Bill Text: NY S07767 | 2015-2016 | 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) 2016-05-12 - REFERRED TO CORPORATIONS, AUTHORITIES AND COMMISSIONS [S07767 Detail]
Download: New_York-2015-S07767-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7767 IN SENATE May 12, 2016 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SQUADRON -- 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 23 (B) use a balanced multi-stakeholder approach to develop the standard, 24 including a reasonable public comment period; and EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD11038-03-6S. 7767 2 1 (c) makes the following information publicly available: 2 (i) the criteria considered when measuring the overall social and 3 environmental performance of a business; 4 (ii) the relative weightings, if any, of those criteria; 5 (iii) the identity of the directors, officers, material owners, and 6 the governing body of the entity that developed and controls revisions 7 to the standard; 8 (iv) the process by which revisions to the standard and changes to the 9 membership of the governing body are made; and 10 (v) an accounting of the revenue and sources of financial support for 11 the entity, with sufficient detail to disclose any relationships that 12 could reasonably be considered to present a potential conflict of inter- 13 est. 14 § 2. Section 30 of section 1 of chapter 174 of the laws of 1968, 15 constituting the New York state urban development corporation act is 16 amended by adding a new subdivision (d) to read as follows: 17 (d) Report. In addition to any other requirements imposed by the act 18 or otherwise regarding evaluations of programs administered by the 19 corporation, the corporation shall report on an annual basis beginning 20 October first, two thousand seventeen, and on each October first there- 21 after, to the governor, the chairpersons of the senate committees on 22 finance, commerce, economic development and small business, and corpo- 23 rations, authorities and commissions, the chairpersons of the assembly 24 committees on ways and means, economic development, corporations, 25 authorities and commissions, and small business on the social and envi- 26 ronmental impact of entities required to report under subdivision (i) of 27 section thirty-a of this act. Such report shall include an analysis of 28 the aggregate third party standard assessment results including aggre- 29 gate assessment results by funding level. 30 § 3. Section 30-a of section 1 of chapter 174 of the laws of 1968, 31 constituting the New York state urban development corporation act is 32 amended by adding a new subdivision (i) to read as follows: 33 (i) The corporation shall, upon approval of an application or formal 34 request for funding, in an amount of one hundred thousand dollars or 35 more, or tax benefit assistance for any entity or project, require such 36 recipient to perform an annual assessment of their social and environ- 37 mental impact as assessed against a third party standard, as defined in 38 subdivision thirty-one of section three of this act. Such assessment 39 shall be submitted to the corporation by the entity receiving funding or 40 tax benefit assistance approved by the corporation ninety days after the 41 first year from the date of approval and annually thereafter. The corpo- 42 ration shall select an independent third party standard as defined in 43 subdivision thirty-one of section three of this act. Such standard shall 44 be chosen within one hundred eighty days after the effective date of 45 this subdivision. The corporation may use any funds necessary to admin- 46 ister and implement this section. 47 § 4. The economic development law is amended by adding a new article 48 23 to read as follows: 49 ARTICLE 23 50 FUNDING RECIPIENT ASSESSMENT 51 Section 450. Definition. 52 451. Report. 53 452. Annual assessment. 54 § 450. Definition. "Third-party standard" means a recognized standard 55 for defining, reporting, and assessing business' social and environ- 56 mental performance that:S. 7767 3 1 (a) assesses the effects of the business and its operations upon the 2 following: 3 (i) the employees and work force of the business, its subsidiaries, 4 and its suppliers; 5 (ii) the interests of customers as beneficiaries of the business; 6 (iii) community and societal factors, including those of each communi- 7 ty in which offices or facilities of the business, its subsidiaries, or 8 its suppliers are located; and 9 (iv) the local and global environment; and 10 (b) is developed by an entity other than: 11 (i) the state; or 12 (ii) the business whose social and environmental impact is being 13 assessed against the third party standard; and 14 (iii) such entity shall: 15 (A) have access to necessary expertise to assess overall business' 16 social and environmental performance; and 17 (B) use a balanced multi-stakeholder approach to develop the standard, 18 including a reasonable public comment period; and 19 (c) makes the following information publicly available: 20 (i) the criteria considered when measuring the overall social and 21 environmental performance of a business; 22 (ii) the relative weightings, if any, of those criteria; 23 (iii) the identity of the directors, officers, material owners, and 24 the governing body of the entity that developed and controls revisions 25 to the standard; 26 (iv) the process by which revisions to the standard and changes to the 27 membership of the governing body are made; and 28 (v) an accounting of the revenue and sources of financial support for 29 the entity, with sufficient detail to disclose any relationships that 30 could reasonably be considered to present a potential conflict of inter- 31 est. 32 § 451. Report. In addition to any other requirements imposed by the 33 act or otherwise regarding evaluations of programs administered by the 34 department, the commissioner and the department shall report on an annu- 35 al basis beginning October first, two thousand seventeen, and on each 36 October first thereafter, to the governor, the chairpersons of the 37 senate committees on finance, commerce, economic development and small 38 business, and corporations, authorities and commissions, the chair- 39 persons of the assembly committees on ways and means, economic develop- 40 ment, corporations, authorities and commissions, and small business on 41 the social and environmental impact of entities required to report under 42 section four hundred fifty-two of this article. Such report shall 43 include an analysis of the aggregate third party standard assessment 44 results including aggregate assessment results by funding level. 45 § 452. Annual assessment. The commissioner and the department shall, 46 upon approval of an application or formal request for funding, in an 47 amount of one hundred thousand dollars or more, or tax benefit assist- 48 ance for any entity or project, require such recipient to perform an 49 annual assessment of their social and environmental impact as assessed 50 against a third party standard, as defined in section four hundred fifty 51 of this article. Such assessment shall be submitted to the department by 52 the entity receiving funding or tax benefit assistance approved by the 53 department ninety days after the first year from the date of approval 54 and annually thereafter. The department shall select an independent 55 third party standard as defined in section four hundred fifty of this 56 article. Such standard shall be chosen within one hundred eighty daysS. 7767 4 1 after the effective date of this section. The department may use any 2 funds necessary to administer and implement this section. 3 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
