Count Business Training for Unemployment

Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 213 of the economic development law, as added by chapter 839 of the laws of 1987, is amended to read as follows:

1. monitor the performance of each development center and each entrepreneurship support center and require periodic and annual reports from each development center and each entrepreneurship support center at such time and in such a manner as prescribed by the commissioner, provided that such periodic and annual reports shall provide information on outcomes, whether successful or not, for all individual program participants of each development center or entrepreneurship support center, and track such outcomes on a statistical basis for a period of up to five years so as to help ascertain, track and document the success rate for such participants;

§ 2. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of section 213 of the economic development law, as amended by chapter 227 of the laws of 1993, is amended to read as follows:

(b) in the case of entrepreneurship support centers, the extent to which the program serves minorities, women, individuals with a disability and dislocated workers; the extent to which the program is coordinated with other assistance programs targeted to small and new busi-

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD03026-01-7

A. 531 2

nesses; the ability of the program to leverage other sources of funding and support; the success of the training programs in aiding entrepreneurs to start up new businesses, including the number of new business start-ups resulting from the program, and the quality of supplemental technical assistance offered to graduates of the training programs; a regional analysis of the effectiveness of a self-employment assistance program, as established in section five hundred ninety-one-a of the labor law, sponsored businesses and business activity, including any regional disparities in the participation rates of such centers and conducted at such centers and the need for mechanisms to alleviate such disparities; such report shall recommend changes and improvements in the program;

§ 3. Subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (c) of subdivision 2 of section 591-a of the labor law, as amended by section 1 of part Z of chapter 57 of the laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows:

(iii) are participating in self-employment assistance activities approved by the department and by the department of economic development which include but need not be limited to entrepreneurial training, business counseling, and technical assistance, including financing assistance for qualified individuals as appropriate, offered by entrepreneurship support centers established pursuant to section two hundred twelve of the economic development law, state university of New York small business development centers, programs offered by community-based organizations, local development corporations, and boards of cooperative educational services (BOCES) as established pursuant to section one thousand nine hundred fifty of the education law; and, unless otherwise required by federal law or regulation, no individual shall be prohibited from or disqualified from eligibility for the program if prior to applying for the program, an individual has printed business cards or has a website that is designed but not active, and neither are being used to solicit or conduct business. Self-employment assistance activities may include classroom training for up to forty hours and one-on-one counseling for up to twenty hours for each participant, instruction on start-up business financial management, capital acquisition and the development of business plans to establish a successful business, the provision of information on the existence of local professional organizations or chambers of commerce that can help to provide a support network for the successful establishment and operation of a newly formed business, and offer the provision of follow-up advice and counseling to participants to help ensure the success of such business venture;

§ 4. Section 10 of chapter 413 of the laws of 2003, amending the labor law relating to the self-employment assistance program and other matters, as amended by chapter 457 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:

§ 10. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that sections eight and nine of this act shall expire December 7, [2017] 2020 when upon such date the provisions of such sections shall be deemed repealed.

§ 5. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law; provided, however that the amendments to section 591-a of the labor law made by section three of this act shall not affect the repeal of such section and shall be deemed repealed therewith.