Requires the metropolitan transportation authority to publish certain financial reports, including reports relating to revenue and expenditures of funds on the authority's website.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A791 Revised 2/11/2021
SPONSOR: Carroll TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public authorities law, in relation to requiring the
metropolitan transportation authority to publish certain financial
reports on the authority's website
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Requires the metropolitan transit authority to publish certain financial
reports, including reports relating to revenue and expenditures of funds
on the authority's website
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority shall publish data on the
authority's website pertaining to the finances of the authority.
Section 1. Amends subdivision 2-a of section 1269-b of the public
Authorities law to mandate all data pertaining to the MTA's capital
Programs be published on the authority's website, including but not
Limited to: a) capital project trackers; b) revenues; and c) expendi-
tures
Section 2. Amends section 1276-b of the public authorities law to
Mandate all data pertaining to 'the MTA's Financial plan and operating
Budget will be published on the authority's website, including but not
Limited to: a) revenues; b) expenses; c) staffing.
Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
JUSTIFICATION:
The MTA lacks transparency with how they are allocating funds in their
Operating and capital budgets. Without a public understanding of how the
MTA is using tax dollars, holding the authority responsible and reform-
ing poor practices is near impossible. Currently, data is inaccessible
For State residents.
Our legislation mandates that the MTA post relevant data regarding their
financial plan, operating budget, capital budget and plan in a timely
fashion. This includes, but is not limited to creating a capital project
tracker page on their website for different ongoing projects. It also
mandates that revenue and expense estimates are posted and thereafter,
actual funds and costs are available on the MTAs website.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.10089/S.6669 of 2019-20
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
791
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 6, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. CARROLL -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions
AN ACT to amend the public authorities law, in relation to requiring the
metropolitan transportation authority to publish certain financial
reports on the authority's website
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 2-a of section 1269-b of the public authorities
2 law is amended by adding three new paragraphs (c), (d) and (e) to read
3 as follows:
4 (c) The authority shall publish all data pertaining to capital
5 programs of the authority and any amendments to such programs as
6 required by this section on the authority's website in a common, machine
7 readable format, as defined by executive order number ninety-five of two
8 thousand thirteen, "Using Technology to Promote Transparency, Improve
9 Government Performance and Enhance Citizen Engagement" or any successor
10 order. Such data shall include, but not be limited to:
11 (i) all data required by paragraph (c) of subdivision one of this
12 section, including estimates of capital funding required each year and
13 expected sources of such funding;
14 (ii) all data required by subdivision two of this section, including
15 proposed expenditures or commitments of funding for individual capital
16 elements required; and
17 (iii) all data regarding proposed expenditures or commitments of indi-
18 vidual projects in each capital element.
19 (d) Individual capital project data shall be included in a capital
20 program dashboard maintained by the authority on its website. Any summa-
21 ry views provided on the website shall include the original budgets and
22 schedules, in addition to current or amended budgets and schedules.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05459-01-1
A. 791 2
1 Data pertaining to individual projects shall include, but not be limited
2 to:
3 (i) the capital project identification number;
4 (ii) the capital plan years;
5 (iii) the agency or authority undertaking the project;
6 (iv) a project description;
7 (v) the project location;
8 (vi) the capital need met by the project, such as state of good
9 repair, normal replacement, system improvement, system expansion or
10 other category;
11 (vii) budget information including the original budget, all amend-
12 ments, the current budget and planned annual allocations; and
13 (viii) a schedule for project delivery including original, amended and
14 current start and completion dates.
15 The status of projects shall be provided and state the current phase
16 of the project, such as planning, design, construction or completion,
17 and shall state how close such project is to completion as measured in
18 percentage. The dashboard shall measure progress based on original budg-
19 ets and schedules rather than amended budgets and schedules. All changes
20 to planned budgets or schedules shall be provided in narrative form and
21 describe the reason for each change or amendment. The dashboard shall
22 include a glossary or data dictionary which contains plain language
23 descriptions of the data and information provided on the dashboard. The
24 dashboard shall be updated, at a minimum, on a quarterly basis, and all
25 data fields available on the dashboard shall be made available for down-
26 load on the authority's website in a single tabular data file in a
27 common, machine readable format. Capital dashboard data shall also be
28 made available on the data.ny.gov website or such other successor
29 website maintained by, or on behalf of, the state, as deemed appropriate
30 by the New York state office of information technology services under
31 executive order number ninety-five of two thousand thirteen, or any
32 successor agency or order.
33 (e) The data required to be published pursuant to this subdivision
34 shall be made in a single tabular data file in a common, machine read-
35 able format and shall be accessible on the authority's website and the
36 website data.ny.gov or such other successor website maintained by, or on
37 behalf of, the state, as deemed appropriate by the New York state office
38 of information technology services under executive order number ninety-
39 five of two thousand thirteen, or any successor agency or order.
40 § 2. Section 1276-b of the public authorities law is amended by adding
41 two new subdivisions 6 and 7 to read as follows:
42 6. The authority shall publish all data pertaining to each authority's
43 budget and financial plans as required by this section in a common,
44 machine readable format on the authority's website as defined by execu-
45 tive order number ninety-five of two thousand thirteen, "Using Technolo-
46 gy to Promote Transparency, Improve Government Performance and Enhance
47 Citizen Engagement" or any successor order. Such data shall include, but
48 not be limited to:
49 (a) estimates of projected operating revenues and expenses, including
50 monthly projections for the current fiscal year of all revenues and
51 expenses;
52 (b) any planned transaction that would shift resources, from any
53 source, from one fiscal year to another, and the amount of any reserves;
54 (c) quarterly revenue and expense targets;
55 (d) staffing for the authority and each of its agencies;
A. 791 3
1 (e) a comparison of actual revenues and expenses, actual staffing and
2 actual utilization to planned or projected levels for each of the
3 authority's agencies that operate transportation systems;
4 (f) the status of each gap-closing initiative with a projected value
5 greater than one million dollars in any given fiscal year; and
6 (g) the status of capital projects by capital element, including but
7 not limited to commitments, expenditures and completions; and an expla-
8 nation of material variances from the plan, cost overruns and delays.
9 7. The data required to be published pursuant to this section shall be
10 made in a single tabular data file in a common, machine readable format
11 and shall be accessible on the authority's website and the website
12 data.ny.gov or such other successor website maintained by, or on behalf
13 of, the state, as deemed appropriate by the New York state office of
14 information technology services under executive order number ninety-five
15 of two thousand thirteen, or any successor agency or order.
16 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
