Bill Text: NY A04692 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Enacts the "New York Business Emergency Relief Act of 2021"; requires the governor to direct unallocated settlement funds resolved in the economic uncertainties fund (Part A); relates to enacting the restart New York grant relief program (Part B); authorizes the governor to reallocate certain monies for the restart New York grant relief (Part C).
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 6-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to economic development [A04692 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A04692-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4692 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 4, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. NORRIS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Economic Development AN ACT to enact the "New York Business Emergency Relief Act of 2021"; to direct the governor to unallocated settlement funds resolved in the economic uncertainties fund (Part A); to amend the urban development corporation act, in relation to enacting the restart New York grant relief program (Part B); and to authorize the governor to reallocate certain monies for the restart New York grant relief (Part C) The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "New York Business Emergency Relief Act of 2021". 3 § 2. Legislative intent. The legislature seeks to provide immediate 4 assistance to businesses that have been deemed non-essential or have 5 faced restrictions or closures as a result of the Governor's Executive 6 Orders and have lost income as a result. 7 The legislature recognizes that New York's private businesses are the 8 backbone of our state economy and the state must act boldly to address 9 the negative impacts resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak and the asso- 10 ciated statewide business sector shutdown. According to a recent poll by 11 the National Federation of Independent Businesses, 76% of its members 12 have been negatively impacted by COVID-19. Through Executive Orders, 13 businesses that were deemed non-essential were forced to keep their 14 doors closed with no indication of when they will be able to reopen and 15 face significant revenue. It is imperative that the legislature provides 16 immediate assistance to these businesses as they try to manage the 17 devastating impact of the COVID-19 virus and the interruption of their 18 business operations. The New York Business Emergency Relief Act of 2021 19 will offer direct fiscal relief and protections for businesses while 20 mitigating the risk of businesses being forced to permanently close 21 their doors and further harm the local and state economies. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD07624-01-1A. 4692 2 1 It is therefore the intent of the legislature to implement measures to 2 assist New York's businesses with the loss of their income as a result 3 of being deemed non-essential by the Governor's Executive Orders by 4 providing direct financial assistance in the way of State grants. The 5 legislature recognizes that extraordinary times call for extraordinary 6 measures and therefore is directing that settlement money received by 7 the state from financial or banking institutions, from current economic 8 development programs and from any federal aid provided to the state for 9 economic recovery be used to help the state fight the economic crisis 10 brought on by the COVID-19 virus by directing this funding be provided 11 to non-essential businesses that were negatively impacted by the Gover- 12 nor's Executive Orders. 13 § 3. This act enacts into law major components of legislation which 14 are necessary to implement the New York Business Emergency Relief Act of 15 2021. Each component is wholly contained within a Part identified as 16 Parts A through C. The effective date for each particular provision 17 contained within such Part is set forth in the last section of such 18 Part. Any provision in any section contained within a Part, including 19 the effective date of the Part, which makes a reference to a section "of 20 this act", when used in connection with that particular component, shall 21 be deemed to mean and refer to the corresponding section of the Part in 22 which it is found. Section five of this act sets forth the general 23 effective date of this act. 24 PART A 25 Section 1. Notwithstanding any other law, rule and regulation to the 26 contrary, the governor shall immediately direct all unallocated settle- 27 ment funds that are reserved in the "economic uncertainties" fund and 28 any further settlement money that may be received by the state to small 29 business relief purposes consistent with the intent of the "New York 30 Business Emergency Relief Act of 2021". 31 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. 32 PART B 33 Section 1. Section 1 of chapter 174 of the laws of 1968, constituting 34 the New York state urban development corporation act, is amended by 35 adding a new section 16-bb to read as follows: 36 § 16-bb. Restart New York grant relief program. (1) As used in this 37 section, the following terms shall have the following meanings: 38 (a) "State of emergency" shall mean a disaster emergency for the 39 entire state of New York declared in Executive Order two hundred two, 40 beginning on March seventh, two thousand twenty as well as any further 41 amendments or modifications thereto. 42 (b) "Non-Essential Business" shall mean those businesses that have not 43 been deemed essential as declared in Executive Order 202.6 and in 44 further guidance issued by New York State Empire Development and shall 45 include, but not be limited to, bowling alleys, barber shops, salons, 46 movie theatres, gyms, restaurants, and tourism related businesses and 47 employ two hundred and fifty or less employees. 48 (2) The corporation shall establish a fund to be known as the "restart 49 New York grant relief fund" and shall pay into such fund any monies made 50 available to the corporation for such fund from any source, including 51 federal COVID-19 stimulus funding provided to states. The monies held in 52 or credited to the fund shall be expended solely for the purposes setA. 4692 3 1 forth in this section. The corporation shall not commingle the monies of 2 such fund with any other monies of the corporation or any monies held in 3 trust by the corporation. 4 (3) The corporation shall provide grants equal to the likely net 5 income lost as a result of being deemed a non-essential business or for 6 having services limited during the state of emergency. Funding for such 7 grants will be allocated from any monies made available from the restart 8 New York grant relief fund. 9 (4) Businesses shall apply for such grant on a form prescribed by the 10 corporation. Each form shall contain content as set forth by rule, regu- 11 lation, instruction or procedure of the corporation and may be changed 12 or updated as necessary by the corporation in order to carry out the 13 purpose of this section. To determine the amount of each grant provided, 14 non-essential businesses who had their services limited shall include 15 the following information on such form: 16 a. The net income of the business during the 2018 and 2019 tax years 17 as evidenced by their tax returns; 18 b. The net income of the business during the 2020 tax year as 19 evidenced by a certified profit loss statement or tax return; 20 c. The certified projected net income loss of the business for the 21 2021 tax year; 22 d. The operating expenses, including payroll expenses, necessary to 23 resume operations with the same quality of service that existed prior to 24 when the business was deemed a non-essential business; and 25 e. Other relevant sources of information including, but not limited 26 to, any funds received by the business through the Federal Payroll 27 Protection Program, tax returns, financial records, and accounting 28 procedures. 29 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. 30 PART C 31 Section 1. Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation to the 32 contrary, the governor is hereby authorized to repurpose all monies of 33 the New York state urban development corporation, the environmental 34 facilities corporation, the dormitory authority of the state of New 35 York, the New York state energy research and development authority and 36 all other state resources as identified and needed by the governor to 37 fully fund programs created by this act. 38 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. 39 § 4. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi- 40 sion, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of 41 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, 42 impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in 43 its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section 44 or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg- 45 ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of 46 the legislature that this act would have been enacted even if such 47 invalid provisions had not been included herein. 48 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately provided, however, that 49 the applicable effective date of Parts A through C of this act shall be 50 as specifically set forth in the last section of such Parts.
