What's happening
This bill creates a dedicated endowment fund to hire full-time faculty and staff at SUNY and CUNY campuses.
Why it matters
Creates a dedicated, protected funding source. The endowment is structured so its principal remains untouched, with only investment earnings being spent—helping to ensure long-term, stable funding for hiring full-time faculty and staff rather than relying on annual budget battles.
Targets resources directly to instruction. By explicitly preventing funds from being used for research foundations or affiliated entities, the bill aims to focus new hiring on teaching and student-facing positions, not administrative or external research staff.
Promotes equity among campuses and adjuncts. Funds must be distributed to every campus within SUNY and CUNY systems, ensuring no campus is left out, and hiring preference is given to current part-time or contingent faculty and staff—addressing job insecurity among adjuncts.
Links funding to student enrollment. Disbursements to SUNY and CUNY are proportional to student population, aligning resources with demand and potentially addressing disparities in faculty-to-student ratios across campuses.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Fund Full-Time College Hiring
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to finance
- Referred to finance
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Fund More College Professors
In Assembly Committee · Higher Education · Sponsor Deborah Glick
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5740
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 14, 2019
Introduced by Sen. MAY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance
AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in relation to establishing the public higher education quality initiative endowment fund; and to repeal section 92-ee of such law relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 92-ee of the state finance law is REPEALED and a new section 92-ee is added to read as follows:
§ 92-ee. Public higher education quality initiative endowment fund. 1. There is hereby established in the custody of the comptroller a fund to be known as the "public higher education quality initiative endowment", hereinafter, "the endowment." Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, all of the assets and income of the endowment shall be held and invested by the comptroller as the sole trustee of such endowment, except such income as may be allocated or distributed by the comptroller pursuant to appropriation.
2. The endowment shall consist of amounts appropriated or transferred into such endowment, and any other amounts as may be deposited in the endowment from any other public or private sources. Amounts appropriated to, transferred to, or deposited into the endowment shall be dedicated to the sole purpose of hiring full-time faculty and professional staff at the state university of New York, the city university of New York and their community colleges and shall not be used to hire additional research faculty or staff to be employed at the state university of New York research foundation, city university of New York research foundation or any campus foundation or affiliated entity of the state university of New York or city university of New York. Provided further, moneys in the endowment may not be interchanged or commingled with any other account or fund.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05003-02-9
S. 5740 2
3. The full amount of the principal of the endowment shall be preserved and annual payments shall be made from the investment earnings of the endowment for the sole purpose of hiring full-time faculty and professional staff at the state university of New York, the city university of New York and their community colleges pursuant to subdivision two of this section.
4. The amount of annual payments from investment earnings disbursed to the state university of New York and the city university of New York shall be proportional to the number of students enrolled system-wide at each public higher education system. The annual amount of money disbursed to the state university of New York and the city university of New York shall be allocated to the campuses within such respective university system.
5. Allocation of endowment money to the campuses at the state university of New York and city university of New York must, at a minimum, provide that every campus in such public higher education systems receives an annual allocation of funds.
6. The state university of New York and the city university of New York shall give first preference to qualified part-time or contingent faculty or qualified part-time or contingent professional staff when hiring additional full-time faculty or professional staff.
§ 2. This act shall take effect April 1, 2020.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the state finance law, in relation to establishing the public higher education quality initiative endowment fund; and to repeal section 92-ee of such law relating thereto
Purpose
To establish a public higher education quality initiative endowment fund to be controlled by the comptroller that shall be used solely for the purpose of hiring full-time faculty and professional staff at the State University of New York, the City University of New York and their commu- nity colleges.
Summary of provisions
Section 1. Section 92-ee of the state finance law is repealed and a new section 92-ee is added that establishes a higher education quality initiative endowment fund. The comptroller shall be the sole trustee of the endowment.
Section 2: Effective date.
Justification
For too long, our public higher education systems have suffered cuts in the amount of resources provided by the state. This lack of funds, along with growing enrollment, has caused more adjunct faculty to be hired instead of full time faculty. Both SUNY and CUNY have lamented the fact that their fiscal status prevents replacing adjunct faculty with full time faculty at a faster rate. It is though t that additional funds from the endowment could assist the systems in this regard.
Fiscal impact
To be determined
Legislative history
2017-18: S2074-A REF TO FINANCE/ A3648-A Passed Assembly 2015-16: S275-A REF TO FINANCE/ A 5368-A Passed Assembly 2013-14: S7807 REF TO FINANCE/ A 10010 Ref to Higher Education
Effective date
April 1, 2020
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.