What's happening
Writing a plain-English summary… Track this bill to get it by email.
Why it matters
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Sponsors
History
- Referred to ways and means
- Print number 8235a
- Amend and recommit to ways and means
- Referred to ways and means
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Requires certain information to be provided to the legislature prior to appropriating money to state entities for economic development projects
Senate Floor Calendar · Sponsor George Onorato
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:A8235A
Title of bill
An act to amend the state finance law, in relation to requiring certain information to be provided to the legislature prior to appropriating money to state entities for certain projects
Purpose
To inform the legislature concerning the employment and payment of local construction workers prior to the approval of appropriations for economic development projects in excess of three million dollars.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of the bill adds new subdivisions(2) and (3) to section 136 of the state finance law to require any state entity seeking an appropriation for financial assistance on an economic development project to provide the Legislature with information concerning the plan by the recipient of such assistance to employ local construction workers for the project. Subdivision (2) requires that this information state whether the recipient has entered into a written agreement to hire local workers, the type of skilled workers needed, efforts by the recipient or state entity to find skilled workers through the Department of Labor, and whether prevailing wages will be paid. The Department of Labor would provide assistance to identify the availability of any needed skilled workers. Subdivision (3) defines the terms "financial assistance" and "economic development project."
Existing law
The state finance law does not require that the Legislature be provided with information concerning the employment of construction workers and the wages to be paid on publicly-funded economic development projects prior to approving an appropriation for such projects.
Justification
The Legislature has approved large amounts of financial assistance to companies for projects that are distributed through state entities for economic development purposes. This approval is provided with the expectation that these projects will result in the employment of local workers, which in turn will help the local economy where the project is located. Although representations may be made prior to legislative approval that local construction workers will be hired or that prevailing wages will be paid, it can be difficult to enforce these expectations in the absence of a written commitment to follow through on such a plan.
New York is fortunate to have thousands of highly skilled workers in diverse trades who are trained through apprenticeships and have years of experience working their trade. This bill will better inform the Legislature before it approves large amounts of public funds for economic development as to whether a project will employ and pay local workers as intended.
Prior legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This bill would take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.