Bill Text: NY S01679 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended
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 - Dead) 2018-02-01 - PRINT NUMBER 1679A [S01679 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-S01679-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1679--A 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 10, 2017 ___________ Introduced by Sen. TEDISCO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance -- recommitted to the Committee on Finance 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 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, or subdivision five of section twenty-four of 8 this chapter at the request of the governor or member of the legisla- 9 ture, the governor and the legislature shall: 10 (a) ensure that funds shall include a brief description of the project 11 to be funded; 12 (b) require the governor or member of the legislature requesting such 13 appropriation to sign a conflict of interest form, as prescribed by the 14 attorney general, which shall be submitted to the attorney general to 15 ensure that no conflict of interest exists. Such form shall require 16 disclosure of all political donations received within the past five 17 years by such official from the intended recipient of appropriated fund- 18 ing if the cumulative amount of such donations meets or exceeds four 19 thousand dollars and were made within the past five years. Such form 20 shall be signed by the governor or member of the legislature under 21 penalty of perjury and shall be filed, in the case of a member of the 22 assembly, the clerk of the assembly and in the case of a member of the EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD05620-02-8S. 1679--A 2 1 senate, the sergeant at arms of the senate. Such requested appropri- 2 ation shall not be provided if a conflict of interest exists between the 3 governor or a member of the legislature designating the appropriation 4 and the potential recipient. Such appropriations shall not be provided 5 to organizations that employ or otherwise compensate the governor or 6 member of the legislature, governor's family or legislator's family, any 7 person sharing the primary residence of the governor or member of the 8 legislature or the governor's or a member of the legislature's staff for 9 services or labor rendered. Furthermore such appropriations shall not be 10 designated if the governor or member of the legislature, a member of the 11 governor's or member of the legislator's family, any person sharing the 12 primary residence of the governor or member of the legislature or a 13 member of the governor's or member of the legislature's staff is 14 involved with the operations of the organization which would receive 15 such appropriation in a decision-making capacity including, but not 16 limited to, working on an unpaid, volunteer basis or as a member of the 17 directing board of an organization; and 18 (c) ensure that funds be used for a public purpose. 19 2. At least seventy-two hours prior to approval by the legislature of 20 the state budget, or a legislative bill containing an appropriation as 21 described in subdivision five of section twenty-four of this chapter the 22 legislature must make public with respect to each allocation, the member 23 of the senate, the member of the assembly or the governor sponsoring the 24 allocation, the dollar amount to be appropriated, the senate and assem- 25 bly district in which the entity receiving such funding is principally 26 located, the name of the local project, organization or other entity 27 receiving such allocation and a description of the project to be funded 28 or purpose for making such allocation. Such publication shall, at a 29 minimum, be made on the website of each house of the legislature and 30 shall be accessible via a link on the home page of such website. Such 31 webpage shall be in a machine readable format and shall include all 32 memoranda of understanding, plans, resolutions, contracts, and any other 33 agreements related to the distribution of funds to recipients. Addi- 34 tionally, the comptroller shall establish and maintain such information 35 on a separate website. 36 3. All allocation recipients shall provide certification of proper use 37 of funds received. For allocations totaling less than fifty thousand 38 dollars, a duly authorized representative of the allocation recipient's 39 organization shall attest under penalty of perjury that the recipient 40 organization actually spent such funds in the manner and for the 41 purposes designated in any application for an allocation. For allo- 42 cations totaling more than fifty thousand dollars, a duly authorized 43 representative of the recipient organization shall attest under penalty 44 of perjury that the recipient organization actually spent the money in 45 the manner and for the purposes designated in its application for such 46 allocation and shall file a final report, under penalty of perjury, 47 detailing the expenditures. Such report shall be submitted by May thir- 48 ty-first of the calendar year following the calendar year in which the 49 allocation was made and shall follow the requirements established by the 50 attorney general. No future allocation shall be approved for an organ- 51 ization which has previously received an allocation until such documents 52 have been signed and received by the office of the New York state attor- 53 ney general. 54 4. Prior to submitting an application for an allocation, each organ- 55 ization seeking an allocation shall meet pre-certification standards as 56 established by the office of the New York state attorney general. At aS. 1679--A 3 1 minimum, those standards shall require that the organization seeking 2 pre-certification is a certified tax-exempt non-profit organization 3 under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code in New York state, 4 a state agency, a municipality or their affiliated department, universi- 5 ty, college, or school district capable of accepting potential funding 6 and that such entity is not in bankruptcy or arrears on any state obli- 7 gations. If an organization has received an allocation in the past, the 8 organization shall also comply with the requirements of subdivision 9 three of this section. No application from any organization shall be 10 considered by a legislator until the office of the New York state attor- 11 ney general has certified such organization based upon the criteria set 12 forth in this subdivision and upon any additional regulatory standards 13 established by the attorney general. 14 5. Any allocation by the legislature and the governor shall be set 15 forth separately and apart from every other allocation in the state 16 budget and identify each legislator's or the governor's request. 17 6. Any violation of the provisions of this section shall be referred 18 to the legislative ethics commission or its successor entity. 19 Complaints regarding the failure to use an allocation to comply with the 20 provisions of this chapter shall be submitted to (a) the legislative 21 ethics commission with regard to an allocation made at the discretion of 22 a legislator, or (b) the joint commission on public ethics with regard 23 to an allocation made at the discretion of the governor. Each complaint 24 shall be investigated in accordance with the rules and procedures of the 25 commission receiving the complaint. 26 § 3. Subdivisions 4 and 5 of section 24 of the state finance law, as 27 added by chapter 1 of the laws of 2007, are amended to read as follows: 28 4. Any appropriation added to such budget bills, pursuant to section 29 four of article seven of the constitution, shall only contain itemized 30 appropriations which shall not be in the form of lump sum appropri- 31 ations[,] and shall designate for each appropriation a grantee of such 32 appropriation, and the legislator requesting such appropriation and 33 [provided further that] for all non-federal state operations appropri- 34 ations, such bill or bills shall only contain itemized appropriations 35 and shall be made, where practicable, by agency, and within each agency 36 by program and within each program at the following level of detail and 37 in the following order: 38 (a) by fund type, which at a minimum shall include general fund, 39 special revenue-other funds, capital projects funds and debt service 40 funds; 41 (b) for personal service appropriations, separate appropriations shall 42 be made for regular personal service, temporary personal service, and 43 holiday and overtime pay; 44 (c) for nonpersonal service appropriations, separate appropriations 45 shall be made for supplies and materials, travel, contractual services, 46 equipment and fringe benefits, as appropriate. 47 5. Any appropriation added pursuant to section four of article seven 48 of the constitution without designating a grantee shall be allocated 49 only pursuant to a plan setting forth an itemized list of grantees with 50 the amount to be received by each, or the methodology for allocating 51 such appropriation. Such plan shall be subject to the approval of the 52 chair of the senate finance committee, the chair of the assembly ways 53 and means committee, and the director of the budget, and thereafter 54 shall be included in a [concurrent resolution] legislative bill calling 55 for the expenditure of such monies, which resolution must be approved by 56 a majority vote of all members elected to each house upon a roll callS. 1679--A 4 1 vote. The provisions of this section shall not preclude members of the 2 legislature from collaborating with each other in the selection of allo- 3 cations and packaging their individual allocations together with other 4 members' allocations for specified regional or joint projects. 5 § 4. Section 40 of the state finance law is amended by adding two new 6 subdivisions 5 and 6 to read as follows: 7 5. Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation to the contrary, 8 the provisions of subdivision three of this section shall not be super- 9 seded except upon approval by a two-thirds vote of the senate and assem- 10 bly. 11 6. A resolution providing for the disbursement of funds pursuant to 12 any provision of law shall not be approved less than seventy-two hours 13 subsequent to the introduction of such resolution. 14 § 5. Subdivision 2 of section 24 of the state finance law is amended 15 by adding a new paragraph (c) to read as follows: 16 (c) On or after January first, two thousand nineteen, any budget bill 17 submitted by the governor shall only contain itemized appropriations. 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.
