NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A2353
SPONSOR: Ra
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the state finance law, in relation to the payment of
portions of certain settlement funds to the state's general debt service
fund
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This legislation will accelerate the timeline for payment of the State's
debt by allocating five percent of any future settlements over one
million dollars to the principal.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
A new paragraph is added to Subdivision 4 of Section 72 of the State
Finance Law.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Outstanding State-related debt exceeds $60 billion and is estimated to
grow to over $87 billion in fiscal year 2027. In order to assure a pros-
perous future for our State, this debt must be brought down to a manage-
able level.
Over the last ten years, the State has collected over $13 billion in
settlement money from various lawsuits. Rather than directing all these
one-time funds to additional State spending, it is fiscally responsible
to dedicate a portion of any new settlement money towards the state
debt.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.3270 (2023-2024) - referred to Ways and Means
A.5015 (2021-2022) - held for consideration in Ways and Means
A.5904 (2019-2020) (Barclay) - held for consideration in Ways and Means
A.6030 (2017-18) (Oaks) - held for consideration in Ways and Means
A.10195 (2016) (Oaks) - held for consideration in Ways and Means
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined, potential debt service savings for the State.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2353
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 16, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RA, BARCLAY, TAGUE, MORINELLO, BRABENEC, MANKTE-
LOW, HAWLEY, WALSH, BLUMENCRANZ -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means
AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in relation to the payment of
portions of certain settlement funds to the state's general debt
service fund
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 72 of the state finance law is
2 amended by adding a new paragraph (c) to read as follows:
3 (c) Five percent of any settlement money, totaling one million dollars
4 or more, paid to the state, shall be directly applied to the debt prin-
5 cipal in the state's general debt service fund.
6 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05712-01-5