Relates to establishing a moratorium on unfunded mandates and creating regional mandate relief councils

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1 adds a new section 51-a to the Legislative Law to place a three-year moratorium on unfunded state mandates on local governments and school districts costing more than $10,000 annually or $1 million statewide.

Section 2 adds a new article 43 to the Executive Law to establish 10 Regional Mandate Relief Councils as follows:

Capital Region - counties of Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington;

Central New York - counties of Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego;

Finger Lakes - counties of Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates;

Long Island - counties of Nassau and Suffolk;

Mid-Hudson - counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester;

Mohawk Valley - counties of Fulton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Oneida, Otsego and Schoharie;

New York City - counties of Bronx, Kings, New York, Richmond and Queens;

North Country - counties of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence;

Southern Tier - counties of Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Delaware, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga and Tompkins; and

Western New York - counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie and Niagara.

The Members of the Regional Councils must be residents of the region they are appointed to represent, and would be appointed as follows:

*One member appointed by the Governor; *One member appointed by the Temporary President of the Senate; *One member appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate; *One member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly; *One member appointed by the Minority Leader of the Assembly; *One member appointed by the chief executive (county executive or chair of the county legislative body or borough president) of every county in the region; *One member appointed by the New York Conference of Mayors; *One member appointed by the Association of Towns of the State of New York (except in New York City); *One member appointed by the Mayor of New York City for the New York City Regional Council; *One member appointed by the New York State School Boards Association (except in New York City); and *One member appointed by the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education in the New York City Region.

All votes and deliberations of a regional council shall be open to the public, and each regional council shall:

*hold a minimum of three public hearings at different locations in their region; *meet regularly upon call of the chair chosen by members of each regional council; *make recommendations within 90 days to the Governor and four legislative leaders for the repeal or modification of any unfunded mandates that do not apply to their region; *make recommendations within 270 days, and annually thereafter, to the Governor and four legislative leaders for the repeal or modification of any regulatory or statutory unfunded mandate that the council determines were imposed in an unsound, unduly burdensome or costly manner; information regarding its activities, and regarding the issues, statutes, regulations, rules and orders which it reviewed, examined, proposed and considered; *all reports are adopted upon a majority vote of the regional council; *all reports must be posted on a publicly accessible website; *upon request of a local government or a member of the council, identify and review mandates that can be eliminated or reformed and make any inquiries, reports and recommendations as the council may deem necessary; and *receive and consider public comment about any potential unfunded mandates, and review them in light of cost-benefit principles.

The Regional Councils may, upon a two-thirds vote, refer any regulation or statute to the governor and the four legislative leaders for repeal or modification.

*If a majority of the regional councils recommend a regulation for repeal or modification, the governor must direct the state agency responsible for such regulation to repeal or modify it within 60 days. *If a majority of the regional councils recommend a statute for repeal or modification, the governor, within 60 days, must submit a program

bill for introduction in both houses to effectuate such repeal or modification.

Local governments may at any time ask their regional council to review a specific statute, regulation, rule or order of state government by resolution of its governing body.

Section 3 contains a severability clause.

Section 4 contains the effective date.

Justification

In his 2015 State of the State address, Governor Cuomo stated that, "when people complain about high taxes in New York, they're talking about the property tax." While the reasons behind New York's high property taxes are often debated, it is clear that unfunded mandates placed on local governments and school districts are one of the main reasons why New Yorkers must pay an unreasonable amount of their hard earned money for owning or renting property in the state.

Now is the time to begin getting our unfunded mandate problem under control. This legislation would implement a three-year unfunded mandate moratorium, and create 10 regional mandate relief councils designed to identify, modify and eliminate the costly mandates that drive up property taxes. This legislation would also force the governor to act on recommendations made by a majority of the regional councils.

By passing this law, New Yorkers would begin to see a decrease in their annual property tax bills, and would finally see the fiscal relief they so rightly deserve.

Prior legislative history

New bill.

Fiscal implications

This legislation could provide savings to local governments and school districts.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be deemed repealed 3 years after such date, provided, however, that section one of this act shall only apply to laws enacted after such date.