§ 1680-g. Child care facilities development program; authority
financing of eligible child care facilities development projects. 1. The
dormitory authority is hereby authorized to finance eligible child care
facilities development projects which are intended to serve the needs of
low-income working families or an area with demonstrated child care need
or to provide care for children through the age of twelve years and
enrolled in school following the completion of the school day or the
school year. Such projects shall be used as licensed or registered
forms of child care for a period of at least ten years with an average
of twenty-five percent of its available child care slots set aside for
families eligible for low-income child care subsidies or for referrals
of low-income or public assistance families from local social services
districts. Such project shall have a useful life of at least ten years.

2. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to
the contrary, and subject to the making of annual appropriations
therefor by the legislature, in order to assist the dormitory authority
in providing for the financing of eligible child care facilities
development projects, the director of the budget is authorized in any
state fiscal year commencing April first, nineteen hundred ninety-nine
or any state fiscal year thereafter to enter into one or more service
contracts, none of which shall exceed thirty years in duration, with the
dormitory authority, upon such terms as the director of the budget and
the dormitory authority agree.

(b) Any service contract entered into pursuant to paragraph (a) of
this subdivision or any payments made or to be made thereunder may be
assigned and pledged by the dormitory authority as security for its
bonds, notes, or other obligations.

(c) Any such service contracts shall provide that the obligation of
the director of the budget or of the state to fund or to pay the amounts
therein provided for shall not constitute a debt of the state within the
meaning of any constitutional or statutory provision in the event the
dormitory authority assigns or pledges the service contract payments as
security for its bonds, notes, or other obligations and shall be deemed
executory only to the extent monies are available and that no liability
shall be incurred by the state beyond the monies available for the
purpose, and that such obligation is subject to annual appropriations by
the legislature.

(d) Any service contract or contracts entered into pursuant to this
subdivision shall provide for state commitments to provide annually to
the dormitory authority a sum or sums, upon such terms and conditions as
shall be deemed appropriate by the director of the budget, to fund the
principal, interest, or other related payments required for any bonds,
notes, or other obligations of the dormitory authority issued pursuant
to this section.

3. The dormitory authority in conjunction with the office of children
and family services shall develop a request for applications soliciting
potential applicants seeking assistance for the development of licensed
child care center projects. The office of children and family services
shall receive, initially review, and assess applications to determine
which projects should be referred to the authority and to rank by groups
the referred projects according to the capacity of such projects to meet
identified needs for child care. In assessing such applications, the
office of children and family services shall consider:

(a) the needs for child care services in the area;

(b) the potential viability for a child care center to succeed in the
area;

(c) the qualifications of the proposed provider to operate the
proposed child care center;

(d) the potential for meeting applicable regulatory requirements;

(e) the appropriateness of the site for licensing as a child care
center; and

(f) such other matters as the office of children and family services
determines necessary to properly and completely evaluate an application.

Upon the timely completion of the office of children and family
services' initial review and selection of applications meeting criteria,
the office shall submit such selected applications and the group
rankings of such applications to the dormitory authority which shall
select grant recipients.

4. (a) The dormitory authority shall, from any appropriations made
available for this purpose, establish a child care facilities
development program that shall offer child care facilities development
grants pursuant to paragraphs (d), (e) and (f) of this subdivision.

(b) Financing for child care facilities development projects
authorized pursuant to this section shall only be made upon the
determination by the authority, in consultation with the office of
children and family services, that such a center or school-age program
will increase supply and access to child care. Such centers or
school-age programs shall demonstrate the potential to obtain from the
office of children and family services and other appropriate
governmental agencies, all necessary approvals, licenses, and other
supports to operate the center.

(c) Such financing shall consist of grants for the establishment,
expansion, and development of licensed child care centers.

(d) Grants shall be used for general project development costs,
including but not limited to: (i) the acquisition, design, construction,
improvement, or renovation of the site, and (ii) the purchase of
necessary equipment.

(e) For the purposes of this subdivision, grants shall not exceed
ninety percent of the total project costs. Child care facilities
development grants shall not be limited to funds appropriated therefor
and may consist of monies from any source, public or private, made
available for such grants.

(f) Child care facilities development grants awarded pursuant to this
section shall be available for not-for-profit child care facilities
development projects owned or to be owned by not-for-profit corporations
for use as child day care centers that will be duly approved, licensed,
inspected, supervised, and regulated as may be determined to be
necessary and appropriate by the authority.

5. (a) To obtain funds for the purposes of this section, the authority
shall have power from time to time to issue negotiable bonds or notes.
Unless the context shall clearly indicate otherwise, whenever the words
"bond" or "bonds" are used in this section, such words shall include a
note or notes of the authority.

(b) The dormitory authority shall not issue any bonds or notes in an
amount in excess of thirty million dollars for the purposes of this
section; excluding bonds or notes issued to fund one or more debt
service reserve funds, to pay costs of issuance of such bonds, and bonds
or notes issued to refund or otherwise repay such bonds or notes
previously issued. Except for purposes of complying with the internal
revenue code, any interest on bond proceeds shall only be used to pay
debt service on such bonds.

(c) In computing for the purposes of paragraph (b) of this
subdivision, the aggregate amount of indebtedness evidenced by bonds and
notes of the dormitory authority issued pursuant to this title, there
shall be excluded the amount of such indebtedness represented by such
bonds or notes issued to refund or otherwise repay bonds or notes,
provided that the amount so excluded under this paragraph may exceed the
principal amount of such bonds or notes that were issued to refund or
otherwise repay only if the present value of the aggregate debt service
on the refunding or repayment bonds or notes shall not have at the time
of their issuance exceeded the present value of the aggregate debt
service of the bonds or notes they were issued to refund or repay, such
present value in each case being calculated by using the effective
interest rate of the refunding or repayment bonds or notes, which shall
be that rate arrived at by doubling the semi-annual interest rate
(compounded semi-annually) necessary to discount the debt service
payments on the refunding or repayment bonds or notes from the payment
date thereof to the date of issue of the refunding or repayment bonds or
notes and to the price bid therefor, or to the proceeds received by the
dormitory authority from the sale thereof, in each case including
estimated accrued interest.

(d) The state of New York hereby covenants with the purchasers,
holders and owners from time to time of the bonds of the authority
issued pursuant to this section that it will not, subject to the
provisions of subparagraph (c) of subdivision two of this section,
repeal, revoke, rescind, modify or amend the provisions of this section
which relate to the making of annual service contract payments to the
authority with respect to such bonds as to limit, impair or impede the
rights and remedies granted to bondholders under this title or otherwise
diminish the security pledged to such purchasers, holders and owners or
significantly impair the prospect of payment of any such bond.