Enacts the minimum standards for subsidized jobs act; provides that entities eligible to receive economic development subsidies must: pay each employee a minimum wage that's at least one dollar higher than state minimum wage levels; offer health insurance benefit plans to employees employed at least 35 hours per week; and offer at least twenty percent of its workers a worker training program.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1101
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 5, 2011
___________
Introduced by Sens. PARKER, ADAMS, DIAZ, HASSELL-THOMPSON, PERKINS,
SAMPSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be
committed to the Committee on Commerce, Economic Development and Small
Business
AN ACT to amend the economic development law, in relation to establish-
ing the "minimum standards for subsidized jobs act"
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 "minimum standards for subsidized jobs act".
3 § 2. Findings and purpose. The legislature hereby finds and declares
4 that every year, the state of New York awards increasingly large amounts
5 of dollars in economic development subsidies to for-profit businesses.
6 When government invests in economic development, it makes no economic
7 sense to support the creation or promotion of jobs that do not give
8 workers the chance to earn a decent living. When state-subsidized jobs
9 provide low wages and poor benefits, they increase the need for govern-
10 ment services, including public assistance for food, housing, health
11 care, and childcare.
12 The purpose of this act is to improve the effectiveness of economic
13 development expenditures, take pressure off state social services
14 programs, and improve the public health and welfare by ensuring that
15 major state subsidies are used to support at least minimum living stand-
16 ards for working families.
17 § 3. The economic development law is amended by adding a new article
18 18 to read as follows:
19 ARTICLE 18
20 MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR SUBSIDIZED JOBS ACT
21 Section 360. Definitions.
22 361. Minimum standards for wages and benefits.
23 362. Enforcement.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01619-01-1
S. 1101 2
1 § 360. Definitions. For purposes of this article:
2 1. "Economic development subsidy" means any expenditure of public
3 funds with a value of at least one hundred thousand dollars, for the
4 purpose of stimulating economic development within the state, including
5 but not limited to bonds, grants, loans, loan guarantees, enterprise
6 zones, empowerment zones, tax increment financing, grants, fee waivers,
7 land price subsidies, matching funds, tax abatements, tax exemptions,
8 and tax credits.
9 2. "Commissioner" means the commissioner of labor, or the commission-
10 er's designee or designees.
11 § 361. Minimum standards for wages and benefits. 1. No person, associ-
12 ation, corporation or other entity shall be eligible to receive any
13 economic development subsidy unless that entity:
14 (a) pays each of its employees in the state a minimum wage that is at
15 least one dollar per hour higher than the state minimum wage provided in
16 article nineteen of the labor law;
17 (b) offers to each of its employees in the state who work at least
18 thirty-five hours per week a health insurance benefits plan for which
19 the employer pays at least eighty percent of the monthly premium, and
20 the coverage pays at least eighty percent of the costs of physician
21 office visits, emergency care, surgery, and prescriptions with an annual
22 deductible of no more than one thousand dollars; and
23 (c) offers to at least twenty percent of its workers in the state a
24 worker training program that meets minimum standards issued by the
25 commissioner.
26 2. This section does not apply to:
27 (a) a not-for-profit entity that is exempt from taxation under the
28 internal revenue code; or
29 (b) an intern or trainee who is under twenty-one years of age and who
30 is employed for a period not longer than three months.
31 3. If the commissioner determines that application of this section
32 would conflict with a federal program requirement, the commissioner,
33 after notice and public hearing, may grant a waiver from the require-
34 ments of this section.
35 § 362. Enforcement. 1. The commissioner shall promulgate such regu-
36 lations as are necessary to implement and administer compliance of this
37 section.
38 2. No person, association, corporation or other entity shall
39 discharge, demote, harass or otherwise take adverse actions against any
40 individual because such individual seeks the enforcement of this
41 section, or testifies, assists or participates in any manner in an
42 investigation, hearing or other proceeding to enforce the provisions of
43 this section.
44 3. No entity shall pay an employee through a third party, or treat an
45 employee as a subcontractor or independent contractor, to avoid the
46 requirements of this section.
47 § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
48 the date on which it shall have become a law and shall apply to any
49 economic development subsidy awarded or renewed on or after such date;
50 provided, however, that effective immediately, the addition, amendment
51 and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation
52 of this act on its effective date are authorized and directed to be made
53 and completed on or before such date.
