Bill Text: NY S07151 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires certain business recipients of state aid to perform an annual assessment of the business' social and environmental impact as assessed against a third party standard.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-03 - REFERRED TO CORPORATIONS, AUTHORITIES AND COMMISSIONS [S07151 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-S07151-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7151 IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 3, 2018 ___________ Introduced by Sen. KAVANAGH -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions AN ACT to amend the New York state urban development corporation act and the economic development law, in relation to requiring certain busi- ness recipients of state aid to perform an annual assessment of the business' social and environmental impact as assessed against a third party standard The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 3 of section 1 of chapter 174 of the laws of 1968, 2 constituting the New York state urban development corporation act is 3 amended by adding a new subdivision 31 to read as follows: 4 (31) "Third party standard". A recognized standard for defining, 5 reporting, and assessing business' social and environmental performance 6 that: 7 (a) assesses the effects of the business and its operations upon the 8 following: 9 (i) the employees and work force of the business, its subsidiaries, 10 and its suppliers; 11 (ii) the interests of customers as beneficiaries of the business; 12 (iii) community and societal factors, including those of each communi- 13 ty in which offices or facilities of the business, its subsidiaries, or 14 its suppliers are located; and 15 (iv) the local and global environment; and 16 (b) is developed by an entity other than: 17 (i) the state; or 18 (ii) the business whose social and environmental impact is being 19 assessed against the third party standard; and 20 (iii) such entity shall: 21 (A) have access to necessary expertise to assess overall business' 22 social and environmental performance; and EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD02372-03-7S. 7151 2 1 (B) use a balanced multi-stakeholder approach to develop the standard, 2 including a reasonable public comment period; and 3 (c) makes the following information publicly available: 4 (i) the criteria considered when measuring the overall social and 5 environmental performance of a business; 6 (ii) the relative weightings, if any, of those criteria; 7 (iii) the identity of the directors, officers, material owners, and 8 the governing body of the entity that developed and controls revisions 9 to the standard; 10 (iv) the process by which revisions to the standard and changes to the 11 membership of the governing body are made; and 12 (v) an accounting of the revenue and sources of financial support for 13 the entity, with sufficient detail to disclose any relationships that 14 could reasonably be considered to present a potential conflict of inter- 15 est. 16 § 2. Section 30 of section 1 of chapter 174 of the laws of 1968, 17 constituting the New York state urban development corporation act is 18 amended by adding a new subdivision (d) to read as follows: 19 (d) Report. In addition to any other requirements imposed by the act 20 or otherwise regarding evaluations of programs administered by the 21 corporation, the corporation shall report on an annual basis beginning 22 October first, two thousand eighteen, and on each October first there- 23 after, to the governor, the chairpersons of the senate committees on 24 finance, commerce, economic development and small business, and corpo- 25 rations, authorities and commissions, the chairpersons of the assembly 26 committees on ways and means, economic development, corporations, 27 authorities and commissions, and small business on the social and envi- 28 ronmental impact of entities required to report under subdivision (j) of 29 section thirty-a of this act. Such report shall include an analysis of 30 the aggregate third party standard assessment results including aggre- 31 gate assessment results by funding level. 32 § 3. Section 30-a of section 1 of chapter 174 of the laws of 1968, 33 constituting the New York state urban development corporation act is 34 amended by adding a new subdivision (j) to read as follows: 35 (j) The corporation shall, upon approval of an application or formal 36 request for funding, in an amount of one hundred thousand dollars or 37 more, or tax benefit assistance for any entity or project, require such 38 recipient to perform an annual assessment of their social and environ- 39 mental impact as assessed against a third party standard, as defined in 40 subdivision thirty-one of section three of this act. Such assessment 41 shall be submitted to the corporation by the entity receiving funding or 42 tax benefit assistance approved by the corporation ninety days after the 43 first year from the date of approval and annually thereafter. The corpo- 44 ration shall select an independent third party standard as defined in 45 subdivision thirty-one of section three of this act. Such standard shall 46 be chosen within one hundred eighty days after the effective date of 47 this subdivision. The corporation may use any funds necessary to admin- 48 ister and implement this section. 49 § 4. The economic development law is amended by adding a new article 50 23 to read as follows: 51 ARTICLE 23 52 FUNDING RECIPIENT ASSESSMENT 53 Section 450. Definition. 54 451. Report. 55 452. Annual assessment.S. 7151 3 1 § 450. Definition. "Third party standard" means a recognized standard 2 for defining, reporting, and assessing business' social and environ- 3 mental performance that: 4 (a) assesses the effects of the business and its operations upon the 5 following: 6 (i) the employees and work force of the business, its subsidiaries, 7 and its suppliers; 8 (ii) the interests of customers as beneficiaries of the business; 9 (iii) community and societal factors, including those of each communi- 10 ty in which offices or facilities of the business, its subsidiaries, or 11 its suppliers are located; and 12 (iv) the local and global environment; and 13 (b) is developed by an entity other than: 14 (i) the state; or 15 (ii) the business whose social and environmental impact is being 16 assessed against the third party standard; and 17 (iii) such entity shall: 18 (A) have access to necessary expertise to assess overall business' 19 social and environmental performance; and 20 (B) use a balanced multi-stakeholder approach to develop the standard, 21 including a reasonable public comment period; and 22 (c) makes the following information publicly available: 23 (i) the criteria considered when measuring the overall social and 24 environmental performance of a business; 25 (ii) the relative weightings, if any, of those criteria; 26 (iii) the identity of the directors, officers, material owners, and 27 the governing body of the entity that developed and controls revisions 28 to the standard; 29 (iv) the process by which revisions to the standard and changes to the 30 membership of the governing body are made; and 31 (v) an accounting of the revenue and sources of financial support for 32 the entity, with sufficient detail to disclose any relationships that 33 could reasonably be considered to present a potential conflict of inter- 34 est. 35 § 451. Report. In addition to any other requirements imposed by the 36 act or otherwise regarding evaluations of programs administered by the 37 department, the commissioner and the department shall report on an annu- 38 al basis beginning October first, two thousand eighteen, and on each 39 October first thereafter, to the governor, the chairpersons of the 40 senate committees on finance, commerce, economic development and small 41 business, and corporations, authorities and commissions, the chair- 42 persons of the assembly committees on ways and means, economic develop- 43 ment, corporations, authorities and commissions, and small business on 44 the social and environmental impact of entities required to report under 45 section four hundred fifty-two of this article. Such report shall 46 include an analysis of the aggregate third party standard assessment 47 results including aggregate assessment results by funding level. 48 § 452. Annual assessment. The commissioner and the department shall, 49 upon approval of an application or formal request for funding, in an 50 amount of one hundred thousand dollars or more, or tax benefit assist- 51 ance for any entity or project, require such recipient to perform an 52 annual assessment of their social and environmental impact as assessed 53 against a third party standard, as defined in section four hundred fifty 54 of this article. Such assessment shall be submitted to the department by 55 the entity receiving funding or tax benefit assistance approved by the 56 department ninety days after the first year from the date of approvalS. 7151 4 1 and annually thereafter. The department shall select an independent 2 third party standard as defined in section four hundred fifty of this 3 article. Such standard shall be chosen within one hundred eighty days 4 after the effective date of this section. The department may use any 5 funds necessary to administer and implement this section. 6 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
