Add S54-c, Leg L; amd SS24 & 99-d, add S99-v, St Fin L
Clarifies the appropriation and qualification of member items; authorizes the legislative ethics commission to review violations of the qualification of member items, and requires that all member items be fully itemized.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1681--A
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 11, 2011
___________
Introduced by Sens. SERRANO, BONACIC, BRESLIN, DeFRANCISCO, GRIFFO,
KRUEGER, LITTLE, OPPENHEIMER, PERALTA, RIVERA, SALAND, SEWARD, SQUA-
DRON, STAVISKY, STEWART-COUSINS -- read twice and ordered printed, and
when printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and
Government Operations -- recommitted to the Committee on Investi-
gations and Government Operations in accordance with Senate Rule 6,
sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the legislative law, in relation to clarifying the
appropriation and qualification of member items and authorizes the
legislative ethics commission to review violations of the qualifica-
tion of member items; and to amend the state finance law, in relation
to requiring that all member items be fully itemized
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The legislative law is amended by adding a new section 54-c
2 to read as follows:
3 § 54-c. Member items. 1. As used in this section, the term "member
4 item" shall mean a budgetary allocation as funded by the legislative
5 community projects fund as defined in section ninety-nine-u of the state
6 finance law, and the executive community projects fund as defined in
7 section ninety-nine-v of the state finance law at the discretion and
8 request of the governor or a member of the legislature for a certified
9 tax-exempt non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Inter-
10 nal Revenue Code in New York state, a state agency, a municipality or
11 their affiliated department, university, college, or school district.
12 2. Member items shall not be appropriated when a conflict of interest
13 exists between the legislator or governor designating the member item
14 and the potential recipient. A member item cannot fund organizations
15 that employ or otherwise compensate the legislator or governor, a member
16 of the legislator's or governor's family, any person sharing the home of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00290-02-2
S. 1681--A 2
1 the legislator or governor or a member of the legislator's or governor's
2 staff for services or labor rendered. Furthermore, legislators and the
3 governor shall not designate member items if the legislator or governor,
4 a member of the legislator's or governor's family, any person sharing
5 the home of the legislator or governor or a member of the legislator's
6 or governor's staff is involved with the operations of the organization
7 in a decision-making capacity including but not limited to working on an
8 unpaid, volunteer basis or a member of the directing board of an organ-
9 ization.
10 3. Prior to the appropriation of member items, the legislature shall:
11 (a) provide that each member of the senate and each member of the
12 assembly receive an equal share of the dollar amount of member items
13 allocated to the respective legislative body;
14 (b) require the legislator or governor requesting such member item to
15 submit a signed conflict of interest form along with the member item
16 request form to ensure that no conflict of interest exists. The legisla-
17 tor or governor shall disclose on the conflict of interest form all
18 political donations he or she is receiving or has received in the past
19 from the intended recipient of the member item funding. Such a conflict
20 of interest form shall be signed by the legislator or governor under
21 penalty of perjury, stating that the member item is not being directed
22 in a manner described in subdivision two of this section;
23 (c) provide that any state agency that provides funding for member
24 items evaluate the spending of such member item funds by the local
25 project, organization or other entity receiving such funds. The state
26 agency shall track the funds to ensure that they are being spent in a
27 manner consistent with the member item application;
28 (d) ensure that the following criteria are satisfied:
29 (1) grants are to be designated for public purposes. The program
30 funded must be open and available to all individuals on a nonsectarian
31 basis;
32 (2) grants are provided in support of services and activities that
33 have statewide benefit or benefit local communities;
34 (3) grants are only designated for not-for-profit organizations, muni-
35 cipalities or their affiliated departments/agencies, universities,
36 colleges, or school districts;
37 (4) grants are available solely for activities and programs conducted
38 within the state of New York;
39 (5) grants are not to be redistributed unless the grant recipient is
40 identified and the grant to the end recipient complies with the crite-
41 ria;
42 (6) grants are to be used only for the purpose stated in the funding
43 request;
44 (7) grants are not to be used to fund loan programs;
45 (8) grants are not to be used for the following purposes: (A) to fund
46 an entity in bankruptcy, receivership, or foreclosure or to fund legal
47 or administrative expenses related to bankruptcy, receivership or fore-
48 closure proceedings; (B) to pay for any arrears in workers' compen-
49 sation, unemployment insurance or other employee benefits; or (C) to pay
50 for any arrears or current obligations for federal, state, or municipal
51 taxes; for lobbying activities as defined under section one-c of this
52 chapter and comparable sections of federal or municipal law;
53 (9) grants are not to be the only significant source of funding for
54 the organization;
55 (10) grant applications shall include a brief description of the
56 project to be funded; and
S. 1681--A 3
1 (11) grants shall not be used by recipients to pay wages or other
2 employee benefits.
3 (e) At least twenty-four hours prior to approval by the legislature of
4 the state budget, the legislature must make public with respect to each
5 member item, the member of the senate, the member of the assembly or the
6 governor sponsoring the member item, the dollar amount of the member
7 item to be appropriated, and the name of the local project, organization
8 or other entity receiving such member item. Such publication shall, at a
9 minimum, be made on the website of each house of the legislature in a
10 manner that is easily accessible.
11 4. All member item allocation recipients shall provide certification
12 of proper use of funds received. For allocations totaling less than
13 fifty thousand dollars, a duly authorized representative of the member
14 item recipient organization shall attest under penalty of perjury that
15 the recipient organization actually spent the member item grant money in
16 the manner and for the purposes designated in its application for a
17 member item allocation. For allocations totaling more than fifty thou-
18 sand dollars, a duly authorized representative of the member item recip-
19 ient organization shall attest under penalty of perjury that the recipi-
20 ent organization actually spent the member item grant money in the
21 manner and for the purposes designated in its application for a member
22 item allocation and shall file a final report, under penalty of perjury,
23 detailing the expenditures. Such report shall be submitted by May thir-
24 ty-first of the calendar year following the calendar year in which the
25 member item was allocated and shall follow the requirements established
26 by the attorney general. No future member item grants shall be approved
27 for an organization which has previously received a member item allo-
28 cation until such documents have been signed and received by the office
29 of the New York state attorney general.
30 5. Prior to submitting an application for a member item allocation,
31 each organization seeking a member item allocation must meet pre-certi-
32 fication standards as established by the office of the New York state
33 attorney general. At a minimum, those standards shall require that the
34 organization seeking pre-certification is a certified tax-exempt non-
35 profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
36 in New York state, a state agency, a municipality or their affiliated
37 department, university, college, or school district capable of accepting
38 potential funding and that such entity is not in bankruptcy or arrears
39 on any obligations. If an organization has received member item funding
40 in the past, the organization shall also comply with the requirements of
41 subdivision four of this section. No application from any organization
42 shall be considered by a legislator until the office of the New York
43 state attorney general has certified such organization based upon the
44 criteria set forth in this subdivision and upon any additional regulato-
45 ry standards established by the attorney general.
46 6. Any state agency that provides funding for member items shall
47 review member item spending on an annual basis and periodically review
48 grant recipients' use of grant money.
49 7. Any member item appropriated by the legislature shall be set forth
50 separately and apart from every other member item in the state budget in
51 order to clearly identify each legislator's or governor's request.
52 8. Any violation of the provisions of this section shall be referred
53 to the legislative ethics commission or its successor entity.
54 Complaints regarding the failure of an allocation or use of a member
55 item to comply with the provisions of this chapter shall be submitted to
56 (a) the legislative ethics commission with regard to a member item allo-
S. 1681--A 4
1 cation made at the discretion of a legislator, or (b) the commission on
2 public integrity with regard to a member item allocation made at the
3 discretion of the governor. Each complaint shall be investigated in
4 accordance with the rules and procedures of the commission receiving the
5 complaint.
6 § 2. Subdivisions 4 and 5 of section 24 of the state finance law, as
7 added by chapter 1 of the laws of 2007, are amended to read as follows:
8 4. Any appropriation added to such budget bills, pursuant to section
9 four of article seven of the constitution, shall only contain itemized
10 appropriations which shall not be in the form of lump sum appropri-
11 ations[,] and shall designate for each appropriation a grantee of such
12 appropriation, and [provided further that] for all non-federal state
13 operations appropriations, such bill or bills shall only contain item-
14 ized appropriations and shall be made, where practicable, by agency, and
15 within each agency by program and within each program at the following
16 level of detail and in the following order:
17 (a) by fund type, which at a minimum shall include general fund,
18 special revenue-other funds, capital projects funds and debt service
19 funds;
20 (b) for personal service appropriations, separate appropriations shall
21 be made for regular personal service, temporary personal service, and
22 holiday and overtime pay;
23 (c) for nonpersonal service appropriations, separate appropriations
24 shall be made for supplies and materials, travel, contractual services,
25 equipment and fringe benefits, as appropriate.
26 5. [Any appropriation added pursuant to section four of article seven
27 of the constitution without designating a grantee shall be allocated
28 only pursuant to a plan setting forth an itemized list of grantees with
29 the amount to be received by each, or the methodology for allocating
30 such appropriation. Such plan shall be subject to the approval of the
31 chair of the senate finance committee, the chair of the assembly ways
32 and means committee, and the director of the budget, and thereafter
33 shall be included in a concurrent resolution calling for the expenditure
34 of such monies, which resolution must be approved by a majority vote of
35 all members elected to each house upon a roll call vote.] The provisions
36 of this section shall not preclude members of the legislature from
37 collaborating with each other in the selection of member items and pack-
38 aging their individual member item allocations together with other
39 member's allocations for specified regional or joint projects.
40 § 3. Section 99-d of the state finance law, as added by chapter 474 of
41 the laws of 1996, is renumbered section 99-u and the section heading and
42 subdivision 1, subdivision 1 as amended by section 2 of part BB of chap-
43 ter 686 of the laws of 2003, are amended to read as follows:
44 [Community] Legislative community projects fund. 1. There is hereby
45 established in the joint custody of the comptroller and the commissioner
46 of taxation and finance a special fund to be known as the legislative
47 community projects fund. This fund may have separate accounts designated
48 pursuant to a specific appropriation to such account or pursuant to a
49 written suballocation plan approved in a memorandum of understanding
50 executed by the director of the budget, the secretary of the senate
51 finance committee and the secretary of the assembly ways and means
52 committee. Such suballocation shall be submitted to the comptroller.
53 § 4. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 99-v to
54 read as follows:
55 § 99-v. Executive community projects fund. 1. There is hereby estab-
56 lished in the joint custody of the comptroller and the commissioner of
S. 1681--A 5
1 taxation and finance a special fund to be known as the executive commu-
2 nity projects fund. This fund may have separate accounts designated
3 pursuant to a specific appropriation to such account or pursuant to a
4 written suballocation plan approved in a memorandum of understanding
5 executed by the director of the budget, the secretary of the senate
6 finance committee and the secretary of the assembly ways and means
7 committee. Such suballocation shall be submitted to the comptroller.
8 2. Such fund shall consist of monies transferred to such fund from the
9 general fund/state purposes account, or any other monies required to be
10 transferred or deposited. Monies may not be transferred or loaned
11 between the accounts of this fund, unless specifically otherwise
12 provided by letter signed by the director of the budget, but only upon
13 the joint request of the secretary of the senate finance committee and
14 the secretary of the assembly ways and means committee.
15 3. (a) As required to make timely payments from such accounts upon
16 presentment of proper vouchers therefor, the state comptroller shall
17 make transfers to any account in this fund up to the amounts annually
18 specified for transfer to such account and in compliance with subdivi-
19 sion two of this section, but only from such fund or funds authorized to
20 provide such transfers.
21 (b) By the close of each fiscal year, all remaining amounts not yet
22 transferred shall be transferred to the designated accounts for which
23 such transfers were authorized, up to the total amounts specified for
24 transfer to each account in each fiscal year and in compliance with
25 subdivision two of this section.
26 4. Notwithstanding section forty of this chapter or any other
27 provision of law, appropriations of this fund shall be available for
28 liabilities incurred during and after the close of the fiscal year for
29 which such appropriations are enacted, provided however that such appro-
30 priations shall lapse on the fifteenth day of September following the
31 close of the fiscal year, and no monies shall thereafter be paid out of
32 the state treasury or any of its funds or the funds under its management
33 pursuant to such appropriations.
34 5. The director of the budget shall issue a certificate of approval
35 for any appropriation in any account of this fund no later than the
36 later of sixty days after the enactment of such appropriation or five
37 days after the execution of a written suballocation plan pursuant to the
38 provisions of subdivision one of this section. Such approval shall
39 satisfy any other requirement for a certificate of approval.
40 6. (a) The state shall not be liable for payments pursuant to any
41 contract, grant or agreement made pursuant to an appropriation in any
42 account of this fund if insufficient monies are available for transfer
43 to such account of this fund, after required transfers pursuant to
44 subdivision three of this section. Except with respect to, grants, or
45 agreements executed by any state officer, employee, department, institu-
46 tion, commission, board, or other agency of the state prior to the
47 effective date of this section, any contract, grant or agreement made
48 pursuant to an appropriation in this fund shall incorporate this
49 provision as a term of such contract, grant or agreement.
50 (b) The exhaustion of funds available for such transfers shall not
51 preclude the approval of contracts hereunder pursuant to section one
52 hundred twelve of this chapter. Notwithstanding any other provision of
53 law, interest shall not be due to any recipient for any late payments
54 made from this fund which result from insufficient monies being avail-
55 able in an account of this fund.
S. 1681--A 6
1 7. Monies shall be paid out of such accounts on the audit and warrant
2 of the state comptroller on vouchers certified or approved by the head
3 of the appropriate agency.
4 § 5. This act does not preclude either house of the legislature or the
5 governor from adopting more stringent standards through its own guide-
6 lines or through the application process.
7 § 6. Member item grants shall continue to be subject to review by the
8 respective assembly and senate fiscal and counsel staffs, division of
9 the budget, the administering state agency, the office of the state
10 comptroller, and the office of the attorney general. Nothing in this act
11 shall limit the authority of the state comptroller and the attorney
12 general to review member item grant recipients or member item grants.
13 § 7. This act shall take effect immediately.
