Blankenbush, Giglio JM, Goodell, Hawley, McDonough, Montesano, Ra, Friend, Miller B, Walsh,
Brabenec, Ashby, Smith, Mikulin, Norris, Tague, Morinello, Manktelow, Salka, Byrnes, Walczyk,
Simpson, Lawler, Lemondes, DeStefano, Miller M
 
MLTSPNSR
Brown K, Fitzpatrick
 
Add §49-a, amd §24, St Fin L; add §33, Exec L; add §171-q, Tax L; add §107, Ec Dev L; amd §73, Pub Off L; add
§14-133, El L; add §2882, Pub Auth L
 
Relates to establishing the lump sum allocation advisory committee (Part A); relates to requiring transparency, identification and disclosure of certain appropriations (Part B); relates to withholding the salaries of the governor, agency commissioners and deputy commissioners for failing to meet certain reporting deadlines (Part C); relates to creating a tax rate reduction board to look at personal income tax and corporate franchise tax rates (Part D); relates to conducting an audit of all state economic development programs (Part E); relates to prohibiting certain political contributions by individuals appointed to entities that oversee lump sum appropriations (Part F); relates to prohibiting certain third party contracts (Part G).
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A6780
SPONSOR: Barclay
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the state finance law, in relation to establishing the
lump sum allocation advisory committee (Part A); to amend the state
finance law, in relation to requiring transparency, identification and
disclosure of certain appropriations (Part B); to amend the executive
law, in relation to withholding the salaries of the governor, agency
commissioners and deputy commissioners for failing to meet certain
reporting deadlines (Part C); to amend the tax law, in relation to
creating a tax rate reduction board to look at personal income tax and
corporate franchise tax rates (Part D); to amend the economic develop-
ment law, in relation to conducting an audit of all state economic
development programs (Part E); to amend the public officers law and the
election law, in relation to prohibiting certain political contributions
by individuals appointed to entities that oversee lump sum appropri-
ations (Part F); and to amend the public authorities law, in relation to
prohibiting certain third party contracts (Part G)
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To create greater oversight, transparency and accountability related to
economic development programs and lump sum appropriations, and to study
the impact of streamlining the tax system and economic development
programs of the state by: creating a lump sum allocation advisory
committee, requiring more detailed information related to lump sum
appropriations, instituting penalties related to late economic develop-
ment- or lump sum appropriation-related reports by state agencies,
conducting studies to reduce tax rates and simplify the economic devel-
opment assistance programs of the state, prohibiting certain political
contributions by individuals appointed to entities charged with distrib-
ution of discretionary state funds, and prohibiting public authorities
from using third-party entities (not-for-profits) as an intermediary for
state procurement initiatives, including economic development.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Sections 1 and 2. Contain the Legislative Findings and Intent and sets
forth the provisions of the bill. Contains the following provisions
divided into Parts A - F outlined as Follows: I. Part A: Lump Sum Allo-
cation Advisory Committee A. Creates the Lump Sum Allocation Advisory
Committee made up of the Comptroller, the Attorney General and the
Director of the Division of the Budget that would be responsible for
reviewing all requests for allocations originating from a lump sum
appropriation where a grantee is not identified to see if a conflict of
interest exists. If a conflict of interest exists, the committee shall
deny the allocation, and all allocations valued at over one million
dollars or more can only be released with the unanimous approval of the
committee.
II. Part B: Requiring more detailed Information related to lump sum
appropriations
A. Requires any lump sum appropriation to identify which entity
requested the appropriation.
B. Requires funds from any lump sum appropriation that fails to desig-
nate a grantee shall only be allocated pursuant to a plan that includes
an itemized list of grantees with the amount they will receive, or the
method for allocating the funding. This plan must be included in a
concurrent resolution that must be approved by a majority vote of all
members elected to each house.
C. Requires the Governor or the member of the Legislature requesting an
allocation from a lump sum appropriation to submit a conflict of inter-
est form to the Lump Sum Allocation Advisory Committee, and prohibits
any allocation from a lump sum appropriation if the Lump Sum Allocation
Advisory Committee determines a conflict of interest exists.
D. Prohibits an allocation from a lump sum appropriation to any individ-
ual or entity that made a political donation within the past year to the
governor or member of the legislature requesting the allocation.
E. Prohibits an allocation from a lump sum appropriation to any individ-
ual or entity that employs or compensates the governor or member of the
legislature requesting the allocation, a family member of the governor
or member of the legislature requesting the allocation, or anyone who
resides in the home of the governor or member requesting the allocation.
III. Part C: Penalties for Certain State Agencies Failing to Meet
reporting deadlines
A. Directs the Comptroller to withhold the salaries of the Governor,
Agency Commissioners and Agency Deputy Commissioners of state economic
development agencies (Department of Economic Development, Empire State
Development Corporation and all of its subsidiaries, Taxation and
Finance, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York and its
subsidiaries) and any agency required to issue a report related to a
lump sum appropriation if they fail to meet statutorily required report-
ing deadlines.
B. These agencies may receive an extension to submit a required report
if requested and approved by all legislative conference leaders.
IV. Part D: Tax Simplification Study
A. Directs Taxation and Finance to contract with a nationally recognized
entity (with preference going to an entity that is not currently a
vendor doing business with the State) to conduct a study to examine how
Personal Income Tax (PIT) and Corporate Franchise Tax (CFT) rates could
be proportionately reduced if all tax credits were eliminated and all
PIT and CFT receipts were forecasted to be revenue neutral.
B. Creates the Tax Rate Reduction Board, with members appointed by the
Speaker of the Assembly, the Minority Leader of the Assembly, the Tempo-
rary President of the Senate and the Minority Leader of the Senate that
will approve the selection of the nationally recognized entity, oversee
the analysis of the contracting entity, and issue a report to the gover-
nor and the legislature within one year detailing the results of the
study.
V. Part E: Economic Development Program Study
A. Directs the Comptroller, in coordination with the commissioners of
the departments of economic development and taxation and finance, to
contract with a nationally recognized entity (with preference going to
an entity that is not currently a vendor doing business with the State)
to conduct an audit on all state economic development programs. B.
Creates the Economic Development Audit Board with members appointed by
the Speaker of the Assembly, the Minority Leader of the Assembly, the
Temporary President of the Senate and the Minority Leader of the Senate
that will approve the selection of the nationally recognized entity, and
use the results of the audit to conduct a study and issue a report to
the Governor and the legislature on the feasibility of reducing the
number of economic program currently offered by the state and replacing
them with one centralized competitive program within one year.
VI. Part F: Prohibit Certain Political Contributions by Individuals
Appointed to Entities that Oversee Lump Sum Appropriations
A. Prohibit individuals appointed to entities charged with the distrib-
ution of state lump sum appropriations, and anyone residing in the
appointed individual's home, from making political donations to the
appointing authority for one year prior to, one year following, and
during the term of his or her appointment.
B. The appointee must identify any contributions made to the appointing
authority within the preceding twelve months, and the appointing author-
ity must refund these contributions.
VII. Part G: Prohibit the use of Not-for-Profits for State Procurement
Purposes
A. Prohibit the use of third party contracts where the main role of such
entity is to procure goods or services unless expressly authorized by an
act of the legislature.
Section 3. Contains the severability clause. Section 4. Contains the
effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
It is the duty of the state government to be responsible, open and tran-
sparent about how it spends the taxpayer's hard earned money. With
billions of dollars of lump sum appropriations included in the state
budget that provide no details on who receives the money, or even which
elected official has control over the appropriation, and with continued
delays in releasing reports by state agencies on the effectiveness of
related programs, the government has failed to live up to its responsi-
bility.
Often times, this failure goes even deeper, as individuals and entities
have personally benefited from the lack of accountability and transpar-
ency. This legislation would begin to address this issue by creating a
lump sum allocation advisory committee, requiring greater transparency
related to lump sum appropriations, implementing penalties for certain
state agencies and entities that fail to release timely reports, prohib-
iting certain political contributions by appointees, prohibiting third-
party contracts for procurement purposes, and conducting studies on how
to simplify the current tax system and economic development environment
to ensure the current system that creates winners and losers is changed.
By implementing these policies, the state government can begin to repair
the complete breakdown of trust with the taxpayers over how it allocates
their money.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A5851 of 2019-20 Held for consideration in Ways and Means
A5657 of 2017-18 (Oaks) Held for consideration in Ways and Means
A10531 of 2016 Referred to Ways and Means
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately