Bill Text: NY S04274 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes regional economic development councils and ethics and financial disclosure requirements for their members.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-06 - REFERRED TO COMMERCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SMALL BUSINESS [S04274 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S04274-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4274 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN SENATE March 6, 2019 ___________ Introduced by Sen. ANTONACCI -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Commerce, Economic Devel- opment and Small Business AN ACT to amend the economic development law and the public officers law, in relation to the establishment of regional economic development councils; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expira- tion thereof The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The economic development law is amended by adding a new 2 section 11 to read as follows: 3 § 11. Regional economic development councils. 1. The governor shall 4 establish ten regional economic development councils, one for each of 5 the following regions of the state: 6 (a) Long Island (which consists of Suffolk and Nassau counties); 7 (b) the city of New York (which consists of Bronx, New York, Queens, 8 Brooklyn, and Richmond counties); 9 (c) the Mid-Hudson region (which consists of Sullivan, Ulster, Dutch- 10 ess, Orange, Putnam, Westchester, and Rockland counties); 11 (d) the Southern tier (which consists of Steuben, Schuyler, Tompkins, 12 Chemung, Tioga, Chenango, Broome, and Delaware counties); 13 (e) the Capital region (which consists of Warren, Washington, Sarato- 14 ga, Schenectady, Rensselaer, Albany, Columbia, and Greene counties); 15 (f) the Mohawk valley (which consists of Oneida, Herkimer, Fulton, 16 Montgomery, Otsego, and Schoharie counties); 17 (g) the North country (which consists of Clinton, Franklin, St. 18 Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Hamilton, and Essex counties); 19 (h) the Central region (which consists of Oswego, Cayuga, Onondaga, 20 Madison, and Cortland counties); 21 (i) the Finger Lakes region (which consists of Orleans, Monroe, Wayne, 22 Genesee, Wyoming, Livingston, Ontario, Seneca, and Yates counties); and EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD10347-03-9S. 4274 2 1 (j) the Western region (which consists of Niagara, Erie, Chautauqua, 2 Cattaraugus, and Allegany counties). 3 2. Each regional economic development council shall develop long-term 4 strategic plans for economic growth within its region of the state. 5 3. The members of each regional economic development council shall be 6 local experts and stakeholders from businesses, academia, municipalities 7 and non-governmental organizations within the region. All such members 8 shall be appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the 9 Senate, and shall serve at the pleasure of the governor. 10 § 2. The economic development law is amended by adding a new section 11 233 to read as follows: 12 § 233. Financial disclosure. All members of regional economic develop- 13 ment councils shall be subject to the provisions of section seventy- 14 three-a of the public officers law. 15 § 3. The economic development law is amended by adding a new section 16 234 to read as follows: 17 § 234. Open meetings law; freedom of information law. 1. Regional 18 economic development councils shall be subject to the open meetings law 19 and the freedom of information law. 20 2. All regional economic development councils and state agency scoring 21 shall be publicly available and posted prominently on the website of the 22 empire state development corporation. 23 3. Total scoring on regional economic development councils and state 24 agency scoring shall be fifty percent to fifty percent. 25 4. The final list of regional economic development councils awards 26 shall be reviewed and approved by the public authorities control board 27 prior to announcement and release by the executive. 28 5. The empire state development corporation shall develop standardized 29 scoring criteria for regional economic development councils and stand- 30 ardized metrics for evaluating ongoing performance of the award by the 31 authorities budget office. 32 § 4. Subparagraphs (ii) and (iii) of paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of 33 section 73-a of the public officers law, as amended by section 5 of part 34 A of chapter 399 of the laws of 2011, are amended and a new subparagraph 35 (iv) is added to read as follows: 36 (ii) officers and employees of statewide elected officials, officers 37 and employees of state departments, boards, bureaus, divisions, commis- 38 sions, councils or other state agencies, who receive annual compensation 39 in excess of the filing rate established by paragraph (l) of this subdi- 40 vision or who hold policy-making positions, as annually determined by 41 the appointing authority and set forth in a written instrument which 42 shall be filed with the joint commission on public ethics established by 43 section ninety-four of the executive law during the month of February, 44 provided, however, that the appointing authority shall amend such writ- 45 ten instrument after such date within thirty days after the undertaking 46 of policy-making responsibilities by a new employee or any other employ- 47 ee whose name did not appear on the most recent written instrument; 48 [and] 49 (iii) members or directors of public authorities, other than multi- 50 state authorities, public benefit corporations and commissions at least 51 one of whose members is appointed by the governor, and employees of such 52 authorities, corporations and commissions who receive annual compen- 53 sation in excess of the filing rate established by paragraph (l) of this 54 subdivision or who hold policy-making positions, as determined annually 55 by the appointing authority and set forth in a written instrument which 56 shall be filed with the joint commission on public ethics established byS. 4274 3 1 section ninety-four of the executive law during the month of February, 2 provided, however, that the appointing authority shall amend such writ- 3 ten instrument after such date within thirty days after the undertaking 4 of policy-making responsibilities by a new employee or any other employ- 5 ee whose name did not appear on the most recent written instrument[.]; 6 and 7 (iv) members of regional economic development councils shall complete 8 the same financial disclosure form as other public officers, but shall 9 not be required to disclose: 10 (A) the actual dollar amount of the financial interest; or 11 (B) financial interests that will not in any way reasonably conflict 12 with regional economic development council decisions. 13 § 5. Subdivision 1 of section 74 of the public officers law, as 14 amended by chapter 1012 of the laws of 1965, the opening paragraph as 15 amended by chapter 14 of the laws of 2007, is amended to read as 16 follows: 17 1. Definition. As used in this section: The term "state agency" shall 18 mean any state department, or division, board, commission, or bureau of 19 any state department or any public benefit corporation or public author- 20 ity at least one of whose members is appointed by the governor or corpo- 21 rations closely affiliated with specific state agencies as defined by 22 paragraph (d) of subdivision five of section fifty-three-a of the state 23 finance law or their successors or any regional economic development 24 council established pursuant to section eleven of the economic develop- 25 ment law. 26 The term "legislative employee" shall mean any officer or employee of 27 the legislature but it shall not include members of the legislature. 28 § 6. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be 29 deemed repealed two years after such date.
