STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7137--A
IN SENATE
January 8, 2020
___________
Introduced by Sen. HOYLMAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation -- commit-
tee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recom-
mitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to authorizing
the creation of a "New York public television and radio" license
plate; and to amend the state finance law, in relation to providing
for deposits of certain moneys into the cultural education account
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new
2 section 404-qq to read as follows:
3 § 404-qq. Distinctive "New York public television and radio" license
4 plates. 1. Any person shall upon request be issued a distinctive "New
5 York public television and radio" license plate of a design or designs
6 to be approved by the commissioner. The department is authorized to
7 create distinctive designs of such plate for each individual public
8 television corporation, public radio corporation, or public radio
9 station that fulfills all applicable requirements related to the design,
10 production, and issuance of such plate. Application for said license
11 plate shall be filed with the commissioner in such form and detail as
12 the commissioner shall prescribe.
13 2. A distinctive "New York public television and radio" license plate
14 issued pursuant to this section shall be issued in the same manner as
15 other number plates upon the payment of the regular registration fees
16 prescribed by section four hundred one of this article; provided, howev-
17 er, that an additional annual service charge of twenty-five dollars
18 shall be charged for such plate.
19 3. Each twenty-five dollars received as the annual service charge
20 under this section shall be deposited to the credit of the "cultural
21 education account" established pursuant to section ninety-seven-zzz of
22 the state finance law and shall be used for grants to public television
23 and radio corporations and public radio stations as specified in section
24 ninety-seven-zzz of the state finance law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14632-06-0
S. 7137--A 2
1 § 2. Section 97-zzz of the state finance law, as added by section 3-a
2 of part B of chapter 83 of the laws of 2002, subdivision 3 as amended by
3 section 3 of part C of chapter 58 of the laws of 2011, is amended to
4 read as follows:
5 § 97-zzz. Cultural education account. 1. There is hereby established
6 in the joint custody of the state comptroller and the commissioner of
7 taxation and finance an account of the miscellaneous special fund to be
8 known as the cultural education account.
9 2. The comptroller is authorized and directed to receive for deposit
10 to the credit of the cultural education account revenues designated for
11 such deposit by law including those derived from the surcharge author-
12 ized by [the third undesignated] paragraph three of subdivision (a) of
13 section eight thousand eighteen of the civil practice and law and rules,
14 subparagraph b of paragraph four of subdivision (a) of section eight
15 thousand twenty-one of such law, subparagraph b of paragraph eleven of
16 subdivision (b) of section eight thousand twenty-one of such law,
17 section four hundred four-qq of the vehicle and traffic law, and subdi-
18 vision a of section 7-604, subdivision 1 of section 7-614 of the admin-
19 istrative code of the city of New York.
20 3. Moneys of this account, following appropriation by the legislature,
21 shall be available to support the following agencies and programs: (a)
22 the state education department for services and expenses of the cultural
23 education program including operating expenses and capital projects and
24 the New York state summer school of the arts subject to a plan approved
25 by the commissioner of education and the director of the budget; [and]
26 (b) the Nelson A. Rockefeller performing arts center corporation subject
27 to a plan approved by the director of the budget; and (c) grants pursu-
28 ant to subdivision four of this section to public television corpo-
29 rations, public radio stations and/or public radio corporations, as
30 defined in section two hundred thirty-six of the education law, for the
31 purposes of public service programming subject to a plan approved by the
32 commissioner of education.
33 4. (a) Moneys deposited to the credit of this account for the purposes
34 of grants to public television corporations, public radio stations
35 and/or public radio corporations, as defined in section two hundred
36 thirty-six of the education law, for the purposes of public service
37 programming:
38 (i) shall consist of all revenues received pursuant to section four
39 hundred four-qq of the vehicle and traffic law, and all other moneys
40 appropriated, credited, or transferred to this account for such purposes
41 from any other fund or source pursuant to law, provided that nothing
42 contained in this section shall prevent the state from receiving grants,
43 gifts, for such purposes and depositing them into this account according
44 to law;
45 (ii) shall be kept separate from and not commingled with other moneys
46 authorized for deposit to the credit of this account or any other funds
47 held in the custody of the state comptroller or the commissioner of
48 taxation and finance, either jointly or separately; and
49 (iii) shall be made payable from this account by the state comptroller
50 and the commissioner of taxation and finance on vouchers approved by the
51 commissioner of education, to be administered through the office of
52 educational television and public broadcasting within the department of
53 education. In developing a plan for distributing such grants, the
54 commissioner of education may consider developing rules to allow the
55 distribution of such grants to each individual recipient in an amount
S. 7137--A 3
1 proportional to the number of orders for plates designed, produced, and
2 issued for such recipient.
3 (b) To the extent practicable, the commissioner of education shall
4 ensure that all moneys received from this account during a fiscal year
5 are expended prior to the end of that fiscal year.
6 (c) On or before the first day of February each year, the state comp-
7 troller and commissioner of taxation and finance shall certify to the
8 governor, temporary president of the senate, speaker of the assembly,
9 chair of the senate finance committee and chair of the assembly ways and
10 means committee the amount of money deposited in this account for the
11 purposes of this subdivision during the preceding calendar year as the
12 result of revenue derived pursuant to section four hundred-qq of the
13 vehicle and traffic law or any other fund or source pursuant to law or
14 from grants, gifts and bequests.
15 (d) On or before the first day of February each year, the commissioner
16 of education shall provide a written report to the governor, temporary
17 president of the senate, speaker of the assembly, chair of the senate
18 finance committee, chair of the assembly ways and means committee, and
19 the public. Such report shall include how moneys deposited in this
20 account for the purposes of this subdivision were utilized during the
21 preceding calendar year and shall include:
22 (i) the amount of money disbursed from this account for the purposes
23 of this subdivision;
24 (ii) the recipients of awards from this account for the purposes of
25 this subdivision;
26 (iii) the purposes for which such awards were granted; and
27 (iv) a summary financial plan for such moneys which shall include
28 estimates of all receipts and all disbursements for the current and
29 succeeding fiscal years, along with the actual results from the prior
30 fiscal year.
31 § 3. 1. A distinctive plate established pursuant to section 404-qq of
32 the vehicle and traffic law shall only be designed, produced and issued
33 upon the delivery to the department of motor vehicles of a surety bond
34 in the amount of six thousand dollars, which shall be executed by a
35 surety company authorized by the department of financial services to
36 transact business in this state. Provided, however, that if the commis-
37 sioner of motor vehicles shall have received prior to plate design,
38 production and issuance at least two hundred orders for such distinctive
39 plate together with the additional annual service charge applicable to
40 each such order, which shall be non-refundable, no such surety bond
41 shall be required. All service charges collected pursuant to this
42 section shall be deposited pursuant to the provisions of section 404-oo
43 of the vehicle and traffic law to the credit of the department of motor
44 vehicles distinctive plate development fund established by section 95-g
45 of the state finance law and shall be used for the design, production,
46 advertising and distribution of distinctive license plates in accordance
47 with such section 95-g.
48 2. If, upon the expiration of two years following the date upon which
49 distinctive plates in the series are first available for sale two
50 hundred or more sets of such plates are sold, a bond delivered pursuant
51 to this section shall be discontinued. If fewer than two hundred sets of
52 such plates are sold by such time, the department of motor vehicles
53 shall be entitled to recover against the bond in an amount proportionate
54 to such shortfall.
55 § 4. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
56 have become a law; provided, however, that effective immediately, the
S. 7137--A 4
1 addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary
2 for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized
3 and directed to be made and completed on or before such effective date.