What's happening
This bill creates an Emergency Financial Relief Fund allowing voluntary tax return contributions to support New Yorkers affected by federal government shutdowns.
Why it matters
Creates a dedicated fund for rapid assistance. The bill establishes a formal mechanism for collecting and distributing financial relief to New Yorkers directly impacted by federal government shutdowns, which can help reduce financial instability for affected workers and organizations.
Matches public contributions with state funds. Any voluntary donations made through tax returns are matched by the state, effectively doubling the resources available for emergency relief and encouraging greater community participation.
Covers both individuals and organizations. Relief is not limited to federal employees—it also includes employees of federal contractors and non-profit organizations with federal contracts, recognizing the broader ripple effects of federal shutdowns on New York’s economy.
Mandates transparency and oversight. Annual public reports detail how funds are collected, distributed, and used, ensuring accountability in the administration of relief and allowing taxpayers to see the impact of their voluntary contributions.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Create Emergency Relief Fund
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to budget and revenue
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
7769
IN SENATE
February 18, 2020
Introduced by Sen. BENJAMIN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Budget and Revenue
AN ACT to amend the tax law and the state finance law, in relation to the creation of the emergency financial relief fund
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The tax law is amended by adding a new section 630-h to read as follows:
§ 630-h. Gift for emergency financial relief. Effective for any tax year commencing on or after January first, two thousand tewnty, an individual and/or business in any taxable year may elect to contribute to the emergency financial relief fund. Such contribution shall be in any whole dollar amount and shall not include or reduce the amount of state tax owed by such individual or business. The commissioner shall include space on the personal income and business income tax returns to enable a taxpayer to make such contribution. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all revenues collected pursuant to this section shall be credited to the emergency financial relief fund and used only for the purposes enumerated in section eighty-nine-j of the state finance law.
§ 2. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 89-j to read as follows:
§ 89-j. Emergency financial relief fund. 1. There is hereby established in joint custody of the state comptroller, the commissioner of taxation and finance, and the commissioner of labor a special fund to be known as the emergency financial relief fund.
2. The emergency financial relief fund shall consist of revenues received by the department of taxation and finance, pursuant to the provisions of section six hundred thirty-h of the tax law, and all other monies appropriated, credited, or transferred thereto from any other fund or source pursuant to law. For each state fiscal year, there shall be appropriated to the fund by the state, in addition to all other monies required to be deposited into such fund, an amount equal to the amounts of monies collected and deposited into the fund pursuant to section six hundred thirty-h of the tax law, and the amounts of monies
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09744-03-0
S. 7769 2
received and deposited into the fund from grants, gifts and bequests during the preceding calendar year, as certified by the comptroller. Nothing in this section shall prevent the state from soliciting and receiving grants, gifts or bequests for the purposes of the fund as set forth in this section and depositing them into the fund in accordance with applicable law.
3. The New York state department of labor shall administer the fund, and shall develop and implement rules and procedures, including rules relating to eligibility for and disbursement of awards, for providing emergency financial relief to any qualified person from the fund. For purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (a) a "qualified person" shall mean (i) a federal employee or an employee of a contractor of the federal government, who is a resident of this state, and required to work without compensation or placed on unpaid leave as a result of a covered lapse in appropriations, or (ii) a non-profit organization licensed to do business in this state, with a contract to provide services to the federal government, and that is not providing such services as a result of a covered lapse in appropriations, and (b) a "covered lapse in appropriations" shall mean any lapse in appropriations by the United States government that begins on or after December twenty-second, two thousand eighteen.
4. On or before the first day of February each year, the New York state department of labor shall provide a written report to the governor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the chair of the senate committee on labor, and the chair of the assembly committee on labor. Such report shall be made available to the public on the New York state department of labor's website. Such report shall include how the monies of the fund were utilized during the preceding calendar year and shall include:
(a) the amount of money disbursed from the fund;
(b) the recipients of awards from the fund;
(c) the amount awarded to each recipient;
(d) the purposes for which such awards were granted; and
(e) a summary financial plan for such monies which shall include estimates of all receipts and all disbursements for the current and succeeding fiscal years, along with the actual results from the prior fiscal year.
5. On or before the first day of February of each calendar year, the comptroller shall certify to the governor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the chair of the senate committee on labor, and the chair of the assembly committee on labor, the amount of money deposited in the emergency financial relief fund during the preceding calendar year as a result of the revenue derived pursuant to section six hundred thirty-h of the tax law, and from all grants, gifts and bequests.
6. Monies of the fund shall be expended only for purposes of compensating a qualified person as determined by the New York state department of labor.
7. Monies shall be paid out of the fund on the audit and warrant of the comptroller on vouchers approved and certified by the New York state department of labor. Any interest received by the comptroller on deposit in the emergency financial relief fund shall be retained in and become part of such fund.
§ 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 tax law and the state finance law, in relation to the creation of the emergency financial relief fund
Purpose
The creation of the Non-profit Organizational relief fund to support New York organizations facing economic uncertainty in times of non-guaran- teed federal funding, such as periods of government shutdown. This bill gives the Department of Taxation and Finance, in union with the Depart- ment of Labor and the State Comptroller, jurisdiction to provide neces- sary financial relief to qualified nonprofit organizations, defined as 'a nonprofit organization that does not receive funding from the United States as a result of a covered lapse in appropriations.'
Summary of provisions
Section one amends tax law by adding section 630-h to state that any individual and/or business in a taxable year may elect to contribute to the Non-profit Organizational Relief Fund by establishment of a dedi- cated space on tax returns for allocating gift monies paid to non-pro- fits based in New York State that are federally funded.
Section two amends state finance law by adding section 99-ff to state that there is joint custody over the gift fund amongst the state comp- troller, the commissioner of taxation and finance, as well as the commissioner of labor. Additionally,in any fiscal year for which there is a covered lapse in federal appropriations, there shall be an amount appropriated by the state that matches the amount of gift monies collected through taxation for the Non-Profit Organizational Relief fund, not including any gifts, grants, or bequests that may have accumu- lated in the preceding calendar year. In fiscal years where there is no coverage for lapse in federal appropriations, the state retains the right to appropriate monies as is necessary for the fund to operate. The Department of Labor is responsible for administering and setting the rules and procedures of the Fund, not limited to eligibility rules and disbursement.
Justification
While many non-profits operate from New York State funding, organiza- tions reliant upon federal funds do not have the same economic safety net as those that are state funded in times of federal lapses in appro- priations and/or government shutdowns. The creation of the Non-Profit Organizational Relief Fund ensures that federally funded organizations can still remain operational in times of federal shutdown.
Legislative history
New Bill
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Local fiscal implications
None
Effective date
Effective immediately as of January 1, 2020
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.