Enacts the "New York Business Emergency Relief Act of 2021"; requires the governor to direct unallocated settlement funds resolved in the economic uncertainties fund (Part A); relates to enacting the restart New York grant relief program (Part B); authorizes the governor to reallocate certain monies for the restart New York grant relief (Part C).
STATE OF NEW YORK
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4692
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 4, 2021
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Introduced by M. of A. NORRIS -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Economic Development
AN ACT to enact the "New York Business Emergency Relief Act of 2021"; to
direct the governor to unallocated settlement funds resolved in the
economic uncertainties fund (Part A); to amend the urban development
corporation act, in relation to enacting the restart New York grant
relief program (Part B); and to authorize the governor to reallocate
certain monies for the restart New York grant relief (Part C)
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 "New York Business Emergency Relief Act of 2021".
3 § 2. Legislative intent. The legislature seeks to provide immediate
4 assistance to businesses that have been deemed non-essential or have
5 faced restrictions or closures as a result of the Governor's Executive
6 Orders and have lost income as a result.
7 The legislature recognizes that New York's private businesses are the
8 backbone of our state economy and the state must act boldly to address
9 the negative impacts resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak and the asso-
10 ciated statewide business sector shutdown. According to a recent poll by
11 the National Federation of Independent Businesses, 76% of its members
12 have been negatively impacted by COVID-19. Through Executive Orders,
13 businesses that were deemed non-essential were forced to keep their
14 doors closed with no indication of when they will be able to reopen and
15 face significant revenue. It is imperative that the legislature provides
16 immediate assistance to these businesses as they try to manage the
17 devastating impact of the COVID-19 virus and the interruption of their
18 business operations. The New York Business Emergency Relief Act of 2021
19 will offer direct fiscal relief and protections for businesses while
20 mitigating the risk of businesses being forced to permanently close
21 their doors and further harm the local and state economies.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07624-01-1
A. 4692 2
1 It is therefore the intent of the legislature to implement measures to
2 assist New York's businesses with the loss of their income as a result
3 of being deemed non-essential by the Governor's Executive Orders by
4 providing direct financial assistance in the way of State grants. The
5 legislature recognizes that extraordinary times call for extraordinary
6 measures and therefore is directing that settlement money received by
7 the state from financial or banking institutions, from current economic
8 development programs and from any federal aid provided to the state for
9 economic recovery be used to help the state fight the economic crisis
10 brought on by the COVID-19 virus by directing this funding be provided
11 to non-essential businesses that were negatively impacted by the Gover-
12 nor's Executive Orders.
13 § 3. This act enacts into law major components of legislation which
14 are necessary to implement the New York Business Emergency Relief Act of
15 2021. Each component is wholly contained within a Part identified as
16 Parts A through C. The effective date for each particular provision
17 contained within such Part is set forth in the last section of such
18 Part. Any provision in any section contained within a Part, including
19 the effective date of the Part, which makes a reference to a section "of
20 this act", when used in connection with that particular component, shall
21 be deemed to mean and refer to the corresponding section of the Part in
22 which it is found. Section five of this act sets forth the general
23 effective date of this act.
24 PART A
25 Section 1. Notwithstanding any other law, rule and regulation to the
26 contrary, the governor shall immediately direct all unallocated settle-
27 ment funds that are reserved in the "economic uncertainties" fund and
28 any further settlement money that may be received by the state to small
29 business relief purposes consistent with the intent of the "New York
30 Business Emergency Relief Act of 2021".
31 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
32 PART B
33 Section 1. Section 1 of chapter 174 of the laws of 1968, constituting
34 the New York state urban development corporation act, is amended by
35 adding a new section 16-bb to read as follows:
36 § 16-bb. Restart New York grant relief program. (1) As used in this
37 section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
38 (a) "State of emergency" shall mean a disaster emergency for the
39 entire state of New York declared in Executive Order two hundred two,
40 beginning on March seventh, two thousand twenty as well as any further
41 amendments or modifications thereto.
42 (b) "Non-Essential Business" shall mean those businesses that have not
43 been deemed essential as declared in Executive Order 202.6 and in
44 further guidance issued by New York State Empire Development and shall
45 include, but not be limited to, bowling alleys, barber shops, salons,
46 movie theatres, gyms, restaurants, and tourism related businesses and
47 employ two hundred and fifty or less employees.
48 (2) The corporation shall establish a fund to be known as the "restart
49 New York grant relief fund" and shall pay into such fund any monies made
50 available to the corporation for such fund from any source, including
51 federal COVID-19 stimulus funding provided to states. The monies held in
52 or credited to the fund shall be expended solely for the purposes set
A. 4692 3
1 forth in this section. The corporation shall not commingle the monies of
2 such fund with any other monies of the corporation or any monies held in
3 trust by the corporation.
4 (3) The corporation shall provide grants equal to the likely net
5 income lost as a result of being deemed a non-essential business or for
6 having services limited during the state of emergency. Funding for such
7 grants will be allocated from any monies made available from the restart
8 New York grant relief fund.
9 (4) Businesses shall apply for such grant on a form prescribed by the
10 corporation. Each form shall contain content as set forth by rule, regu-
11 lation, instruction or procedure of the corporation and may be changed
12 or updated as necessary by the corporation in order to carry out the
13 purpose of this section. To determine the amount of each grant provided,
14 non-essential businesses who had their services limited shall include
15 the following information on such form:
16 a. The net income of the business during the 2018 and 2019 tax years
17 as evidenced by their tax returns;
18 b. The net income of the business during the 2020 tax year as
19 evidenced by a certified profit loss statement or tax return;
20 c. The certified projected net income loss of the business for the
21 2021 tax year;
22 d. The operating expenses, including payroll expenses, necessary to
23 resume operations with the same quality of service that existed prior to
24 when the business was deemed a non-essential business; and
25 e. Other relevant sources of information including, but not limited
26 to, any funds received by the business through the Federal Payroll
27 Protection Program, tax returns, financial records, and accounting
28 procedures.
29 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
30 PART C
31 Section 1. Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation to the
32 contrary, the governor is hereby authorized to repurpose all monies of
33 the New York state urban development corporation, the environmental
34 facilities corporation, the dormitory authority of the state of New
35 York, the New York state energy research and development authority and
36 all other state resources as identified and needed by the governor to
37 fully fund programs created by this act.
38 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
39 § 4. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi-
40 sion, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of
41 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect,
42 impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in
43 its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section
44 or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg-
45 ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of
46 the legislature that this act would have been enacted even if such
47 invalid provisions had not been included herein.
48 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately provided, however, that
49 the applicable effective date of Parts A through C of this act shall be
50 as specifically set forth in the last section of such Parts.