Bill Text: NY S00190 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Enacts the "truth in spending act"; creates disclosure requirements prior to the allocation of certain funds.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - REFERRED TO FINANCE [S00190 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S00190-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 190 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 9, 2019 ___________ Introduced by Sen. TEDISCO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in relation to enacting the "truth in spending act" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "truth in 2 spending act". 3 § 2. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 53-e to 4 read as follows: 5 § 53-e. Appropriations; full disclosure. 1. Prior to the disbursement 6 of any budgetary allocation made pursuant to this article, section nine- 7 ty-nine-d of this chapter, or subdivision five of section twenty-four of 8 this chapter at the request of the governor or member of the legisla- 9 ture, the governor and the legislature shall: 10 (a) ensure that funds shall include a brief description of the project 11 to be funded; 12 (b) require the governor or member of the legislature requesting such 13 appropriation to sign a conflict of interest form, as prescribed by the 14 attorney general, which shall be submitted to the attorney general to 15 ensure that no conflict of interest exists. Such form shall require 16 disclosure of all political donations received within the past five 17 years by such official from the intended recipient of appropriated fund- 18 ing if the cumulative amount of such donations meets or exceeds four 19 thousand dollars and were made within the past five years. Such form 20 shall be signed by the governor or member of the legislature under 21 penalty of perjury and shall be filed, in the case of a member of the 22 assembly, the clerk of the assembly and in the case of a member of the 23 senate, the sergeant at arms of the senate. Such requested appropri- 24 ation shall not be provided if a conflict of interest exists between the EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03624-01-9S. 190 2 1 governor or a member of the legislature designating the appropriation 2 and the potential recipient. Such appropriations shall not be provided 3 to organizations that employ or otherwise compensate the governor or 4 member of the legislature, governor's family or legislator's family, any 5 person sharing the primary residence of the governor or member of the 6 legislature or the governor's or a member of the legislature's staff for 7 services or labor rendered. Furthermore such appropriations shall not be 8 designated if the governor or member of the legislature, a member of the 9 governor's or member of the legislator's family, any person sharing the 10 primary residence of the governor or member of the legislature or a 11 member of the governor's or member of the legislature's staff is 12 involved with the operations of the organization which would receive 13 such appropriation in a decision-making capacity including, but not 14 limited to, working on an unpaid, volunteer basis or as a member of the 15 directing board of an organization; and 16 (c) ensure that funds be used for a public purpose. 17 2. At least seventy-two hours prior to approval by the legislature of 18 the state budget, or a legislative bill containing an appropriation as 19 described in subdivision five of section twenty-four of this chapter the 20 legislature must make public with respect to each allocation, the member 21 of the senate, the member of the assembly or the governor sponsoring the 22 allocation, the dollar amount to be appropriated, the senate and assem- 23 bly district in which the entity receiving such funding is principally 24 located, the name of the local project, organization or other entity 25 receiving such allocation and a description of the project to be funded 26 or purpose for making such allocation. Such publication shall, at a 27 minimum, be made on the website of each house of the legislature and 28 shall be accessible via a link on the home page of such website. Such 29 webpage shall be in a machine readable format and shall include all 30 memoranda of understanding, plans, resolutions, contracts, and any other 31 agreements related to the distribution of funds to recipients. Addi- 32 tionally, the comptroller shall establish and maintain such information 33 on a separate website. 34 3. All allocation recipients shall provide certification of proper use 35 of funds received. For allocations totaling less than fifty thousand 36 dollars, a duly authorized representative of the allocation recipient's 37 organization shall attest under penalty of perjury that the recipient 38 organization actually spent such funds in the manner and for the 39 purposes designated in any application for an allocation. For allo- 40 cations totaling more than fifty thousand dollars, a duly authorized 41 representative of the recipient organization shall attest under penalty 42 of perjury that the recipient organization actually spent the money in 43 the manner and for the purposes designated in its application for such 44 allocation and shall file a final report, under penalty of perjury, 45 detailing the expenditures. Such report shall be submitted by May thir- 46 ty-first of the calendar year following the calendar year in which the 47 allocation was made and shall follow the requirements established by the 48 attorney general. No future allocation shall be approved for an organ- 49 ization which has previously received an allocation until such documents 50 have been signed and received by the office of the New York state attor- 51 ney general. 52 4. Prior to submitting an application for an allocation, each organ- 53 ization seeking an allocation shall meet pre-certification standards as 54 established by the office of the New York state attorney general. At a 55 minimum, those standards shall require that the organization seeking 56 pre-certification is a certified tax-exempt non-profit organizationS. 190 3 1 under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code in New York state, 2 a state agency, a municipality or their affiliated department, universi- 3 ty, college, or school district capable of accepting potential funding 4 and that such entity is not in bankruptcy or arrears on any state obli- 5 gations. If an organization has received an allocation in the past, the 6 organization shall also comply with the requirements of subdivision 7 three of this section. No application from any organization shall be 8 considered by a legislator until the office of the New York state attor- 9 ney general has certified such organization based upon the criteria set 10 forth in this subdivision and upon any additional regulatory standards 11 established by the attorney general. 12 5. Any allocation by the legislature and the governor shall be set 13 forth separately and apart from every other allocation in the state 14 budget and identify each legislator's or the governor's request. 15 6. Any violation of the provisions of this section shall be referred 16 to the legislative ethics commission or its successor entity. 17 Complaints regarding the failure to use an allocation to comply with the 18 provisions of this chapter shall be submitted to (a) the legislative 19 ethics commission with regard to an allocation made at the discretion of 20 a legislator, or (b) the joint commission on public ethics with regard 21 to an allocation made at the discretion of the governor. Each complaint 22 shall be investigated in accordance with the rules and procedures of the 23 commission receiving the complaint. 24 § 3. Subdivisions 4 and 5 of section 24 of the state finance law, as 25 added by chapter 1 of the laws of 2007, are amended to read as follows: 26 4. Any appropriation added to such budget bills, pursuant to section 27 four of article seven of the constitution, shall only contain itemized 28 appropriations which shall not be in the form of lump sum appropri- 29 ations[,] and shall designate for each appropriation a grantee of such 30 appropriation, and the legislator requesting such appropriation and 31 [provided further that] for all non-federal state operations appropri- 32 ations, such bill or bills shall only contain itemized appropriations 33 and shall be made, where practicable, by agency, and within each agency 34 by program and within each program at the following level of detail and 35 in the following order: 36 (a) by fund type, which at a minimum shall include general fund, 37 special revenue-other funds, capital projects funds and debt service 38 funds; 39 (b) for personal service appropriations, separate appropriations shall 40 be made for regular personal service, temporary personal service, and 41 holiday and overtime pay; 42 (c) for nonpersonal service appropriations, separate appropriations 43 shall be made for supplies and materials, travel, contractual services, 44 equipment and fringe benefits, as appropriate. 45 5. Any appropriation added pursuant to section four of article seven 46 of the constitution without designating a grantee shall be allocated 47 only pursuant to a plan setting forth an itemized list of grantees with 48 the amount to be received by each, or the methodology for allocating 49 such appropriation. Such plan shall be subject to the approval of the 50 chair of the senate finance committee, the chair of the assembly ways 51 and means committee, and the director of the budget, and thereafter 52 shall be included in a [concurrent resolution] legislative bill calling 53 for the expenditure of such monies, which resolution must be approved by 54 a majority vote of all members elected to each house upon a roll call 55 vote. The provisions of this section shall not preclude members of the 56 legislature from collaborating with each other in the selection of allo-S. 190 4 1 cations and packaging their individual allocations together with other 2 members' allocations for specified regional or joint projects. 3 § 4. Section 40 of the state finance law is amended by adding two new 4 subdivisions 5 and 6 to read as follows: 5 5. Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation to the contrary, 6 the provisions of subdivision three of this section shall not be super- 7 seded except upon approval by a two-thirds vote of the senate and assem- 8 bly. 9 6. A resolution providing for the disbursement of funds pursuant to 10 any provision of law shall not be approved less than seventy-two hours 11 subsequent to the introduction of such resolution. 12 § 5. Subdivision 2 of section 24 of the state finance law is amended 13 by adding a new paragraph (c) to read as follows: 14 (c) On or after January first, two thousand twenty, any budget bill 15 submitted by the governor shall only contain itemized appropriations. 16 § 6. This act does not preclude either house of the legislature or the 17 governor from adopting more stringent standards through its own guide- 18 lines or through the application process. 19 § 7. Allocations made pursuant to article 4 or section 99-d, known as 20 the community projects fund, of the state finance law shall continue to 21 be subject to review by the respective assembly and senate fiscal and 22 counsel staffs, division of the budget, the administering state agency, 23 the office of the state comptroller, and the office of the attorney 24 general. Nothing in this act shall limit the authority of the state 25 comptroller and the attorney general to review allocation recipients or 26 discretionary grants. 27 § 8. This act shall take effect immediately.
