Establishes the New York state environmental technology institute within the science and technology foundation, which shall contract with a certain local development corporation to establish such institute; provides that the institute shall be operated collaboratively by a consortium of universities and private sector industrial partners; also provides that the institute shall address pollution prevention, remediation, and sustainable development.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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1443
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 10, 2011
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DESTITO, ENGLEBRIGHT, MORELLE -- Multi-Sponsored
by -- M. of A. AUBRY, CANESTRARI, CASTRO, SWEENEY -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Economic Development, Job Creation,
Commerce and Industry
AN ACT to amend the public authorities law, in relation to establishing
the New York state environmental technology institute within the
science and technology foundation
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public authorities law is amended by adding a new
2 section 3102-h to read as follows:
3 § 3102-h. New York state environmental technology institute. 1. For
4 the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the follow-
5 ing meanings:
6 (a) "Institute" means the New York state environmental technology
7 institute established pursuant to this section.
8 (b) "University" means the entities defined in subdivision seventeen
9 of section two, as added by chapter six hundred thirty-four of the laws
10 of nineteen hundred fifty, section five thousand seven hundred one,
11 section six thousand one and subdivision two of section six thousand two
12 hundred two of the education law.
13 (c) "Pollution prevention" means changes in production methods that
14 reduce, avoid, or eliminate the utilization of toxic or hazardous
15 substances or the generation of such substances or pollutants overall,
16 so as to reduce health risks to production employees, the surrounding
17 community, consumers of the product or the overall environment without
18 shifting risks between such parties. Pollution prevention includes the
19 design, manufacture, or production of new processing techniques, or the
20 redesign, modification, upgrade or replacement of production processes,
21 equipment or implementation of new technology; reformulation or redesign
22 of products, substitution of inputs or raw materials; improvements in
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01694-01-1
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1 housekeeping, maintenance, training, or inventory control; or extended
2 use or reuse of materials through methods integral to the production
3 process; provided, that pollution prevention may include out-of-produc-
4 tion recycling, end-of-pipe treatment or pollution control.
5 (d) "Pollutant" means any substance, contaminant, waste or emission
6 which contributes to pollution as defined in article one of the environ-
7 mental conservation law.
8 (e) "Remediation" means activities undertaken to eliminate, remove,
9 abate or control environmental hazards.
10 (f) "Sustainable development" means achieving economic growth while
11 protecting and preserving the state environmental resources or mitigat-
12 ing the destruction of such environmental resources.
13 (g) "Small business" shall have the same meaning as set forth in
14 section one hundred thirty-one of the economic development law.
15 (h) "Medium-sized business" means an independently owned business, not
16 dominant in its field, that employs fewer than five hundred persons
17 within the state on a full time basis.
18 (i) "Materials exchange transaction" means the matching of materials
19 discarded by one business with another business that can use the
20 discarded material as a resource.
21 (j) "Material by-product" means materials discarded by a business.
22 (k) "Research institution" means a public, quasi-public or private
23 scientific research facility or institution of higher education located
24 within the state that operates a research laboratory or facility.
25 2. The corporation shall contract with a not-for-profit corporation to
26 establish an institute to be known as the New York state environmental
27 technology institute. The institute may be operated collaboratively by a
28 consortium of universities and research institutions located in this
29 state with institutions or accredited programs in environmental science,
30 life sciences, bioresearch, chemistry or technology research and devel-
31 opment, and private sector industrial partners. The chief executive
32 officer or president of such not-for-profit corporation or his or her
33 designee shall serve as the president of the institute.
34 3. The institute shall:
35 (a) develop and assist in the transfer of existing and new process
36 designs for pollution prevention, remediation and sustainable develop-
37 ment;
38 (b) conduct both applied and theoretical research and development, and
39 support demonstration projects concerning new or modified industrial
40 processes, design of equipment and, pursue the advancement of new tech-
41 nologies for pollution prevention, remediation and sustainable develop-
42 ment that can be utilized by business, industry and government;
43 (c) provide a clearinghouse for the dissemination of information on
44 existing and new industrial process design technology for pollution
45 prevention, remediation, and sustainable development for business,
46 industry and government;
47 (d) provide a clearinghouse for the dissemination of information on
48 the utilization of business material by-products in order to coordinate
49 materials exchange transactions among in-state and out-of-state busi-
50 nesses; and
51 (e) provide expertise and assistance concerning industrial process
52 design and environmental technology to small and medium-sized businesses
53 and to public officials responsible for establishing government policy
54 and regulations.
55 4. (a) To carry out said purposes, the institute shall have the
56 authority to:
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1 (1) appoint officers, agents and employees, to prescribe their quali-
2 fications, and to fix their compensation and to pay the same out of
3 funds of the institute;
4 (2) make contracts and leases upon such terms as the institute shall
5 deem appropriate; and
6 (3) accept gifts, grants, loans or contributions from, and enter into
7 contracts or other transactions with, the United States, the state or
8 its agencies, any other state, any municipality, any public or private
9 corporation or any other legal entity, and to use any such gifts,
10 grants, loans or contributions for any of its purposes.
11 (b) In exercising the powers granted by this section, the institute
12 shall, insofar as practicable, cooperate and act in conjunction with
13 industrial, commercial, medical, scientific and educational organiza-
14 tions within the state, the New York state energy research and develop-
15 ment authority established pursuant to title nine of article eight of
16 this chapter and with agencies of the federal government, of the state
17 and its political subdivisions, of other states and joint agencies ther-
18 eof.
19 5. A university or research institution seeking designation by the
20 foundation to participate in the consortium to operate such institute
21 shall:
22 (a) have a record of conducting research and development relating to
23 technologies for the purpose of pollution prevention, remediation and
24 sustainability, of leveraging federal and other non-state research and
25 development funds for such purposes, and of providing technical assist-
26 ance to private industry;
27 (b) have the discretion to enter into a formalized agreement with a
28 private sector industrial partner or partners who are performing innova-
29 tive research and development for environmental or directly related
30 technologies;
31 (c) have a private sector commitment for any matching resources
32 required by this section; and
33 (d) commit substantial university resources to the institute.
34 6. The institute shall engage the services of consultants for the
35 purpose of conducting a peer review of all applications for partic-
36 ipation in the consortium to operate the institute and of all informa-
37 tion relating to the transfer of existing and new process designs for
38 pollution prevention, remediation and sustainable development. Such
39 consultants shall have substantial experience in the establishment and
40 management of such peer review process and shall make recommendations to
41 the institute advisory committee established pursuant to subdivision
42 seven of this section.
43 7. (a) The institute shall establish an advisory committee which shall
44 consist of thirteen individuals of which four shall be appointed by the
45 governor, two shall be appointed by the speaker of the assembly, two
46 shall be appointed by the temporary president of the senate, one shall
47 be appointed by the minority leader of the assembly, one shall be
48 appointed by the minority leader of the senate, one shall be appointed
49 by the commissioner of health, one shall be appointed by the commission-
50 er of environmental conservation and one shall be appointed by the
51 directors of the urban development corporation. Appointments shall be
52 made from representatives of the following groups: the science and tech-
53 nology community, the academic community, labor, industry, small busi-
54 ness, and the environmental community.
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1 (b) The members shall serve for terms of three years. Provided,
2 however, the members of the advisory committee initially appointed shall
3 be appointed for the following terms:
4 (i) one member appointed by the governor, one member appointed by the
5 temporary president of the senate, the member appointed by the minority
6 leader of the assembly and the member appointed by the commissioner of
7 health shall be appointed for terms of one year;
8 (ii) two members appointed by the governor, one member appointed by
9 the temporary president of the senate, one member appointed by the
10 speaker of the assembly and the member appointed by the commissioner of
11 environmental conservation shall be appointed for terms of two years;
12 and
13 (iii) one member appointed by the governor, one member appointed by
14 the speaker of the assembly, the member appointed by the minority leader
15 of the senate and the member appointed by the directors of the urban
16 development corporation shall be appointed for terms of three years.
17 The members shall continue in office until the expiration of their
18 terms and until their successors are appointed and have qualified.
19 Vacancies shall be filled by the appointing official who originally
20 appointed such member within one year of the date upon which such vacan-
21 cies occur.
22 (c) The advisory committee shall:
23 (1) render advice on the development of the institute's overall
24 research and development program and the identification of research and
25 development priorities;
26 (2) render advice on the solicitation of research and development
27 project proposals;
28 (3) render advice on the technical and commercial merit of projects
29 which the institute may wish to fund or undertake;
30 (4) assist in establishing procedures for monitoring the progress of
31 funded projects;
32 (5) assist in the technical review of ongoing projects; and
33 (6) assist in facilitating the dissemination of research results and
34 technical information.
35 (d) The advisory committee shall meet as frequently as its business
36 may require, and at least once in each calendar year.
37 (e) One member shall be appointed by the commissioner of environmental
38 conservation, or by his or her designee, as chairperson of the advisory
39 committee.
40 (f) The members of the advisory committee shall serve without compen-
41 sation, other than reimbursement of actual and necessary expenses.
42 (g) No member of the advisory committee shall be disqualified from
43 holding any public office or employment, nor shall he or she forfeit any
44 such office, by reason of such service with the institute, notwithstand-
45 ing the provisions of any general, special, or local law, ordinance or
46 city charter.
47 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
48 it shall have become a law.
