Senate Bill S9169

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S9169

SPONSOR: MURRAY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the real property tax law, in relation to permitting the
legislature to alter or repeal certain private educational institutions'
tax exempt status

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to permit the Legislature to alter or repeal
the property tax exempt status of any private educational institution of
higher learning in certain circumstances.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill adds a new paragraph (c ) to subdivision 1 of
section 420-a of the real property tax law to provide the Legislature
may alter or repeal the property tax exempt status of any private educa-
tional institution of higher learning that fails to take appropriate
disciplinary action against any group or individual using their
              

resources who have knowingly and intentionally establish a culture of
bias or promote acts of discrimination or recklessly endanger the phys-
ical health or safety of others while using such tax exempt property or
resources of the college.

 
EXISTING LAW:

Click here

 
JUSTIFICATION:

NYS Education Law Article 129-A section 6430, requires all colleges in
NY to adopt written rules, i.e., a code of conduct that prohibit actions
or situations which recklessly or intentionally endanger physical
health, and this code of conduct establishes penalties for such
violations. This code of conduct is required to be provided to all
students faculty and other staff, and delineates appropriate penalties
for types of violations of prohibited acts. This code of conduct is
filed with the Education Department by the higher education institution
annually, and becomes part of the bylaws of all organizations operating
on their campus.

NYS Education Law Article 129-A section 6436 requires that bias-related
and hate crime prevention education must be provided to all students on
a college's campus, and requires students to be notified of what appro-
priate disciplinary actions and other penalties, including application
of NYS penal law charges, will be for the specific bias-related and hate
crimes.

NYS Penal Law Section 485.05 outlines parameters of what constitutes a
hate crime, and delineates appropriate charges for such violations.
These parameters include offenses committed against persons due to their
race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or
expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability, or sexual
orientation, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct.


Private colleges and other higher education instutions in this state are
considered not-for-profit institutions under state law. The New York
State Constitution provides that a tax exemption for a not-for-profit
organization in this state may be granted through a general law by the
Legislature. However, the Constitution states the property tax exemption
may not be altered or repealed for those not-for-profit institutions
which are religious, educational, or charitable in nature. This includes
private colleges and other higher education institutions.

Notably, NYS Not-For-Profit Corporation Law, Article 1, Section 109 does
however provide that the Legislature has ultimate oversight of not-for-
profits, including the higher education institutions that have tax
exempt status. This section of Not-For-Profit state law makes them ulti-
mately accountable to the Legislature for their operations in that it
states that "The legislature reserves the right, 'at pleasure' to alter,
amend, suspend or repeal in whole or in part ... I any certificate of
incorporation or any authority to do business in this state, or any
domestic or foreign corporation."

Therefore, since ultimately the Legislature already has the broad
authority to change and even remove the operating authority of non-pro-
fits, including private colleges, it is prudent to allow the Legislature
a role in determining whether the public benefits of higher education
institutions, in this case, namely the tax exemption status they enjoy,
should be reconsidered to determine if the tax exempt status should be
altered or repealed in certain circumstances.

This bill allows that to be done by an act of the Legislature.  This
bill allows the Legislature to publicly vet the actions or inactions of
higher education institutions when they are faced with clear and present
violations of their student codes of conduct related to bias, discrimi-
nation, reckless endangerment of health and safety, and to penal code
protections against hate crimes.

Private colleges should not be able to stand idly by when such
violations are occurring, with no accountability for their failure to
ensure a safe learning environment. Especially when they enjoy public
benefits totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

If an institution enjoys millions of dollars in tax benefits, and is the
recipient of contracts funded with state government and therefore
taxpayer dollars, the Legislature should be able to exercise discretion
on a case by case basis to determine if the higher education institution
should continue to enjoy these public benefits, after it has failed in
its duty to protect its students, staff or others at the college by
neglecting to apply its own policies in response to hateful and criminal
actions by violators.

This bill will hold private colleges accountable for the environment
they support and will allow the elected representatives of the state
legislature the authority to examine the circumstances of violations of
student and campus safety to determine if it is in the public interest
to continue to provide such public tax benefits to them.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the same date as a concurrent resolution
amending the constitution, entitled "CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE
AND ASSEMBLY proposing an amendment to section 1 of article 16 of the
constitution, in relation to real property tax exemptions for certain
educational institutions", takes effect.