Bill Text: NY S08362 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Provides an annual tax levy limit allowing for expenditures directly or indirectly related to school safety, including improving district wide emergency response plans, training staff and/or students on school safety and/or conflict mediation, installing and maintaining safety technology and software in school buildings, hiring school resource officers, acquiring emergency medical equipment, installing fencing around the perimeter of school grounds, installing bulletproof doors and windows, acquiring and maintaining technology for expedited notification of local law enforcement during an emergency.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-22 - REFERRED TO EDUCATION [S08362 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S08362-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8362

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 22, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by Sen. HARCKHAM -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Education

        AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing a  school
          safety spending exclusion from annual tax levy limits

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

     1    Section 1. Paragraph i of subdivision  2  of  section  2023-a  of  the
     2  education law, as added by section 2 of part A of chapter 97 of the laws
     3  of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
     4    i.  "Tax  levy  limit"  means the amount of taxes a school district is
     5  authorized to levy pursuant to this section, provided, however, that the
     6  tax levy limit shall not include the following:
     7    (i) a tax levy necessary for expenditures resulting from court  orders
     8  or judgments against the school district arising out of tort actions for
     9  any  amount  that  exceeds  five  percent of the total tax levied in the
    10  prior school year;
    11    (ii) in years in which the system average actuarial contribution  rate
    12  of the New York state and local employees' retirement system, as defined
    13  by  paragraph  ten of subdivision a of section nineteen-a of the retire-
    14  ment and social security law, increases  by  more  than  two  percentage
    15  points from the previous year, a tax levy necessary for expenditures for
    16  the coming fiscal year for school district employer contributions to the
    17  New  York  state and local employees' retirement system caused by growth
    18  in the system average actuarial contribution rate minus  two  percentage
    19  points;
    20    (iii)  in  years in which the normal contribution rate of the New York
    21  state teachers' retirement system, as defined by paragraph a of subdivi-
    22  sion two of section five hundred seventeen of this chapter, increases by
    23  more than two percentage points from  the  previous  year,  a  tax  levy
    24  necessary  for  expenditures  for  the  coming  fiscal  year  for school
    25  district employer contributions to the New York state teachers'  retire-
    26  ment  system  caused by growth in the normal contribution rate minus two
    27  percentage points; [and]
    28    (iv) a capital tax levy[.]; and

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10917-01-3
        S. 8362                             2

     1    (v) a tax levy for expenditures related  to  school  safety.  For  the
     2  purposes  of  this subparagraph, "expenditures related to school safety"
     3  shall include costs, including labor costs, incurred as a result of,  or
     4  directly  related  to: improving district wide emergency response plans,
     5  training  staff  and/or  students on school safety and/or conflict medi-
     6  ation, installing and maintaining  safety  technology  and  software  at
     7  entrances  and throughout school buildings, hiring school resource offi-
     8  cers, acquiring emergency medical equipment, installing  fencing  around
     9  the  perimeter  of  school  grounds,  installing  bulletproof  doors and
    10  windows, acquiring and maintaining technology for expedited notification
    11  of local law enforcement  during  an  emergency,  and  designing  school
    12  grounds  and  structures  to implement Crime Prevention Through Environ-
    13  mental Design principles.
    14    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply  to  taxes
    15  levied  by or on behalf of  school districts for school years commencing
    16  on and after such effective date.