Assembly Bill A10926

                                BILL NUMBER:A10926

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the state finance law, in relation to
clarifying the definition of the term liabilities with respect to the
period for which an appropriation remains in full force and effect

PURPOSE:
The purpose of this legislation is to authorize the continued payment
for contracts that have already been entered into by the state.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
This legislation amends paragraph (c) of subdivision 3 of section 40 of
the state finance law by clarifying the definition of the term liabil-
ity.

JUSTIFICATION:
Section 40 of the State Finance Law outlines the timeframe for which
appropriations included in the State budget remain in full force and
effect and the date by which such appropriations shall lapse.  Pursuant
to subdivision 3 of such section, all appropriations made for any
purpose currently cease to have force and effect - except for any
liabilities already incurred at the close of the fiscal year.  In the
case of existing liabilities incurred pursuant to a capital projects
appropriation, paragraph (c) of subdivision 3 provides that the final
lapse date for such appropriations is the 15th of September following
the close of the fiscal year. Thus, liabilities for capital projects
              

made pursuant to existing budget appropriations may continue to be paid
out until September of the following fiscal year. However, current law
provides no clear definition of the term "liabilities" as utilized in
subdivision 3 of Section 40 of the State Finance Law. As a result of
this ambiguity, it is unclear exactly what types of obligations may be
construed as a liability against an existing capital projects budget
appropriation. The provisions of this bill would clarify that liabil-
ities shall include payments for work performed or materials furnished
both during the fiscal year and in the timeframe prior to the official
lapse of the capital projects appropriations under which such liabil-
ities are made.

Since April 1, 2010 contractors working on projects throughout the state
of New York have not been getting paid for their work. These contractors
are working with signed agreements between themselves and the state of
New York with the understanding that they would be paid for the work
they are doing. The purpose of this legislation is to ensure that those
payments that have already been agreed to - and planned for - continue
regardless of a late budget. Those workers who are out on our roads and
bridges working to make them safer deserve to be paid for the work they
are doing. Without moving these projects forward, New York's unemploy-
ment rate will approach double digits, and its transportation infras-
tructure will continue to lie in disrepair. For example, funding for
Federal Stimulus projects has helped slow construction job losses from
33,400 in February to 25,400 in March - not authorizing payments to our
contractors threatens to reverse these numbers as contractors cannot

continue to work 'at risk' and may begin to lay-off workers. The prime
duty of government is to protect the people's interests - by withholding
payments to workers who are keeping our roads and bridges safe for trav-
el we are not accomplishing that goal. It is imperative that this legis-
lation be adopted in order to ensure that payment for critical infras-
tructure work will continue this year and in future years - even if a
budget is not adopted by the April 1st deadline.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
The provisions of this bill would result in no additional costs to the
State.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate and shall be deemed to have been in full force and effect on
and after March 31, 2010.