Bill Text: NY A03045 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Establishes the fire station construction grant program and the fire station construction fund; makes an appropriation therefor.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 8-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to governmental operations [A03045 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A03045-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          3045

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 2, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. JENSEN -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Governmental Operations

        AN  ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to establishing the fire
          station construction grant program; to amend the state finance law, in
          relation to establishing  the  fire  station  construction  fund;  and
          making an appropriation therefor

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 719 to
     2  read as follows:
     3    § 719. Fire station construction grant program.  1.  There  is  hereby
     4  established  within  the  division  of  homeland  security and emergency
     5  services a fire station construction grant program to be administered by
     6  the commissioner for the purpose of awarding grants to fire  departments
     7  to  assist in defraying the costs of eligible fire station projects. The
     8  commissioner is authorized, within amounts from any source  appropriated
     9  or otherwise provided for such purpose, to make grants for such purpose.
    10    2.  Project  grants  shall be awarded on a competitive basis through a
    11  request for proposal process which shall set forth the standards for the
    12  selection process, the required project proposal format, costs  eligible
    13  for  funding,  project  implementation  requirements, reporting require-
    14  ments, and such other provisions as the commissioner may deem  necessary
    15  or  beneficial in implementing the program. The governing body of a fire
    16  department seeking to apply for a grant shall submit an  application  on
    17  behalf of the fire department to the commissioner. All such applications
    18  shall  have been reviewed, finalized and approved by the governing board
    19  of the fire department prior to submission  to  the  commissioner.  Each
    20  such application shall:
    21    (a) demonstrate a specific need grant funds;
    22    (b)  demonstrate  that  resources are or shall be available to provide
    23  for maximum utilization of the project if the grant is approved;

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06567-01-3
        A. 3045                             2

     1    (c) contain verification in such form as  may  be  acceptable  to  the
     2  commissioner  that  the  total  cost  of the project, exclusive of grant
     3  funds, has been or will be obtained by the fire department in  a  timely
     4  manner in order to complete the project;
     5    (d)  demonstrate  that  fire  station  operations  would  be made more
     6  economical as a consequence of approval of the grant application;
     7    (e) be limited to one project concerning a fire  department  building,
     8  provided that no building shall be the subject of more than one applica-
     9  tion per year; and
    10    (f)  provide  such other information as may be required by the commis-
    11  sioner.
    12    3.  Subject  to  availability  of  funds  within  the   fire   station
    13  construction  fund  established  by  section ninety-nine-qq of the state
    14  finance law, the commissioner may award grants for  up  to  seventy-five
    15  percent of the total project approved costs of a project.
    16    4.  In  approving any application, the commissioner shall consider the
    17  condition of the existing fire station building that is the  subject  of
    18  the application and, where appropriate, the needs of isolated or econom-
    19  ically disadvantaged communities. No application shall be approved for a
    20  project  that is deemed by the commissioner to have been completed prior
    21  to the date of the application.
    22    5. As used in this section:
    23    (a) "Fire department" means a paid or volunteer fire department,  fire
    24  company  or  fire  district responsible for the operation of one or more
    25  municipal fire stations.
    26    (b) "Eligible fire station project" or "project" means a  project  for
    27  the  acquisition,  construction, renovation or rehabilitation, including
    28  leasehold improvements, of  buildings  owned  and  utilized  by  a  fire
    29  department  in  the provision of services to the community served by the
    30  fire department or an  infrastructure  improvement  to  such  buildings.
    31  Infrastructure  improvements may include upgraded electrical or communi-
    32  cations equipment. "Eligible fire station project" or "project" does not
    33  include feasibility studies,  plans,  investigations  or  other  similar
    34  undertakings.
    35    6. The commissioner shall adopt rules and regulations to carry out the
    36  purposes and provisions of this section.
    37    § 2. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 99-qq to
    38  read as follows:
    39    §  99-qq.  Fire  station  construction fund. 1. There is hereby estab-
    40  lished in the joint custody of the state comptroller and the commission-
    41  er of the division of homeland security and emergency services a special
    42  fund to be known as the "fire station construction fund".
    43    2. Moneys of the fire station construction fund shall be available  to
    44  the  commissioner  of  the  division  of homeland security and emergency
    45  services for  the  administration  and  purposes  of  the  fire  station
    46  construction grant program established by section seven hundred nineteen
    47  of the executive law.
    48    3.  The  fund shall consist of all moneys appropriated for its purpose
    49  and all other moneys credited or transferred thereto from any other fund
    50  or source pursuant to law.
    51    4. Moneys in the fire station construction fund shall  be  kept  sepa-
    52  rately  from  and  shall  not be commingled with any other moneys in the
    53  joint or sole custody of the state comptroller or  the  commissioner  of
    54  the division of homeland security and emergency services.
    55    5.  Moneys in the fire station construction fund shall be payable from
    56  the fund on the audit and warrant of the state comptroller  on  vouchers
        A. 3045                             3

     1  approved  and  certified by the commissioner of the division of homeland
     2  security and emergency service.
     3    §  3. The sum of ten million dollars ($10,000,000), or so much thereof
     4  as may  be  necessary,  is  hereby  appropriated  to  the  fire  station
     5  construction fund out of any moneys in the state treasury in the general
     6  fund  to  the credit of the state purposes account, not otherwise appro-
     7  priated, and made immediately available, for the purpose of carrying out
     8  the provisions of this act.
     9    § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of April next  succeeding
    10  the date on which it shall have become a law.