Establishes competitive paperwork reduction project grants

BILL NUMBER:S4950

Title of bill

An act to amend the state finance law, in relation to enacting the "digital home act" to assist municipalities with paperwork reduction initiatives

Purpose or general idea of bill

This bill provides incentives via grant rewards to reduce paperwork at the municipal and local levels of government and implement digital alternatives.

Summary of specific provisions

§ 2. Subparagraphs (vi), (vii), (viii) and (ix) of paragraph o of subdivision 10 of section 54 of the state finance law are renumbered subparagraphs (vii), (viii), (ix) and (x) and a new subparagraph (vi) is added to read as follows:

(vi) Paperwork reduction project grants. (1) Within the annual amounts appropriated therefore, the secretary of state may award competitive Grants to municipalities to cover costs associated with reducing paperwork usage and implementing digital alternatives to paper.

(2) The maximum paperwork reduction project grant shall not exceed ten thousand dollars per municipality.

(3) Local matching funds equal to ten percent of the total cost of Activities under the grant work plan approved by the department of state shall be required.

(4) Grants awarded to municipalities pursuant to this subparagraph may be included in calculations to demonstrate three year cost savings and efficiencies for government efficiency plans submitted to the director of the budget pursuant to subdivisions three and four of section three-d of the general municipal law.

Justification

For years in the New York State Legislature, thousands of bills were introduced with every single measure getting printed multiple times prompting a referendum on the New York State election ballot in the year 2014.

The elimination of excessive bill printing at all levels of government would save money and provide greater protections to our environment.

While the voters of our state overwhelmingly passed Proposition 2 in November of 2014 for the State Legislature, we can also do our part to extend those very same benefits to our municipalities and towns. The Department of State, through its Local Government Assistance Program (NYSDOS Division of Local Government Services), provides assistance and awards grants to local governments and school districts for the development of projects designed to achieve savings at the municipal level. A movement to a digital model as an alternative to excessive bill-printing at the local levels of government certainly accomplishes this goal.

Prior legislative history

New Bill.

Fiscal implications

To be determined.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.