Create Senior Housing Authority

Section 1. The elder law is amended by adding a new section 209-a to read as follows:

§ 209-a. The New York state senior housing opportunities partnership act. 1. Short title. This section shall be known and may be cited as the "New York state senior housing opportunities partnership act".

2. Definitions. As used in this section:

a. "Authority" means the New York state senior housing opportunities partnership authority created by this section.

b. "Bank" means any banking organization defined by section two of the banking law that has a market capitalization (determined by multiplying the number of shares times the current market price), of less than two billion dollars.

c. "Senior" means a person who is sixty years of age or older who is the head of a household. Any other provision of any other law to the contrary notwithstanding, including any provision of article fifteen of the executive law, it shall not be unlawful to restrict rental, sale or lease of a senior housing project financed in whole or in part by the authority exclusively to persons sixty years of age or older and the spouse of any such person.

d. "Senior housing opportunities development corporation" means any person, individual, firm, partnership, association, or other entity or collaboration of entities organized or existing under the laws of the state or any other state, domestic or foreign, exclusive of a state agency, undertaking the construction of a senior housing facility.

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

[ ] is old law to be omitted.

LBD06258-01-9

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e. "Senior housing opportunities partnership financing instrument" means any financing instrument, including a bank loan, bonds and notes, or credit enhancement issued or purchased by or on behalf of a senior housing opportunities development corporation for a senior housing opportunities facility.

f. "Senior housing opportunities facility" means any structure, improvement, furnishing, equipment or other real or personal property that is or is to be used, owned or occupied in whole or in excess of fifty percent by housing for seniors, whether as rental or owner-occupied housing. Senior housing facility means and includes, but is not limited to naturally occurring retirement communities (as defined in section two hundred nine of this title, or any successor thereto), market-rate independent living, adult home (as defined in section two of the social services law), as well as any and all recreational, educational, cultural, office, living, rehearsal, parking, restaurant, retail, storage and other facilities necessary or desirable in connection with the activities of the senior facility. For purposes of this section, owneroccupied means and includes any provision or instrument that allows a senior to own or to eventually own their living unit such that it becomes an owner-occupied living unit, including through such means as direct purchase, reverse-mortgage, lease-to-own, subsidized mortgage, or any similar provision allowing for transfer of title of the living unit to a senior; owner-occupied living unit means and includes any unit which is or will upon completion or shortly thereafter be occupied by the purchasing senior, including condominium or cooperative units. Notwithstanding any implication of the foregoing, senior housing facility shall be deemed to mean and include scattered site housing, or housing units scattered throughout a neighborhood or an area which is broadly defined by traditional neighborhood or community boundaries, and where appropriate, bounded by major natural or man-made physical boundaries, such as bodies of water, railroad lines, or limited access highways.

g. "Senior housing opportunities facility project" means a project to construct a senior housing opportunities facility, including all buildings, systems, facilities, appurtenances, machinery and equipment which the authority deems necessary for the operation of the project.

h. "Project" means and includes the site or sites for a senior housing opportunities facility project, which may be composed of non-contiguous parcels, together with all property, rights, easements and interests, on or off such site or sites, which may be required for the operation of the project.

i. "Activities in a project which may be financed by the authority" means all activities necessary to the successful development and placing in operation of the project, including but not limited to the costs of:

(1) construction of the project;

(2) acquisition of property, both real and personal and improved and unimproved;

(3) demolishing, removing or relocating buildings or structures on lands acquired, including acquisition of any lands to which such buildings or structures may be moved or relocated;

(4) systems, facilities, machinery and equipment;

(5) financing charges, interest prior to and during construction;

(6) professional services, including engineering and architectural services, plans and specifications, consultants' and legal services, lease guarantee or bond insurance, fiscal and economic investigations, studies, surveys, designs, plans, drawings, specifications, procedures,

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and other such similar activities related thereto, regardless of when completed, as well as the costs of a project manager or clerk-of-theworks or other such similar personnel;

(7) all or part of the initial operational expenses, provided these do not exceed two years duration;

(8) development, contingency, and other financial plan costs; and

(9) any other expenses necessary or incidental to the construction of such project and the financing of its construction.

j. "Real property" means and includes lands, structures, franchises and interests in land, waters, lands under water, riparian rights and air-rights and any and all things and rights included within said term and includes not only fees simple absolute but also any and all lesser interests including but not limited to easements, rights of way, uses, leases, licenses and all other incorporeal hereditaments and every estate, interest or right, legal or equitable, including terms for years and liens thereon by way of judgments, mortgages or otherwise.

k. "State agency" means any officer, authority, corporation, department, board, commission, bureau, division, public benefit corporation, council, agency or instrumentality of the state.

3. New York state senior housing opportunities partnership authority. a. The New York state senior housing opportunities partnership authority is hereby created as a body corporate and politic constituting a public benefit authority. Its purpose shall be to finance or collaborate in the financing of senior housing opportunities facility projects for or on behalf of senior housing opportunities development corporations, as provided in this section. The authority may make loans or provide credit for loans which may be secured by mortgage, contracts, or provide other financing instruments to senior housing opportunities development corporations in accordance with the provisions of this article. It is hereby found and declared that such purposes are in all respects for the benefit of the people of the state of New York and the authority shall be regarded as performing an essential governmental function in carrying out its purposes and in exercising the powers granted by this section.

b. Membership of the authority shall consist of seven directors, of whom six shall be appointed by the governor by and with the advice and consent of the senate, two of whom shall be so appointed on recommendation of the temporary president of the senate, and two on recommendation of the speaker of the assembly. Each director shall at the time of appointment have had at least five years experience in finance, as an officer in an entity in which he or she served as a banker or investment banker, and/or as a developer of senior housing or other projects for seniors with a development cost in excess of five million dollars. Directors shall serve for terms of six years each, provided, however, that of the directors first appointed, two shall serve for terms of two years, two for terms of four years and two for terms of six years, respectively, from January first next succeeding their appointment. Any vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of term shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment for the balance of the unexpired term. The director of the office for the aging shall serve as ex officio member with the same rights and duties as other members, and shall also be the chair of the authority and chief executive officer of the authority, and shall appoint such vice-chairman as he or she deems appropriate. Directors of the authority shall continue in office until their successors are appointed and shall have qualified. A director, on his or her initiative, may acquire by loaned employee from the office for the aging, through the powers provided him or her, no more than two

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officers and employees, plus administrative-secretarial support staff as required, the duties and work of whom are hereby declared to be an essential state purpose, and who shall suffer no diminution of their compensation or benefits as result of such assignment, provided that no such transfer be made except with the approval of the director of the budget, and in compliance with the rules and regulations of the civil service commission of the state; and may retain or employ counsel, auditors, engineers and private consultants on a contract basis or otherwise for rendering professional or technical services and advice.

c. Directors shall receive no salary or other compensation, but shall be entitled to reimbursement for their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of official duties. Any other provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, no officer or employee of the state, or of any civil division thereof, shall be deemed to have forfeited or shall forfeit his or her office or employment or any benefits provided under the retirement and social security law by reason of acceptance of membership on the authority, provided, however, that a director who holds such other public office or employment shall receive no additional compensation for services rendered pursuant to this article, but shall be entitled to reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of such services. Directors may engage in private employment, or in a profession or business, subject to the limitations contained in sections seventy-three and seventy-four of the public officers law. The authority shall, for the purposes of sections seventy-three and seventy-four of the public officers law, be a state agency, and its directors shall be officers of the authority for the purposes of said sections.

d. Four directors of the authority shall constitute a quorum for transaction of business or the exercise of any power of the authority. For the transaction of business or the exercise of any power of the authority, the authority shall have power to act by majority of the directors present at any meeting at which a quorum is in attendance. The authority may delegate to one or more of its directors, or its officers, agents and employees, such powers and duties as it may deem proper. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall prevent the directors from conducting their meetings by televideo or teleconference, or by telephone conference, provided that at least three directors of the authority shall be physically present.

e. The governor may remove any director for inefficiency, neglect of duty or misconduct in office after giving him or her a copy of the charges against him or her and an opportunity to be heard, in person or by counsel in his or her defense, upon not less than ten days' notice. If any director shall be so removed, the governor shall file in the office of the department of state a complete statement of charges made against such director, and his or her findings thereon, together with a complete record of the proceedings.

f. The authority shall continue so long as it shall have bonds or other obligations outstanding and until its existence shall be terminated by law. Upon the termination of the existence of the authority, all its rights and properties shall pass to and be vested in the state.

4. Powers of the authority. Except as otherwise limited by this section, the authority shall have power:

a. To sue and be sued;

b. To have a seal and alter the same at pleasure;

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c. To borrow money and issue negotiable or non-negotiable notes, bonds or other obligations, to the limits and for the purposes described in this section, and to provide for the rights of the holders thereof;