Senate Bill S5231

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  5231

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                             April 27, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  SAVINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor

AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to hours, wages, and  supple-
  ments  for  work on public work projects including charter schools and
  to amend the education law,  in  relation  to  contracts  for  charter
  school   construction  and  collective  bargaining  representation  of
  employees in certain charter schools

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.  Subdivision 2 of section 220 of the labor law, as amended
by chapter 678 of the laws of 2007, is amended to read as follows:
  2. Each contract, LEASE, GRANT,  BOND,  COVENANT,  DEBT  AGREEMENT  OR
PERMIT to which the state or a public benefit corporation or a municipal
corporation  or  a  commission appointed pursuant to law OR AN EDUCATION
CORPORATION ORGANIZED TO OPERATE A CHARTER SCHOOL is a  party,  and  any
contract  for  public work entered into by a third party acting in place
of, on behalf of and for the benefit of such public entity  pursuant  to
any  lease,  permit  or other agreement between such third party and the
public entity, and which may involve the employment of laborers, workers
or mechanics shall contain a stipulation  that  no  laborer,  worker  or
mechanic  in the employ of the contractor, subcontractor or other person
doing or contracting to do the whole or a part of the work  contemplated
by  the  contract shall be permitted or required to work more than eight
hours in any one calendar day or more than five days  in  any  one  week
except  in  cases  of  extraordinary  emergency including fire, flood or
danger to life or property. No such person shall  be  so  employed  more
than  eight  hours  in  any  day  or more than five days in any one week
except in such emergency. Extraordinary emergency within the meaning  of
this  section  shall be deemed to include situations in which sufficient
laborers, workers and mechanics cannot be employed to  carry  on  public
work  expeditiously  as a result of such restrictions upon the number of

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD10448-01-9
              

S. 5231                             2

hours and days of labor and the immediate commencement or prosecution or
completion without undue delay of the public work is  necessary  in  the
judgment  of  the commissioner for the preservation of the contract site
and  for  the  protection  of the life and limb of the persons using the
same. Upon the application of any person  interested,  the  commissioner
shall make a determination as to whether or not on any public project or
on  all  public projects in any area of this state, sufficient laborers,
workers and mechanics of any or all classifications can be  employed  to
carry  on work expeditiously if their labor is restricted to eight hours
per day and five days per week, and in the event that  the  commissioner
determines that there are not sufficient workers, laborers and mechanics
of  any  or  all  classifications which may be employed to carry on such
work expeditiously if their labor is restricted to eight hours  per  day
and five days per week, and the immediate commencement or prosecution or
completion  without  undue  delay of the public work is necessary in the
judgment of the commissioner for the preservation of the  contract  site
and  for  the  protection  of the life and limb of the persons using the
same, the commissioner shall grant a dispensation permitting all  labor-
ers,  workers  and  mechanics,  or  any classification of such laborers,
workers and mechanics, to work such additional hours or days per week on
such public project or in such areas the commissioner  shall  determine.
Whenever  such  a  dispensation  is granted, all work in excess of eight
hours per day and five days per week shall be considered overtime  work,
and  the  laborers,  workers and mechanics performing such work shall be
paid a premium wage commensurate with the premium  wages  prevailing  in
the  area  in which the work is performed. No such dispensation shall be
effective with respect to any public work unless and until  the  depart-
ment  of  jurisdiction,  as  defined  in  this section, certifies to the
commissioner that such public work is of an important nature and that  a
delay  in carrying it to completion would result in serious disadvantage
to the public. Time lost in any week because  of  inclement  weather  by
employees engaged in the construction, reconstruction and maintenance of
highways  outside  of  the  limits of cities and villages may be made up
during that week and/or the succeeding three weeks.
  S 2. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 2853 of  the  education
law,  as  amended  by section 4 of part D-2 of chapter 57 of the laws of
2007, is amended to read as follows:
  (a) A charter school may be located in  part  of  an  existing  public
school  building,  in space provided on a private work site, in a public
building or in any other suitable location. Provided, however, before  a
charter  school  may  be  located  in  part of an existing public school
building, the charter entity shall provide  notice  to  the  parents  or
guardians  of the students then enrolled in the existing school building
and shall hold a public hearing for purposes of discussing the  location
of  the  charter  school.    ALL  CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO BY SUCH CHARTER
SCHOOL, OR ANY EDUCATION CORPORATION  ORGANIZED  TO  OPERATE  A  CHARTER
SCHOOL,  OR ANY OTHER PUBLIC ENTITY, INCLUDING THE STATE, A PUBLIC BENE-
FIT CORPORATION, MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, OR ANY PRIVATE ENTITY ACTING  ON
BEHALF  OF  ANY  OF  THESE  ENTITIES, INVOLVING THE CONSTRUCTION, RECON-
STRUCTION, DEMOLITION, EXCAVATION, REHABILITATION,  REPAIR,  RENOVATION,
OR  ALTERATION  OF  ANY  CHARTER SCHOOL FACILITY SHALL BE SUBJECT TO THE
REQUIREMENTS OF SECTION ONE HUNDRED THREE OF THE GENERAL  MUNICIPAL  LAW
AND  ARTICLES EIGHT AND NINE OF THE LABOR LAW. A charter school may own,
lease or rent its space. For purposes of local zoning,  land  use  regu-
lation  and building code compliance, a charter school shall be deemed a
nonpublic school.

S. 5231                             3

  S 3. Paragraph (b-1) of subdivision 3 of section 2854 of the education
law, as amended by section 6 of part D-2 of chapter 57 of  the  laws  of
2007, is amended to read as follows:
  (b-1)  The employees of a charter school that is not a conversion from
an existing public school shall not be deemed members  of  any  existing
collective bargaining unit representing employees of the school district
in  which  the charter school is located, and the charter school and its
employees shall not be subject to  any  existing  collective  bargaining
agreement  between  the  school  district  and  its employees. Provided,
however, that (i) if the student enrollment of the charter school on the
first day on which the  charter  school  commences  student  instruction
exceeds  two hundred fifty or if the average daily student enrollment of
such school exceeds two hundred fifty students at any point  during  the
first  two years after the charter school commences student instruction,
all employees of the school who are eligible  for  representation  under
article  fourteen of the civil service law shall be deemed to be repres-
ented in a separate negotiating unit at the charter school by  the  same
employee  organization,  if  any,  that represents like employees in the
school district in which  such  charter  school  is  located;  (ii)  the
provisions  of subparagraph (i) of this paragraph may be waived in up to
ten charters issued on the recommendation  of  the  charter  entity  set
forth  in  paragraph  (b)  of  subdivision three of section twenty-eight
hundred fifty-one of this article; [(iii) the provisions of subparagraph
(i) of this paragraph shall not be applicable to the renewal  or  exten-
sion  of  a charter;] and [(iv)] (III) nothing in this sentence shall be
construed to subject a charter school subject to the provisions of  this
paragraph  or  its  employees  to  any  collective  bargaining agreement
between any public school district and its  employees  or  to  make  the
employees  of  such  charter school part of any negotiating unit at such
school district. [The charter school may, in its sole discretion, choose
whether or not to offer the terms of any existing collective  bargaining
to school employees.]
  S  4.  This act shall take effect immediately, provided, however, that
the amendments to subdivision two of section 220 of the labor  law  made
by  section  one  of  this  act  shall not affect the expiration of such
subdivision and shall be deemed to expire therewith.