Bill Text: NY S00106 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Enacts the "truth in spending act"; creates disclosure requirements prior to the allocation of certain funds.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO FINANCE [S00106 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S00106-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 106 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 4, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sen. TEDISCO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in relation to enacting the "truth in spending act" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "truth in 2 spending act". 3 § 2. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 53-e to 4 read as follows: 5 § 53-e. Appropriations; full disclosure. 1. Prior to the disbursement 6 of any budgetary allocation made pursuant to this article, section nine- 7 ty-nine-d of this chapter as added by chapter four hundred seventy-four 8 of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-six, or subdivision five of 9 section twenty-four of this chapter at the request of the governor or 10 member of the legislature, the governor and the legislature shall: 11 (a) ensure that funds shall include a brief description of the project 12 to be funded; 13 (b) require the governor or member of the legislature requesting such 14 appropriation to sign a conflict of interest form, as prescribed by the 15 attorney general, which shall be submitted to the attorney general to 16 ensure that no conflict of interest exists. Such form shall require 17 disclosure of all political donations received within the past five 18 years by such official from the intended recipient of appropriated fund- 19 ing if the cumulative amount of such donations meets or exceeds four 20 thousand dollars and were made within the past five years. Such form 21 shall be signed by the governor or member of the legislature under 22 penalty of perjury and shall be filed, in the case of a member of the 23 assembly, the clerk of the assembly and in the case of a member of the 24 senate, the sergeant at arms of the senate. Such requested appropri- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00281-01-3S. 106 2 1 ation shall not be provided if a conflict of interest exists between the 2 governor or a member of the legislature designating the appropriation 3 and the potential recipient. Such appropriations shall not be provided 4 to organizations that employ or otherwise compensate the governor or 5 member of the legislature, governor's family or legislator's family, any 6 person sharing the primary residence of the governor or member of the 7 legislature or the governor's or a member of the legislature's staff for 8 services or labor rendered. Furthermore such appropriations shall not be 9 designated if the governor or member of the legislature, a member of the 10 governor's or member of the legislator's family, any person sharing the 11 primary residence of the governor or member of the legislature or a 12 member of the governor's or member of the legislature's staff is 13 involved with the operations of the organization which would receive 14 such appropriation in a decision-making capacity including, but not 15 limited to, working on an unpaid, volunteer basis or as a member of the 16 directing board of an organization; and 17 (c) ensure that funds be used for a public purpose. 18 2. At least seventy-two hours prior to approval by the legislature of 19 the state budget, or a legislative bill containing an appropriation as 20 described in subdivision five of section twenty-four of this chapter the 21 legislature must make public with respect to each allocation, the member 22 of the senate, the member of the assembly or the governor sponsoring the 23 allocation, the dollar amount to be appropriated, the senate and assem- 24 bly district in which the entity receiving such funding is principally 25 located, the name of the local project, organization or other entity 26 receiving such allocation and a description of the project to be funded 27 or purpose for making such allocation. Such publication shall, at a 28 minimum, be made on the website of each house of the legislature and 29 shall be accessible via a link on the home page of such website. Such 30 webpage shall be in a machine readable format and shall include all 31 memoranda of understanding, plans, resolutions, contracts, and any other 32 agreements related to the distribution of funds to recipients. Addi- 33 tionally, the comptroller shall establish and maintain such information 34 on a separate website. 35 3. All allocation recipients shall provide certification of proper use 36 of funds received. For allocations totaling less than fifty thousand 37 dollars, a duly authorized representative of the allocation recipient's 38 organization shall attest under penalty of perjury that the recipient 39 organization actually spent such funds in the manner and for the 40 purposes designated in any application for an allocation. For allo- 41 cations totaling more than fifty thousand dollars, a duly authorized 42 representative of the recipient organization shall attest under penalty 43 of perjury that the recipient organization actually spent the money in 44 the manner and for the purposes designated in its application for such 45 allocation and shall file a final report, under penalty of perjury, 46 detailing the expenditures. Such report shall be submitted by May thir- 47 ty-first of the calendar year following the calendar year in which the 48 allocation was made and shall follow the requirements established by the 49 attorney general. No future allocation shall be approved for an organ- 50 ization which has previously received an allocation until such documents 51 have been signed and received by the office of the New York state attor- 52 ney general. 53 4. Prior to submitting an application for an allocation, each organ- 54 ization seeking an allocation shall meet pre-certification standards as 55 established by the office of the New York state attorney general. At a 56 minimum, those standards shall require that the organization seekingS. 106 3 1 pre-certification is a certified tax-exempt non-profit organization 2 under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code in New York state, 3 a state agency, a municipality or their affiliated department, universi- 4 ty, college, or school district capable of accepting potential funding 5 and that such entity is not in bankruptcy or arrears on any state obli- 6 gations. If an organization has received an allocation in the past, the 7 organization shall also comply with the requirements of subdivision 8 three of this section. No application from any organization shall be 9 considered by a legislator until the office of the New York state attor- 10 ney general has certified such organization based upon the criteria set 11 forth in this subdivision and upon any additional regulatory standards 12 established by the attorney general. 13 5. Any allocation by the legislature and the governor shall be set 14 forth separately and apart from every other allocation in the state 15 budget and identify each legislator's or the governor's request. 16 6. Any violation of the provisions of this section shall be referred 17 to the legislative ethics commission or its successor entity. 18 Complaints regarding the failure to use an allocation to comply with the 19 provisions of this chapter shall be submitted to (a) the legislative 20 ethics commission with regard to an allocation made at the discretion of 21 a legislator, or (b) the joint commission on public ethics with regard 22 to an allocation made at the discretion of the governor. Each complaint 23 shall be investigated in accordance with the rules and procedures of the 24 commission receiving the complaint. 25 § 3. Subdivisions 4 and 5 of section 24 of the state finance law, as 26 added by chapter 1 of the laws of 2007, are amended to read as follows: 27 4. Any appropriation added to such budget bills, pursuant to section 28 four of article seven of the constitution, shall only contain itemized 29 appropriations which shall not be in the form of lump sum appropri- 30 ations[,] and shall designate for each appropriation a grantee of such 31 appropriation, and the legislator requesting such appropriation and 32 [provided further that] for all non-federal state operations appropri- 33 ations, such bill or bills shall only contain itemized appropriations 34 and shall be made, where practicable, by agency, and within each agency 35 by program and within each program at the following level of detail and 36 in the following order: 37 (a) by fund type, which at a minimum shall include general fund, 38 special revenue-other funds, capital projects funds and debt service 39 funds; 40 (b) for personal service appropriations, separate appropriations shall 41 be made for regular personal service, temporary personal service, and 42 holiday and overtime pay; 43 (c) for nonpersonal service appropriations, separate appropriations 44 shall be made for supplies and materials, travel, contractual services, 45 equipment and fringe benefits, as appropriate. 46 5. Any appropriation added pursuant to section four of article seven 47 of the constitution without designating a grantee shall be allocated 48 only pursuant to a plan setting forth an itemized list of grantees with 49 the amount to be received by each, or the methodology for allocating 50 such appropriation. Such plan shall be subject to the approval of the 51 chair of the senate finance committee, the chair of the assembly ways 52 and means committee, and the director of the budget, and thereafter 53 shall be included in a [concurrent resolution] legislative bill calling 54 for the expenditure of such monies, which resolution must be approved by 55 a majority vote of all members elected to each house upon a roll call 56 vote. The provisions of this section shall not preclude members of theS. 106 4 1 legislature from collaborating with each other in the selection of allo- 2 cations and packaging their individual allocations together with other 3 members' allocations for specified regional or joint projects. 4 § 4. Section 40 of the state finance law is amended by adding two new 5 subdivisions 5 and 6 to read as follows: 6 5. Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation to the contrary, 7 the provisions of subdivision three of this section shall not be super- 8 seded except upon approval by a two-thirds vote of the senate and assem- 9 bly. 10 6. A resolution providing for the disbursement of funds pursuant to 11 any provision of law shall not be approved less than seventy-two hours 12 subsequent to the introduction of such resolution. 13 § 5. Subdivision 2 of section 24 of the state finance law is amended 14 by adding a new paragraph (c) to read as follows: 15 (c) On or after January first, two thousand twenty-four, any budget 16 bill submitted by the governor shall only contain itemized appropri- 17 ations. 18 § 6. This act does not preclude either house of the legislature or the 19 governor from adopting more stringent standards through its own guide- 20 lines or through the application process. 21 § 7. Allocations made pursuant to article 4 or section 99-d, known as 22 the community projects fund, of the state finance law shall continue to 23 be subject to review by the respective assembly and senate fiscal and 24 counsel staffs, division of the budget, the administering state agency, 25 the office of the state comptroller, and the office of the attorney 26 general. Nothing in this act shall limit the authority of the state 27 comptroller and the attorney general to review allocation recipients or 28 discretionary grants. 29 § 8. This act shall take effect immediately.
