Bill Text: NY A09663 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Requires all public authorities owning, leasing, and controlling critical infrastructure to study the potential consequences of privatization.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-07-15 - enacting clause stricken [A09663 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A09663-Introduced.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          9663

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     March 27, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  ZEBROWSKI  --  read once and referred to the
          Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions

        AN ACT requiring all public authorities owning, leasing, and controlling
          critical infrastructure to study the potential consequences of  priva-
          tization

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

     1    Section 1. Legislative findings. 1. New York state  must  have  suffi-
     2  cient  numbers  of  properly  designed and maintained pieces of critical
     3  transportation infrastructure such as bridges, tunnels, roads, airports,
     4  ports, container ports, railroads and rapid transit services in order to
     5  retain its economic competitiveness and grow its economy.
     6    2. Much of the state's existing critical infrastructure is  aging,  is
     7  experiencing capacity problems, has had maintenance problems, or in some
     8  other  manner  has  become  a  candidate for re-engineering, rebuilding,
     9  replacement or supplementation.
    10    3. The most critical and expensive  transportation  infrastructure  in
    11  New  York  state to re-engineer, rebuild or replace is under the control
    12  or ownership of public authorities,  and  such  critical  transportation
    13  infrastructure,  from  time  to  time,  is under consideration for sale,
    14  long-term lease or other transfer of ownership or control to the private
    15  business sector.
    16    § 2. For the purposes of this act, the following terms shall have  the
    17  following meanings:
    18    1.  "critical  transportation  infrastructure" shall refer to bridges,
    19  tunnels, roads, airports, ports, container ports,  railroads  and  rapid
    20  transit services owned by a state or local public authority;
    21    2.  "privatization"  shall refer to the sale, long-term lease or other
    22  transfer of ownership or control of pieces  of  critical  transportation
    23  infrastructure to the private business sector;
    24    3.  "comparable projects" shall refer to existing privatization initi-
    25  atives in the United States comparable in scope, scale and value to  the
    26  critical  transportation  infrastructure  controlled  by  state or local
    27  public authorities; and

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04055-01-3
        A. 9663                             2

     1    4. "privatization report" shall refer to the report  created  pursuant
     2  to this act.
     3    §  3.  1.  All  public authorities who are currently in the process of
     4  issuing concessions or selling or  otherwise  transferring,  or  issuing
     5  notices  of inquiry ("NOIs") or requests for proposal ("RFPs") for leas-
     6  ing, or selling or otherwise transferring control of any critical trans-
     7  portation infrastructure, or who have done so in  the  past  ten  years,
     8  shall  issue  a study reporting on the effects of privatization of crit-
     9  ical transportation infrastructure.
    10    2. (a) Each public authority shall issue its individual  privatization
    11  report  to  the  assembly  committees  on  corporations, authorities and
    12  commissions, economic development, transportation, and ways  and  means,
    13  and to the senate committees on commerce, economic development and small
    14  business, corporations, authorities and commissions, and transportation.
    15    (b)  Each  public  authority's  privatization report shall evaluate in
    16  detail the following:
    17    (i) the impact that sale  or  transfer  of  control  of  its  critical
    18  infrastructure  would  have  upon the authority's ability to pay any and
    19  all debt it has issued, or succeeded to, that is guaranteed  or  secured
    20  by any revenues arising from the authority's critical infrastructure, or
    21  by the ownership of such critical infrastructure;
    22    (ii)  whether the critical infrastructure involved any existing priva-
    23  tization initiatives in the United States are comparable in scope, scale
    24  and value to  the  critical  infrastructure  controlled  by  the  public
    25  authority;
    26    (iii)  the progress to date of any comparable projects and whether any
    27  such projects have experienced cost overruns  or  delays,  or  otherwise
    28  have  failed, or succeeded, in meeting the deadlines and costs put forth
    29  by the private entity.
    30    3. (a) The privatization report shall be due on or within 14  days  of
    31  December  1,  2024.  Within 90 days after the date each public authority
    32  submits the report provided for in subdivision one of  this  section  to
    33  the  committees,  such committees may, severally or collectively, submit
    34  further issues for study and inclusion in such report, which said public
    35  authorities shall study and include within such report  within  60  days
    36  after receipt of any such submission, at which point said public author-
    37  ities  shall submit the privatization report to the governor, the tempo-
    38  rary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the  minority
    39  leaders of the senate and assembly, the chairperson and ranking minority
    40  member  of  the senate corporations, authorities and commissions commit-
    41  tee, and the chairperson and ranking minority  member  of  the  assembly
    42  corporations, authorities and commissions committee.
    43    (b)  The  governor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker
    44  of the assembly, the minority leaders of the senate  and  assembly,  the
    45  chairperson  and  ranking  minority  member  of the senate corporations,
    46  authorities and commissions committee, and the chairperson  and  ranking
    47  minority  member  of  the assembly corporations, authorities and commis-
    48  sions committee shall have a period of 90 days within  which  to  submit
    49  further issues for study and inclusion in such report, which said public
    50  authorities  shall  study  and include within such report within 60 days
    51  after receipt of any such submission.
    52    § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
    53  have  become  a  law.    Effective  immediately, the addition, amendment
    54  and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation
    55  of this act on  its  effective  date  are  authorized  to  be  made  and
    56  completed on or before such effective date.