers, busi-
53 nesses, and economic development administrators.
54 5. The wage data clearinghouse shall use unemployment insurance data
55 as described in section five hundred thirty-seven of this chapter
56 provided by the department and any other data sets including data
A. 3451 3
1 provided by state, federal or local agencies it deems appropriate. The
2 clearinghouse shall keep private and safeguard any personally identifi-
3 able information it obtains and shall not release such information to
4 any other party, and shall use any data it obtains solely for the
5 purpose of furthering the effectiveness and efficiency of workforce
6 development efforts as provided in this section.
7 6. The wage data clearinghouse shall release reports and aggregated
8 data to the department, which shall be posted on the department's
9 website as well as on any website maintained by the clearinghouse.
10 7. One year after selection of the academic institution that will
11 serve as the clearinghouse, the department shall submit to the director
12 of the budget, the chair of the senate finance committee, the chair of
13 the assembly ways and means committee, the chairs of senate and assembly
14 labor committees, the speaker of the assembly, and the president pro
15 tempore of the senate, an evaluation of this program prepared by the
16 department. Such evaluation shall be submitted every four years there-
17 after.
18 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
