What's happening
This bill requires public disclosure of benefits granted to professional sports facilities and mandates affordable ticket agreements for publicly subsidized projects.
Why it matters
Increases transparency and accountability. by requiring public disclosure of all state and local financial benefits—such as grants, tax breaks, or subsidies—awarded for the construction or renovation of professional sports facilities, dating back to 2011. This makes it easier for the public to see exactly what support teams and facility owners are receiving.
Creates enforceable affordable ticket requirements. for any publicly supported sports facility project, mandating that at least 7% of tickets for each event must be available at prices affordable to households earning 60% or less of area median income, with specific anti-resale protections to prevent profiteering.
Links public subsidies to ongoing ticket price controls. , stipulating that facilities benefiting from public support must cap annual ticket price increases at 2% for ten years—if they have recently raised prices by more than 30% over three years—helping to check rapid escalation in ticket costs for fans.
Sets a precedent for public benefit conditions on subsidies. , potentially influencing future state and local support for other private developments by establishing that public investments should yield tangible, ongoing community benefits.
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
Require Affordable Sports Tickets
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 26
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to corporations, authorities and commissions
- Referred to corporations, authorities and commissions
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2306
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 24, 2019
Introduced by Sen. KAVANAGH -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions
AN ACT to amend the public authorities law, in relation to enacting the "public benefits for professional facilities act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "public benefits for professional facilities act".
§ 2. Article 9 of the public authorities law is amended by adding a new title 3-B to read as follows:
TITLE 3-B
PUBLIC BENEFITS FOR PROFESSIONAL FACILITIES Section 2860. Professional facilities.
§ 2860. Professional facilities. 1. No later than ninety days after the effective date of this subdivision, the Empire state development corporation shall publish on its website and provide to the legislature an accounting of all benefits that any state or local authority has granted or obligated itself to grant for the purpose of construction, reconstruction, repair or rehabilitation of a professional sports facility. Such accounting shall include all such benefits granted or obligated to be granted at any time on or after January first, two thousand eleven. Thereafter, the Empire state development corporation shall publish on its website and provide to the legislature an update of such accounting by February fifteenth of each year, covering the period ending December thirty-first of the preceding year. Any state or local authority that has granted or obligated itself to grant any such benefit shall report the terms of such benefit to the Empire state development corporation no later than the earlier of the date the benefit is granted or the date the benefit is obligated to be granted.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02178-01-9
S. 2306 2
2. For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
(a) "Benefit" shall mean any direct or indirect grant of funds, tax reductions, tax preferences, subsidies, payments in lieu of any tax or tax obligation, or any other form of public support.
(b) "Affordable" shall mean within the economic ability of persons whose income is at or below sixty percent of the area median income for a four-person household to purchase tickets without economic hardship.
(c) "Affordable ticket agreement" shall mean a binding agreement among the state or local authority granting a benefit, the recipient of such benefit, and any other party necessary to give such agreement effect, the terms of which are publicly disclosed not less than thirty days before the state or local authority grants any benefit or undertakes any obligation to grant such benefit. Such agreement shall include provisions to prevent resale of tickets subject to the agreement at prices above face value.
3. Any state or local authority that grants any benefit, for the purpose of construction, reconstruction, repair or rehabilitation of a professional sports facility, shall, as a condition of such benefit, require that at least seven percent of all tickets for each event be subject to an affordable ticket agreement. Furthermore, such benefit shall be conditioned upon a facility policy that limits ticket price increases to no more than two percent annually for the next ten years, if at any time in the last three years season or individual tickets have been offered for sale with cumulative price increases of more than thirty percent.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public authorities law, in relation to enacting the "public benefits for professional facilities act"
Purpose
To require payment of taxes by the owners of Madison Square Garden.
Summary of specific provisions
The bill repeals section 429 of the real property tax law, "real proper- ty used for professional major league sports," to require that the owners of Madison Square Garden pay real property taxes. The Garden currently enjoys a curiously worded exemption from taxes, based on the fact that it meets the following criteria, which are applicable to no other property in New York:
1. It is located in a city with a population of one million or more and used by both a professional major league hockey team which is a member of the National Hockey League and a professional major league basketball team which is a member of the National Basketball Association to play their home games.
2. It is exempt from taxation to the extent that the taxes are the obli- gation by lease or otherwise of the owners of franchises for such teams, provided that such owners enter into a written agreement with the chief executive officer of the municipality in which such property is located to play their home games within such municipality for a period of at least ten consecutive years.
3. The tax exemption is granted on the date the agreement is executed and applies to taxes which become due and payable after the agreement is executed. The Exemption continues as long as both of the professional teams play their home games there and no longer.
4. The exemption also applies to improvements used for the provision of facilities or services related to sports, entertainment, expositions, conventions or trade shows.
5. If one or both of said teams ceases to play their home games at the property at any time, the tax exemption ceases immediately. The amend- ment adds new language to the section, to make it clear that the proper- ty is still subject to taxation, and that the full amount of such taxes are and shall be the obligations of the owners of such property, and may not be made obligations by lease or otherwise of the owners of the teams referred to hereinabove. The amendment also makes it clear that any provision in a lease, agreement, or any other written instrument requir- ing that any such taxes or their equivalent in the form of any charges of any kind whatsoever, imposed by whatever name, be made obligations of the owners of such teams shall he void on and after the effective date of this act as against state policy.
Justification
No exemption is granted in perpetuity. The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the exemption, but to insure that fans are not penalized by the owners of the facility, in the form of passing onto them any charges or other costs as a proxy for the taxes the owners must pay.
Legislative history
2018: S8128/A5500 - REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT:/ referred to real property taxation
2017:A5500- referred to real property taxation
2016:A3421- referred to real property taxation
2015:A3421- referred to real property taxation
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect 90 days after it has become law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.