NY State Senate Bill 2021-S5251

Senate Bill S5251

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Exempts certain distributions of revenues from the twelve-county/downstate portion of the metropolitan mass transportation operating assistance account from certain reductions

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to finance
Feb 26, 2021	referred to finance

2021-S5251 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Finance
Law Section:: State Finance Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §23, St Fin L

2021-S5251 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Exempts certain distributions of revenues from the twelve-county/downstate portion of the metropolitan mass transportation operating assistance account from certain reductions.

2021-S5251 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S5251

SPONSOR: COMRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the state finance law, in relation to exempting certain
distributions of revenues from the twelve-county/downstate portion of
the metropolitan mass transportation operating assistance account from
certain reductions

 
PURPOSE:

This bill protects funds that are reserved and dedicated for mass trans-
portation purposes in downstate New York from being reduced and diverted
for any reason through the state budget negotiations process.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one amends subdivision 7 of section 23 of the state finance law,
as added by section 24 of part JJ of chapter 56 of the laws of 2020.

Section two states that the law shall take effect immediately after
becoming law; provided that the amendments to subdivision 7 of section
23 of the state finance law made by section one of the act shall not
affect the repeal of such subdivision and shall be deemed repealed ther-
ewith.

 
EXISTING LAW:

The State Finance Law exempts certain appropriations from being reduced,
including public assistance payments for families, federally-protected
appropriations, payments of debt service, and payments which the state
is obligated to pay pursuant to court orders or judgements.

Section 182 of the Executive Law provides that the diversion of funds
dedicated to public transportation systems to the general fund of the
state or to any other purpose is prohibited.

Paragraph 2 of section 182 of the Executive law prohibits the director
of the budget, or any person in the executive branch from diverting
certain funds, including those established by section eighty-eight-a
(Mass Transportation Operating Assistance Fund), eighty-nine-c (Dedi-
cated Mass Transportation Trust Fund), and ninety-two-ff (Metropolitan
Transportation Authority Financial Assistance Fund) of the state finance
law.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The Executive subverts current law by diverting dedicated funds.
Current law (Section 182/Executive Law) prohibits Executive from divert-
ing dedicated funds (including, MTOA/MMTOA, the Mass Transportation
Trust Fund (MTTF), among other "dedicated" transportation funds) to the
general fund or to be used for other purposes, except during extraor-
dinary circumstances so long "diversion impact statement" is provided.
The MMTOA as a result is routinely "raided" and diverted as part of
broader emergency budget cuts in times of crises. In times of crises and
in times of normalcy, funds statutorily dedicated for a specific cause
must not be redirected for any other purpose.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate.

2021-S5251 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5251
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 26, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  COMRIE -- 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 exempting  certain
   distributions  of revenues from the twelve-county/downstate portion of
   the metropolitan mass transportation operating assistance account from
   certain reductions
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision  7 of section 23 of the state finance law, as
 added by section 24 of part JJ of chapter 56 of the  laws  of  2020,  is
 amended to read as follows:
   (d)  The  following  types of appropriations shall be exempt from such
 reduction pursuant to this subdivision: (i) public  assistance  payments
 for  families  and individuals and payments for eligible aged, blind and
 disabled persons related  to  supplemental  social  security;  (ii)  any
 reductions  that  would  violate  federal  law;  (iii)  payments of debt
 service and related expenses for which  the  state  is  constitutionally
 obligated  to pay debt service or is contractually obligated to pay debt
 service, subject to an appropriation, including where the  state  has  a
 contingent  contractual  obligation;  [and]  (iv)  payments the state is
 obligated to make  pursuant  to  court  orders  or  judgments;  AND  (V)
 DISTRIBUTIONS  OF  REVENUES  FROM THE TWELVE-COUNTY/DOWNSTATE PORTION OF
 THE METROPOLITAN MASS TRANSPORTATION  OPERATING  ASSISTANCE  ACCOUNT  AS
 DEFINED BY SUBDIVISION SEVEN OF SECTION EIGHTY-EIGHT-A OF THIS CHAPTER.
   §  2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend-
 ments to subdivision 7 of section 23 of the state finance  law  made  by
 section  one of this act shall not affect the repeal of such subdivision
 and shall be deemed repealed therewith.
 
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD02774-01-1

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.