New York Urban Development Corporation Act 174/68
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Urban Development Corporation Act 174/68
Chapter 174 of the laws of 1968
Section 1. Short title.
2. Statement of legislative findings and purposes.
3. Definitions.
4. New York state urban development corporation.
5. Powers of the corporation.
6. Sale or lease of land use improvement projects.
*6-a. Sale or lease of infrastructure projects.
* NB Not implemented due to defeat of the Jobs for the
new, New York bond act in November, 1992
7. Sale or lease of residential projects.
8. Sale or lease of industrial projects.
9. Sale or lease of civic projects.
9-a. Financial assistance for small and medium-sized business
assistance projects.
9-b.
9-c. Rules and regulations.
9-d. Reports and evaluation.
9-e. Creating a Puerto Rican and Latino business development
center.
10. Findings of the corporation.
11. Construction contracts.
12. Subsidiaries: how created.
13. Acquisition of real property.
13-a. Conveyance of state lands.
14. Acquisition of real property from a municipality or an
urban renewal agency.
15. Special provisions relating to residential projects.
16. Cooperation with municipalities.
16-a. Regional revolving loan trust fund.
16-b. Job retention and defense industry working capital loan
program.
16-c. Minority- and women-owned business development and
lending program.
16-d. Urban and community development program.
16-e. Regional economic development partnership program.
16-f. Bonding guarantee assistance program.
16-g. Child care facilities construction program.
16-h. The JOBS Now program is hereby created.
16-i. The empire state economic development fund.
16-j. Strategic training alliance program.
16-k. Capital access program.
16-l. Rural revitalization program.
16-m. The empire state economic development fund.
17. Bonds and notes of the corporation.
18. Bond authorization.
19. Security for bonds or notes; construction and
acquisition of projects.
20. Reserve funds and appropriations.
21. Trust funds.
22. Exemption from taxation.
23. Notes and bonds as legal investments.
24. Agreement with the state.
25. State's right to require redemption of bonds.
26. State payments to municipalities and political
subdivisions.
27. Remedies of noteholders and bondholders.
28. Monies of the corporation.
29. Assistance by state officers, departments, boards and
commissions.
30. Reports and evaluations.
30-a. (Enacted without section heading.
31. Court proceedings; preferences; venue.
31-a. Actions against corporation.
32. Special provisions relating to directors of the
corporation and members of the business advisory
council for urban development.
33. Inconsistent provisions of other laws superseded.
34. Construction.
35. Separability.
36. Limitation on new projects
37. Assistance; application and evaluation, generally.
38. Small business and minority-owned and women-owned
business enterprises transportation capital assistance
and guaranteed loan program.
39. Lease and operation of seventh regiment armory.
§ 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
the "New York state urban development corporation act".
§ 2. Statement of legislative findings and purposes. It is
hereby found and declared that there exists in urban areas of
this state a condition of substantial and persistent
unemployment and underemployment which causes hardship to many
individuals and families, wastes vital human resources,
increases the public assistance burdens of the state and
municipalities, impairs the security of family life, contributes
to the growth of crime and delinquency, prevents many of our
youth from finishing their educations, impedes the economic and
physical development of municipalities and adversely affects the
welfare and prosperity of all the people of the state. Many
existing industrial, manufacturing and commercial facilities in
such urban areas are obsolete and inefficient, dilapidated, and
without adequate mass transportation facilities and public
services. Many of such facilities are underutilized or in the
process of being vacated, creating additional unemployment.
Technological advances and the provision of modern, efficient
facilities in other states will speed the obsolescence and
abandonment of existing facilities causing serious injury to the
economy of the state. Many existing and planned industrial,
manufacturing and commercial facilities are, moreover, far from
or not easily accessible to the places of residence of
substantial numbers of unemployed persons. As a result,
problems of chronic unemployment are not being alleviated but
are aggravated. New industrial, manufacturing and commercial
facilities are required to attract and house new industries and
thereby to reduce the hazards of unemployment. The unaided
efforts of private enterprise have not met and cannot meet the
needs of providing such facilities due to problems encountered
in assembling suitable building sites, lack of adequate public
services, the unavailability of private capital for development
in such urban areas, and the inability of private enterprise
alone to plan, finance and coordinate industrial and commercial
development with residential developments for persons and
families of low income and with public services and mass
transportation facilities.
It is further found and declared that there exist in many
municipalities within this state residential, nonresidential,
commercial, industrial or vacant areas, and combinations
thereof, which are slum or blighted, or which are becoming slum
or blighted areas because of substandard, insanitary,
deteriorated or deteriorating conditions, including obsolete and
dilapidated buildings and structures, defective construction,
outmoded design, lack of proper sanitary facilities or adequate
fire or safety protection, excessive land coverage, insufficient
light and ventilation, excessive population density, illegal
uses and conversions, inadequate maintenance, buildings
abandoned or not utilized in whole or substantial part, obsolete
systems of utilities, poorly or improperly designed street
patterns and intersections, inadequate access to areas, traffic
congestion hazardous to the public safety, lack of suitable
off-street parking, inadequate loading and unloading facilities,
impractical street widths, sizes and shapes, blocks and lots of
irregular form, shape or insufficient size, width or depth,
unsuitable topography, subsoil or other physical conditions, all
of which hamper or impede proper and economic development of
such areas and which impair or arrest the sound growth of the
area, community or municipality, and the state as a whole.
It is further found and declared that there is a serious need
throughout the state for adequate educational, recreational,
cultural and other community facilities, the lack of which
threatens and adversely affects the health, safety, morals and
welfare of the people of the state.
It is further found and declared that there continues to exist
throughout the state a seriously inadequate supply of safe and
sanitary dwelling accommodations for persons and families of low
income. This condition is contrary to the public interest and
threatens the health, safety, welfare, comfort and security of
the people of the state. The ordinary operations of private
enterprise cannot provide an adequate supply of safe and
sanitary dwelling accommodations at rentals which persons and
families of low income can afford.
It is hereby declared to be the policy of the state to promote
a vigorous and growing economy, to prevent economic stagnation
and to encourage the creation of new job opportunities in order
to protect against the hazards of unemployment, reduce the level
of public assistance to now indigent individuals and families,
increase revenues to the state and to its municipalities and to
achieve stable and diversified local economies. In furtherance
of these goals, it is the policy of the state to retain existing
industries and to attract new industries through the
acquisition, construction, reconstruction and rehabilitation of
industrial and manufacturing plants and commercial facilities,
and to develop sites for new industrial and commercial building.
It is further declared to be the policy of the state to promote
the development of such plants and facilities, reasonably
accessible to residential facilities, in those areas where
substantial unemployment or underemployment exists, to the end
that the industrial and commercial development of our urban
areas will proceed in sound fashion and in coordination with
development of housing, mass transportation and public services,
and that job opportunities will be available in those areas
where people lack jobs.
It is further declared to be the policy of the state to
promote the safety, health, morals and welfare of the people of
the state and to promote the sound growth and development of our
municipalities through the correction of such substandard,
insanitary, blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating conditions,
factors and characteristics by the clearance, replanning,
reconstruction, redevelopment, rehabilitation, restoration or
conservation of such areas, and of areas reasonably accessible
thereto the undertaking of public and private improvement
programs related thereto, including the provision of
educational, recreational and cultural facilities, and the
encouragement of participation in these programs by private
enterprise.
It is further declared to be the policy of the state to
promote the safety, health, morals and welfare of the people of
the state through the provision of adequate, safe and sanitary
dwelling accommodations and facilities incidental or appurtenant
thereto for persons and families of low income.
For these purposes, there should be created a corporate
governmental agency to be known as the "New York state urban
development corporation" which, through issuance of bonds and
notes to the private, investing public, by encouraging maximum
participation by the private sector of the economy, including
the sale or lease of the corporation's interest in projects at
the earliest time deemed feasible, and through participation in
programs undertaken by the state, its agencies and subdivisions,
and by municipalities and the federal government, may provide or
obtain the capital resources necessary to acquire, construct,
reconstruct, rehabilitate or improve such industrial,
manufacturing, commercial, educational, recreational and
cultural facilities, and housing accommodations for persons and
families of low income, and facilities incidental or appurtenant
thereto, and to carry out the clearance, replanning,
reconstruction and rehabilitation of such substandard and
insanitary areas.
It is further declared to be the policy of New York state to
encourage the development of research and development facilities
and high technology industrial incubator space at institutions
of higher education located in this state and authorized to
confer degrees by law or by the board of regents, or on lands in
reasonable proximity to such institutions provided that (i) in
the case of research and development facilities such facilities
are for the cooperative use of one or more such institutions and
one or more business corporations, research consortia or other
industrial organizations involved in research, development,
demonstration, or other technologically oriented industrial
activities; and (ii) in the case of high technology industrial
incubator space, such space shall be for rental to business
concerns which are in their formative stages and which are
involved in high technology activities, including but not
limited to business concerns initiated by students, employees of
such institution, including faculty members and other persons or
firms academically associated with such institution.
It is hereby declared that the acquisition, construction,
reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement of such
industrial, manufacturing and commercial facilities, and of such
cultural, educational and recreational facilities including but
not limited to facilities identified as projects and called for
to implement a state designated heritage area management plan as
provided in title G of the parks, recreation and historic
preservation law; the clearance, replanning, reconstruction and
rehabilitation of such substandard and insanitary areas; and the
provision of adequate, safe and sanitary housing accommodations
for persons and families of low income and such facilities as
may be incidental or appurtenant thereto are public uses and
public purposes for which public money may be loaned and private
property may be acquired and tax exemption granted, and that the
powers and duties of the New York state urban development
corporation as hereinafter prescribed are necessary and proper
for the purpose of achieving the ends here recited.
§ 3. Definitions. As used in this act, the following words and
terms shall have the following meanings unless the context shall
indicate another or different meaning or intent:
(1) "Bonds" and "notes". The bonds and notes respectively
issued by the corporation pursuant to this act.
(2) "Comptroller". The comptroller of the state.
(3) "Corporation". The corporate governmental agency created
by section four of this act.
(4) "Housing Company". A company organized pursuant to the
provisions of either article two, four, five or eleven of the
private housing finance law.
(5) "Local Development Corporation". A corporation
incorporated or reincorporated pursuant to the provisions of
article fourteen of the not-for-profit corporation law.
(6) PROJECT: A specific work or improvement including lands,
buildings, improvements, real and personal properties or any
interest therein, acquired, owned, constructed, reconstructed,
rehabilitated or improved by the corporation or any subsidiary
thereof, whether or not still owned or financed by the
corporation or any subsidiary thereof, including a residential
project, an industrial project, a land use improvement project,
a civic project, an industrial effectiveness project, a small
and medium-sized business assistance project, a fruit growing,
fruit processing, or winery business project, or an economic
development project, all as defined herein, or any combination
thereof, which combination shall hereinafter be called and known
as a "multi-purpose project". The term "project" as used herein
shall include projects, or any portion of a project.
(a) "Residential project". A project or that portion of a
multi-purpose project designed and intended for the purpose of
providing housing accommodations for persons or families of low
income and such facilities as may be incidental or appurtenant
thereto.
(b) "Industrial project". A project or that portion of a
multi-purpose project designed and intended for the purpose of
providing facilities for manufacturing, warehousing, research,
business or other industrial or commercial purposes, including
but not limited to machinery and equipment deemed necessary for
the operation thereof (excluding raw material, work in process
or stock in trade).
(c) "Land Use Improvement project". A plan or undertaking for
the clearance, replanning, reconstruction and rehabilitation or
a combination of these and other methods, of a substandard and
insanitary area, and for recreational or other facilities
incidental or appurtenant thereto, pursuant to and in accordance
with article eighteen of the constitution and this act. The
terms "clearance, replanning, reconstruction and rehabilitation"
shall include renewal, redevelopment, conservation, restoration
or improvement or any combination thereof as well as the testing
and reporting of methods and techniques for the arrest,
prevention and elimination of slums and blight.
(d) "Civic project". A project or that portion of a
multi-purpose project designed and intended for the purpose of
providing facilities for educational, cultural, recreational,
community, municipal, public service or other civic purposes.
(e) "Industrial effectiveness project". A project or that
portion of a multi-purpose project designed and intended for the
purpose of (i) improving the productivity and competitiveness of
an industrial firm or group of industrial firms through such
means as, but not limited to, the redesign of production
facilities, the introduction of new production processes and
management systems, the expansion or diversification of product
lines, the development of new markets, and labor and management
cooperative efforts to enhance productivity; (ii) implementing a
corporate restructuring or turnaround plan for an industrial
firm; (iii) effecting the transfer of the ownership and control
of a viable industrial firm to its employees, managers or other
investors resident in the state; or (iv) enhancing the
opportunity for an industrial firm to create or retain jobs,
thereby promoting fuller employment and economic development in
the state.
(f) "Small and medium-sized business assistance project". A
project designed and intended for the purpose of providing
assistance to industrial firms that employ five hundred or fewer
employees within the state on a full-time basis.
(g) Economic development project. The acquisition,
construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or improvement of
a project financed pursuant to the empire state economic
development fund which will achieve the purposes of facilitating
the creation or retention of jobs or increasing business
activity within a municipality or region of the state.
(h) "fruit growing, fruit processing, or winery business
project". A project or that portion of a multi-purpose project
designed and intended for the purpose of establishing,
maintaining, or expanding fruit growing acreage or operations,
or for providing facilities for the production, manufacture,
processing, warehousing, research, or distribution and sale of
fresh fruits or the processing of such fruits into juices,
wines, or other food products. As specified in paragraph (b-1)
of subdivision 6 of section 16-l of this act, such project costs
may include, but not be limited to, the cost of buildings,
machinery, equipment, New York raw fruits, New York unprocessed
or partially processed fruits, root stock, other personal
property, materials, working capital, or stock in trade required
to establish such project.
* (6) "Project". A specific work or improvement including
lands, buildings, improvements, real and personal properties or
any interest therein, acquired, owned, constructed,
reconstructed, rehabilitated or improved by the corporation or
any subsidiary thereof, whether or not still owned or financed
by the corporation or any subsidiary thereof, including a
residential project, an industrial project, a land use
improvement project, a civic project, an industrial
effectiveness project, a small and medium-sized business
assistance project, or an infrastructure project, all as defined
herein, or any combination thereof, which combination shall
hereinafter be called and known as a "multi-purpose project".
The term "project" as used herein shall include projects, or any
portion of a project.
(a) "Residential project". A project or that portion of a
multi-purpose project designed and intended for the purpose of
providing housing accommodations for persons or families of low
income and such facilities as may be incidental or appurtenant
thereto.
(b) "Industrial project". A project or that portion of a
multi-purpose project designed and intended for the purpose of
providing facilities for manufacturing, warehousing, research,
business or other industrial or commercial purposes, including
but not limited to machinery and equipment deemed necessary for
the operation thereof (excluding raw material, work in process
or stock in trade).
(c) "Land Use Improvement project". A plan or undertaking for
the clearance, replanning, reconstruction and rehabilitation or
a combination of these and other methods, of a substandard and
insanitary area, and for recreational or other facilities
incidental or appurtenant thereto, pursuant to and in accordance
with article eighteen of the constitution and this act. The
terms "clearance, replanning, reconstruction and rehabilitation"
shall include renewal, redevelopment, conservation, restoration
or improvement or any combination thereof as well as the testing
and reporting of methods and techniques for the arrest,
prevention and elimination of slums and blight.
(d) "Civic project". A project or that portion of a
multi-purpose project designed and intended for the purpose of
providing facilities for educational, cultural, recreational,
community, municipal, public service or other civic purposes.
(e) "Industrial effectiveness project". A project or that
portion of a multi-purpose project designed and intended for the
purpose of (i) improving the productivity and competitiveness of
an industrial firm or a group of industrial firms through such
means as, but not limited to, the redesign of production
facilities, the introduction of new production processes and
management systems, the expansion or diversification of product
lines, the development of new markets, and labor and management
cooperative efforts to enhance productivity; (ii) implementing a
corporate restructuring or turnaround plan for an industrial
firm; (iii) effecting the transfer of the ownership and control
of a viable industrial firm to its employees, managers or other
investors resident in the state; or (iv) enhancing the
opportunity for an industrial firm to create or retain jobs,
thereby promoting fuller employment and economic development in
the state.
(f) "Small and medium-sized business assistance project". A
project designed and intended for the purpose of providing
assistance to industrial firms that employ five hundred or fewer
employees within the state on a full-time basis.
(g) "Infrastructure project". Capital improvements to
publicly-owned real property under the jobs for the new, New
York bond act pursuant to article fifteen of the economic
development law involving site clearance or preparation or the
demolition, construction or reconstruction of basic utilities,
systems or facilities, which, while not used directly for the
production of goods or services, are required as the foundation
for or to promote, stimulate or support economic activity
resulting in the retention or creation of permanent
private-sector jobs.
* NB Not implemented due to defeat of the Jobs for the new,
New York bond act in November, 1992
(7) "Project cost". The sum total of all costs incurred by the
corporation in carrying out all works and undertakings which the
corporation deems reasonable and necessary for the development
of a project. These shall include but are not necessarily
limited to the costs of all necessary studies, surveys, plans
and specifications, architectural, engineering or other special
services, acquisition of land and any buildings thereon, site
preparation and development, construction, reconstruction,
rehabilitation, improvement and the acquisition of such
machinery and equipment as may be deemed necessary in connection
therewith (other than raw materials, work in process or stock in
trade); the necessary expenses incurred in connection with the
initial occupancy of the project; an allocable portion of the
administrative and operating expenses of the corporation; the
cost of financing the project, including interest on bonds and
notes issued by the corporation to finance the project from the
date thereof to the date when the corporation shall determine
that the project be deemed substantially occupied; and the cost
of such other items, including any indemnity and surety bonds
and premiums on insurance, legal fees, fees and expenses of
trustees, depositories and paying agents for the bonds and notes
issued by the corporation; and relocation costs, all as the
corporation shall deem necessary.
(8) "Real property". Lands, structures, franchises and
interests in land, including lands under water and riparian
rights, space rights and air rights and any and all other things
and rights usually included within said term. Real property
shall also mean and include any and all interests in such
property less than full title, such as easements, incorporeal
hereditaments and every estate, interest or right, legal or
equitable, including terms for years and liens thereon by way of
judgments, mortgages or otherwise, and also all claims for
damages for such real estate.
(9) "State". The state of New York.
(10) "State agency". Any officer, department, board,
commission, bureau, division, public corporation, agency or
instrumentality of the state.
(11) "Subsidiary". A corporation created in accordance with
section twelve of this act.
(12) "Substandard or insanitary area". The term "substandard
or insanitary area" shall mean and be interchangeable with a
slum, blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating area, or an area
which has a blighting influence on the surrounding area, whether
residential, non-residential, commercial, industrial, vacant or
land in highways, waterways, railway and subway tracks and
yards, bridge and tunnel approaches and entrances, or other
similar facilities, over which air rights and easements or other
rights of user necessary for the use and development of such air
rights, to be developed as air rights sites for the elimination
of the blighting influence, or any combination thereof and may
include land, buildings or improvements, or air rights and
concomitant easements or other rights of user necessary for the
use and development of such air rights not in themselves
substandard or insanitary.
(13) "Municipality." Any county, city, town or village.
(14) "Local governing body". The board of supervisors, county
legislature, board of aldermen, common council, commission, or
other elective governing board or body now or hereafter vested
by state statute, charter or other law with jurisdiction to
initiate and adopt local law whether or not such local laws or
ordinances require the approval of the elective chief executive
officer or other official or body to become effective, and
except that with respect to a city having a population of one
million or more the term "local governing body" shall mean the
board of estimate.
(15) "Public corporation". A municipal corporation, district
corporation, or public benefit corporation, as all such terms
are defined in section three of the general corporation law, or
any agency or instrumentality of the foregoing.
(16) "New community." A plan or undertaking for the
development of housing together with such civic, industrial and
commercial facilities and other ancillary facilities as the
corporation may determine necessary, including the
implementation thereof through one or more projects of the
corporation and through such participation by private enterprise
as may be necessary or desirable to carry out the development of
such new community.
(17) "Eligible business". For purposes of section sixteen-a of
this act, a business that is resident in this state, and employs
one hundred or less persons on a full-time basis.
(18) "Regional corporation". For purposes of section sixteen-a
of this act, a not-for-profit or public benefit corporation or
consortium of such entities that has formed a not-for-profit
corporation, that has jurisdiction within at least two entire
contiguous counties.
(19) "Minority business enterprise". A business enterprise
which is at least fifty-one percent owned, or in the case of a
publicly-owned business at least fifty-one percent of the common
stock or other voting interests of which is owned, by one or
more minority persons and such ownership interest is real,
substantial and continuing. The minority ownership must have and
exercise the authority to independently control the day-to-day
business decisions of the entity. Minority persons shall mean
persons who are:
(a) Black;
(b) Hispanic persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican,
Cuban, Central or South American descent of either Indian or
Hispanic origin, regardless of race;
(c) Asian and Pacific Islander persons having origins in the
Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian sub-continent or the
Pacific Islands; or
(d) American Indian or Alaskan Native persons having origins
in any of the original peoples of North America and maintaining
identifiable tribal affiliations through membership and
participation or community identification.
(20) "Women business enterprise". A business enterprise which
is at least fifty-one percent owned, or in the case of a
publicly-owned business at least fifty-one percent of the common
stock or other voting interests of which is owned, by United
States citizens or permanent resident aliens who are women,
regardless of race or ethnicity, and such ownership interest is
real, substantial and continuing and such women have and
exercise the authority to independently control the day to day
business decisions of the enterprises.
(21) "Industrial firm". A manufacturing firm involved with
extracting, smelting, recovering, developing, preparing,
compounding, converting, assembling or producing in any manner
minerals, raw materials, products or substances of any kind or
nature, and shall include facilities related thereto for
storage, warehousing or distribution, for research and
development or for the discovery of new, and the refinement of
known, substances, processes and products.
§ 4. New York state urban development corporation. (1) There
is hereby created the New York state urban development
corporation. The corporation shall be a corporate governmental
agency of the state, constituting a political subdivision and
public benefit corporation. Its membership shall consist of nine
directors as follows: the superintendent of banks, the chairman
of the New York state science and technology foundation, and
seven directors to be appointed by the governor with the advice
and consent of the senate. From the seven directors appointed
by him, the governor shall designate the chairman of the
corporation and two others who shall all serve at the pleasure
of the governor. Of the four remaining directors, one of such
directors first appointed by the governor after the effective
date of this subdivision as amended shall serve for a term
ending January first next succeeding his appointment, one of
such directors shall serve for a term ending one year from such
date, one of such directors shall serve for a term ending two
years from such date, and one of such directors shall serve for
a term ending three years from such date. Their successors shall
serve for terms of four years each. Directors shall continue in
office until their successors have been appointed and qualified.
In the event of a vacancy occurring in the office of a director
by death, resignation or otherwise, the governor shall appoint a
successor with the advice and consent of the senate to serve for
the balance of the unexpired term. The governor shall appoint
the president of the corporation, with the advice and consent of
the senate, who shall be the chief executive officer of the
corporation and who shall serve at the pleasure of the governor.
Such president may be one of the directors appointed by the
governor.
(1-a) The superintendent of banks and the chairman of the New
York state science and technology foundation each may designate
a person from his department to represent him at all meetings of
the corporation from which such director may be absent. Any
representative so designated shall have the power to attend and
to vote at any meeting of the corporation from which the
director so designating him is absent, with the same force and
effect as if the director designating him were present and
voting. Such designation shall be by written notice filed with
the chairman of the corporation by the director making the
designation. The designation of each such person shall continue
until revoked at any time by written notice to the chairman by
the director making the designation. Such designation shall not
limit the power of the director making the designation to attend
and vote in person at any meeting of the corporation.
(2) The directors, other than the chairman, shall serve
without salary or other compensation, but each director,
including the chairman, shall be entitled to reimbursement for
actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of his
or her official duties. Anything to the contrary contained
herein notwithstanding, the president of the corporation,
whether or not he or she is a director, and the chairman if he
or she is not the president shall be entitled to receive such
salary as the directors may determine for their services as
chief executive officer and chairman respectively.
(3) Such directors other than the superintendent of banks, the
chairman of the New York state science and technology
foundation, and any director who serves as president of the
corporation may engage in private employment, or in a profession
or business. The corporation, its directors, officers and
employees shall be subject to the provisions of sections
seventy-three and seventy-four of the public officers law.
(3-a) The state shall save harmless and indemnify any person
who shall have served as a director, officer or employee of the
corporation against financial loss or litigation expense arising
in connection with any claim, demand, suit or judgment, or the
defense thereof, based on a cause of action, whenever accrued,
involving allegations that pecuniary harm was sustained by any
person as a result of any transaction of the corporation taking
place on or after the effective date of the New York state
project finance agency act. In the event any such claim, demand,
suit or judgment shall occur, a director, officer or employee of
the corporation shall be saved harmless and indemnified by the
state under this subdivision unless such individual is found by
a final judicial determination not to have acted in good faith,
for a purpose which he reasonably believed to be in the best
interests of the corporation or not to have had reasonable cause
to believe that his conduct was lawful. In any suit described in
the first sentence of this subdivision, any director, officer or
employee made a party defendant to such suit shall be entitled
to be represented by private counsel of his choice; provided,
however, that the attorney general is authorized, as a condition
to indemnification of the fees and expenses of such
representation, to require that appropriate groups of such
individuals be represented by the same counsel; and provided
further, that with the approval of the attorney general or of a
court (obtained by application substantially as provided in
section seven hundred twenty-five of the business corporation
law), indemnification for such fees and expenses shall be paid
from time to time during the pendency of such suit. The
provisions of this subdivision shall be in addition to and shall
not supplant any indemnification or other benefits heretofore or
hereafter conferred upon directors, officers and employees of
the corporation by section seventeen of the public officers law,
by action of the corporation, or otherwise. The provisions of
this subdivision shall inure only to directors, officers and
employees of the corporation, shall not enlarge or diminish the
rights of any other party, and shall not impair, limit or modify
the rights and obligations of any insurer under any policy of
insurance.
(4) The directors of the corporation shall serve ex officio as
directors of the corporation for urban development and research
of New York, created by the New York state urban development and
research corporation act, and of the urban development guarantee
fund of New York, created by the urban development guarantee
fund of New York act. The chairman of the corporation shall
serve as chairman of the corporation for urban development and
research of New York and of the urban development guarantee fund
of New York.
(5) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of law,
general, special or local, no officer or employee of the state
or of any civil division thereof, shall be deemed to have
forfeited or shall forfeit his office or employment by reason of
his acceptance of membership on the corporation created by this
section; provided, however, a director who holds such other
public office or employment shall receive no additional
compensation or allowance for services rendered pursuant to this
act, but shall be entitled to reimbursement for his actual and
necessary expenses incurred in the performance of such services.
(6) The governor shall appoint a business advisory council for
urban development, to advise and make recommendations to the
corporation with respect to development policies and programs
and to encourage maximum participation in projects of the
corporation by the private sector of the economy, including
members of the council and firms and corporations with which
they are affliated. Such council shall consist of not more than
twenty-five members, who shall serve at the pleasure of the
governor, and who shall be broadly representative of commerce
and industry, the financial community and the construction and
housing industries. Such members shall serve without salary, but
shall be entitled to reimbursement for their actual and
necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties.
(7) The corporation shall establish one or more community
advisory committees to consider and advise the corporation upon
matters submitted to them by the corporation concerning the
development of any area or any project, and may establish rules
and regulations with respect to such committees. The members of
such community advisory committees shall serve, at the pleasure
of the corporation, without salary, but shall be entitled to
reimbursement for their actual and necessary expenses incurred
in the performance of their duties. Notwithstanding any
inconsistent provision of law, general, special or local, no
officer or employee of the state or of any civil division
thereof, shall be deemed to have forfeited or shall forfeit his
office or employment by reason of his acceptance of membership
on such community advisory committee.
(8) The governor may remove any director appointed by him for
inefficiency, neglect of duty or misconduct in office after
giving him a copy of the charges against him, and an opportunity
to be heard, in person or by counsel, in his defense, upon not
less than ten days' notice. If any such director shall be
removed, the governor shall file in the office of the department
of state a complete statement of charges made against such
director and his findings thereon, together with a complete
record of the proceeding. The foregoing provisions shall not
apply in the case of the chairman and any other director who
serves at the pleasure of the governor.
(9) The corporation and its corporate existence shall continue
until terminated by law, provided, however, that no such law
shall take effect so long as the corporation shall have bonds,
notes and other obligations outstanding, unless adequate
provision has been made for the payment thereof in the documents
securing the same. Upon termination of the existence of the
corporation, all its rights and properties shall pass to and be
vested in the state.
(10) A majority of the directors of the corporation then in
office shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any
business or the exercise of any power or function of the
corporation, except as otherwise provided in section sixteen,
subdivision two, hereof. The corporation may delegate to one or
more of its directors, or its officers, agents and employees,
such powers and duties as it may deem proper.
(11) The corporation shall take affirmative action in working
with construction firms, contractors and subcontractors, labor
unions and manufacturing and industrial firms, to the end that
residents of areas in which projects are to be located shall be
afforded participation in the construction work on projects of
the corporation, and in the business operations of tenants and
occupants of industrial projects undertaken by the corporation.
§ 5. Powers of the corporation. Except as otherwise limited by
this act, the corporation shall have power:
(1) To sue and be sued;
(2) To have a seal and alter the same at pleasure;
(3) To make and execute contracts and all other instruments
necessary or convenient for the exercise of its powers and
functions under this act;
(4) To make and alter by-laws for its organization and
internal management and, subject to agreements with noteholders
or bondholders, to make rules and regulations with respect to
its projects, operations, properties and facilities, which rules
and regulations shall be filed with the department of state in
the manner provided by section one hundred two of the executive
law;
(5) To acquire, hold and dispose of personal property for its
corporate purposes;
(6) To appoint officers, agents and employees, prescribe their
duties and qualifications and fix their compensation;
(7) To acquire or contract to acquire from any person, firm,
corporation, municipality, federal or state agency, by grant,
purchase, condemnation or otherwise, leaseholds, real, personal
or mixed property or any interest therein; to own, hold, clear,
improve and rehabilitate, and to sell, assign, exchange,
transfer, convey, lease, mortgage, or otherwise dispose of or
encumber the same;
(8) To create subsidiaries, as provided in section twelve of
this act.
(9) To acquire, construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate, improve,
alter or repair or provide for the construction, reconstruction,
improvement, alteration or repair of any project.
(10) To arrange or contract with a municipality for the
planning, replanning, opening, grading or closing of streets,
roads, roadways, alleys or other places, or for the furnishing
of facilities or for the acquisition by a municipality of
property or property rights or for the furnishing of property or
services in connection with a project.
(11) To sell, lease, assign, transfer, convey, exchange,
mortgage, or otherwise dispose of or encumber any project, and
in the case of the sale of any project, to accept a purchase
money mortgage in connection therewith; and to lease, repurchase
or otherwise acquire and hold any project which the corporation
has theretofore sold, leased or otherwise conveyed, transferred
or disposed of.
(12) To grant options to purchase any project or to renew any
leases entered into by it in connection with any of its
projects, on such terms and conditions as it may deem advisable.
(13) To prepare or cause to be prepared plans, specifications,
designs and estimates of cost for the construction,
reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, alteration or
repair of any project, and from time to time to modify such
plans, specifications, designs or estimates.
(14) To manage any project, whether then owned or leased by
the corporation, and to enter into agreements with the state or
any municipality or any agency or instrumentality thereof, or
with any person, firm, partnership or corporation, either public
or private, for the purpose of causing any project to be
managed.
(15) To provide advisory, consultative, training and
educational services, technical assistance and advice to any
person, firm, partnership or corporation, either public or
private, in order to carry out the purposes of this act.
(16) To lend or donate monies, whether secured or unsecured,
to any subsidiary corporation, and to purchase, sell or pledge
the shares, bonds or other obligations or securities thereof, on
such terms and conditions as the corporation may deem advisable.
(17) To make mortgage loans, secured by a first mortgage lien,
including temporary loans or advances, to any subsidiary
corporation which is a housing company, and to undertake
commitments therefor. Any such commitment, mortgage or bonds or
notes secured thereby may contain such terms and conditions not
inconsistent with the provisions of this act as the corporation
may deem necessary or desirable to secure repayment of its loan,
the interest, if any, thereon and other charges in connection
therewith.
(18) Subject to the provisions of any contract with
noteholders or bondholders to consent to the modification, with
respect to rate of interest, time of payments of any installment
of principal or interest, security, or any other term, of any
mortgage, mortgage loan, mortgage loan commitment, contract or
agreement of any kind to which the corporation is a party.
(19) In connection with any property on which it has made a
mortgage loan, to foreclose on any such property or commence any
action to protect or enforce any right conferred upon it by any
law, mortgage, contract or other agreement, and to bid for and
purchase such property at any foreclosure or at any other sale,
or acquire or take possession of any such property; and in such
event the corporation may complete, administer, pay the
principal of and interest on any obligations incurred in
connection with such property, dispose of, and otherwise deal
with such property, in such manner as may be necessary or
desirable to protect the interests of the corporation therein.
(20) To borrow money and to issue its negotiable bonds and
notes and to provide for the rights of the holders thereof.
(21) As security for the payment of the principal of and
interest on any bonds so issued and any agreements made in
connection therewith, to mortgage and pledge any or all of its
projects, whether then owned or thereafter acquired, and to
pledge the revenues and receipts therefrom or from any thereof,
and to assign or pledge the lease or leases on any portion or
all of said projects and to assign or pledge the income received
by virtue of said lease or leases.
(22) To invest any funds of the corporation including funds
held in reserve or sinking funds, or any monies (including
proceeds from the sale of any bonds or notes of the corporation)
not required for immediate use or disbursement, at the
discretion of the corporation, in (a) obligations of the state
or of the United States government, (b) obligations the
principal and interest of which are guaranteed by the state or
the United States government, (c) obligations of agencies and
instrumentalities of the state or of the United States, or (d)
certificates of deposit of banks or trust companies in this
state, secured by obligations described in clauses (a), (b) or
(c) of this subdivision.
(23) To procure insurance against any loss in connection with
its property and other assets and operations in such amounts and
from such insurers as it deems desirable.
(24) To engage the services of consultants on a contract basis
for rendering professional and technical assistance and advice.
(25) To contract for and to accept any gifts or grants or
loans of funds or property or financial or other aid in any form
from the federal government or any agency or instrumentality
thereof, or from the state or any agency or instrumentality
thereof, or from any other source and to comply, subject to the
provisions of this act, with the terms and conditions thereof.
* (26) To make loans, whether secured or unsecured, in
connection with the corporation's participation in a project (as
defined in this act), to any person or entity, whether public or
private, and to issue commitments for such loans, provided that
such loans and commitments are made or issued in compliance with
guidelines established by the board of directors of the
corporation; to provide for the repayment of such loans on terms
and conditions that the directors of the corporation deem
advisable and to receive and hold real property or personal
property as security for the repayment of such loans.
* NB Repealed July 1, 2007
(27) To use a portion of appropriated funds generally
designated as high risk targeted investment funds to establish a
loan fund to be used to make loans to business enterprises
located within empire zones designated pursuant to article
eighteen-B of the general municipal law.
(28) To do any and all things necessary or convenient to carry
out its purposes and exercise the powers given and granted in
this act.
(29) Subject to any agreement with noteholders or bondholders,
to enter into agreements to pay annual sums in lieu of taxes to
any municipality or political subdivision of the state, in
respect of any real property which is owned by the corporation
or any subsidiary thereof and is located in such municipality or
political subdivision.
(30) To provide priority assistance to projects involving
industry clusters. The term "industry cluster" shall mean a
geographic concentration of competitive firms or establishments
in the same industry that either have close buy-sell
relationships with other industries in the region, use common
technologies, or share a specialized labor pool that provides
firms with a competitive advantage over the same industry in
other places.
§ 6. Sale or lease of land use improvement projects. (1) The
corporation may sell or lease for a term not exceeding
ninety-nine years all or any portion of the real or personal
property constituting a land use improvement project to any
person, firm, partnership or corporation, either public or
private, upon such terms and conditions as may be approved by
the corporation, whenever the corporation shall find that such
sale or lease is in conformity with a plan or undertaking for
the clearance, replanning, reconstruction or rehabilitation of
sub-standard and insanitary areas in the municipality in which
the project is located. Such sale or lease may be made:
(a) to any housing company, without public bidding, public
sale or public notice;
(b) to any local development corporation, without public
bidding, public sale or public notice;
(c) to any other person, firm, partnership or corporation,
without public bidding or public sale, provided there is
published in at least one newspaper of general circulation in
the municipality in which the project is located a notice which
shall include a statement of the identity of the proposed
purchaser or lessee and of his proposed use or reuse of the land
use improvement project area or applicable portion thereof, the
price or rental to be paid by such purchaser or lessee, all
other essential conditions of such sale or lease, and a
statement that a public hearing upon such sale or lease will be
held before the corporation at a specified time and place on a
date not less than ten days after such publication, and provided
further that such public hearing is held in accordance with such
notice.
* § 6-a. Sale or lease of infrastructure projects. (1)
Notwithstanding the provisions of any general, special or local
law, subject to any agreement with noteholders or bondholders,
the corporation may sell or lease any infrastructure project,
without public bidding or public sale, for such price or rental
and upon such terms as may be agreed upon between the
corporation and such purchaser or lessee, either prior to, at
the date of, or subsequent to the completion of the project by
the corporation, provided, however, that in the case of a lease,
the term thereof shall not exceed ninety-nine years. Where such
contract for sale or lease is entered into after the
commencement of construction and prior to the physical
completion of the improvement to be conveyed or leased, the
corporation may complete the construction and development of
such improvement prior to the actual conveyance or lease.
(2) Except with respect to projects sold or leased to the
state or any agency or instrumentality thereof, to any
municipality or agency or instrumentality thereof, or to any
public corporation, before any sale or lease of all or a
substantial part of a project as authorized by subdivision one
of this section is consummated, there shall be published in at
least one newspaper of general circulation in the municipality
in which the project is located a notice which shall include a
statement of the identity of the proposed purchaser or lessee,
the price or rental to be paid, all other essential conditions
of such sale or lease, and a statement that a public hearing
upon such sale or lease will be held before the corporation at a
specified time and place on a date not less than ten days after
such publication, and such hearing shall be held in accordance
with such notice.
(3) The responsibilities of the corporation in connection with
the implementation of this section may include requesting and
receiving title to real property from the commissioner of
general services pursuant to section thirteen-a of this act.
Such transfers shall be on such terms as the commissioner of
general services and the chairman of the corporation shall
determine, and shall, subject to any agreement with noteholders
and bondholders, include a reversionary interest to the state
and the terms on which the property may subsequently be
transferred.
* NB Not implemented due to defeat of the Jobs for the new,
New York bond act in November, 1992
§ 7. Sale or lease of residential projects. (1) The
corporation may sell or lease for a term not exceeding
ninety-nine years a residential project only to a housing
company or to a municipality or housing authority. It may enter
into a contract for such sale or lease either prior to, at the
date of, or subsequent to the completion of the project by the
corporation. Where such contract for sale or lease is entered
into after the commencement of construction and prior to the
physical completion of the improvement to be conveyed or leased,
the corporation may complete the construction and development of
such improvement prior to the actual conveyance or lease.
(2) Any such sale or lease pursuant to subdivision one of this
section may be made without public bidding, public sale or
public notice, pursuant to such negotiated contract, agreement
or lease and containing such provisions, limitations,
requirements, terms and conditions, as the corporation, within
its discretion, may determine to be necessary or desirable.
§ 8. Sale or lease of industrial projects. (1) Notwithstanding
the provisions of any general, special or local law, subject to
any agreement with noteholders or bondholders, the corporation
may sell or lease any industrial project, without public bidding
or public sale, for such price or rental and upon such terms as
may be agreed upon between the corporation and such purchaser or
lessee, either prior to, at the date of, or subsequent to the
completion of the project by the corporation, provided, however,
that in the case of a lease, the term thereof shall not exceed
ninety-nine years. Where such contract for sale or lease is
entered into after the commencement of construction and prior to
the physical completion of the improvement to be conveyed or
leased, the corporation may complete the construction and
development of such improvement prior to the actual conveyance
or lease.
(2) Before any sale or lease of all or a substantial part of a
project as authorized by subdivision one of this section is
consummated, there shall be published in at least one newspaper
of general circulation in the municipality in which the project
is located a notice which shall include a statement of the
identity of the proposed purchaser or lessee, the price or
rental to be paid, all other essential conditions of such sale
or lease, and a statement that a public hearing upon such sale
or lease will be held before the corporation at a specified time
and place on a date not less than ten days after such
publication, and such hearing shall be held in accordance with
such notice; provided, however, that if the corporation
determines that trade secrets or other confidential information
about the prospective purchaser's or lessee's business
operations, products, processes or designs would otherwise be
revealed by such public notice and public hearing, the
requirements of this subdivision may be waived by unanimous vote
of the directors of the corporation.
§ 9. Sale or lease of civic projects. (1) Subject to any
agreement with noteholders or bondholders, the corporation may
sell or lease for a term not exceeding ninety-nine years any
civic project to the state or any agency or instrumentality
thereof, to any municipality or agency or instrumentality
thereof, to any public corporation, or to any other entity which
is carrying out a community, municipal, public service or other
civic purpose.
(2) Any such sale or lease pursuant to subdivision one of this
section may be made without public bidding, public sale or
public notice, upon such terms and conditions as the
corporation, within its discretion, may determine to be
necessary or desirable. The corporation may enter into a
contract for a sale or lease as authorized by subdivision one of
this section either prior to, at the date of, or subsequent to
the completion of the project by the corporation. Where such
contract for sale or lease is entered into after the
commencement of construction and prior to the physical
completion of the improvement to be sold or leased, the
corporation may complete the construction and development of
such improvement prior to the actual conveyance or lease.
§ 9-a. Financial assistance for small and medium-sized
business assistance projects. The corporation may provide loans
for small and medium-sized business assistance projects for
costs associated with:
(1) The renovation or rehabilitation of industrial plants that
are economically inefficient due to the need for changes in
design, construction, technology or production processes; the
renovation or rehabilitation of existing facilities for reuse as
an industrial facility; the acquisition of real property and
related improvements; new construction; working capital; and the
acquisition of modern production technology, including
machinery, equipment and computerized design and control
systems, required to improve production processes, expand
existing or enter new markets, or to otherwise remain
competitive. The corporation shall determine the terms and
interest rates of such loans, except that no loan shall exceed
fifty percent of project costs, or seven hundred fifty thousand
dollars, whichever is less, no loan shall have an interest rate
lower than three percent, and no loan shall have a term that
exceeds the estimated useful life of the asset;
(2) Site acquisition, construction, renovation or acquisition
of permanently installed equipment necessary to establish or
expand a child day care facility located on the work site of the
industrial firm sponsoring the child day care facility or at a
proximate site where a consortia of industrial firms are
sponsoring the child day care facility. Such loans shall be
made upon a determination by the corporation that such facility
is necessary to improve or maintain the productivity of the
company or companies. Such loans shall only be made for child
day care facilities: (a) that will be used primarily by the
children of employees of the company or companies sponsoring the
facility; (b) that will not be operated for profit; (c) that
demonstrate an ability to obtain, from the appropriate
governmental agencies, all necessary approvals and licenses
required to operate the facility; and (d) that demonstrate an
ability to prevent access by children to any equipment in
facilities which could be injurious to their health or safety.
The corporation shall determine the terms and interest rates of
such loans, except that no loan shall exceed sixty percent of
project costs, or two hundred fifty thousand dollars, whichever
is less, no loan shall have an interest rate lower than three
percent, and no loan shall have a term longer than ten years.
§ 9-b. For any positions opened as a result of assistance
provided pursuant to section nine-a of this act, industrial
firms so assisted shall first consider persons eligible to
participate in federal job training partnership act (P.L.
97-300) programs who shall be referred to the industrial firm by
administrative entities of service delivery areas created
pursuant to such act or by the job service division of the
department of labor.
§ 9-c. Rules and regulations. The corporation shall, assisted
by the commissioner of economic development and in consultation
with the department of economic development, promulgate rules
and regulations in accordance with the state administrative
procedure act. Such rules and regulations shall be consistent
with the program plan required by subdivision nineteen of
section one hundred of the economic development law.
§ 9-d. Reports and evaluation. (1) Reporting. The corporation
shall, on or before October 1, 1988 and on or before each
October first thereafter, submit a report to the governor and
the legislature on the operations and accomplishments of the
small and medium-sized business assistance program. The report
to be submitted on October 1, 2005 and on or before each October
first thereafter shall be consolidated with the annual program
report of the corporation required under the provisions of
subdivision (b) of section thirty of this act, as amended.
(2) Evaluation. (a) The corporation shall submit to the
director of the budget, the chairperson of the senate finance
committee and the chairperson of the assembly ways and means
committee an evaluation of the small and medium-sized business
assistance program prepared by an entity independent of the
corporation. Such an evaluation shall be submitted by September
1, 2005 and by September first every four years thereafter.
(b) Between evaluation due dates, the corporation shall
maintain the necessary records and data required to satisfy such
evaluation requirements and to satisfy information requests
received from the director of the budget, the chairperson of the
senate finance committee and the chairperson of the assembly
ways and means committee between such evaluation due dates.
§ 9-e. Creating a Puerto Rican and Latino business development
center. The corporation shall provide, with the assistance of
the commissioner of economic development and in consultation
with such commissioner, a Puerto Rican and Latino business
development center for the purposes of rendering technical
assistance and market information to not-for-profit service
providers and the private businesses servicing Puerto Rican and
Latino communities.
§ 10. Findings of the corporation. Notwithstanding any other
provision of this act, the corporation shall not be empowered to
undertake the acquisition, construction, reconstruction,
rehabilitation or improvement of a project unless the
corporation finds:
(a) in the case of a residential project:
(1) That there exists, in the area in which the project is to
be located, or in an area reasonably accessible to such area, a
need for safe and sanitary housing accommodations for persons or
families of low income, which the operations of private
enterprise cannot provide;
(2) That the project has been approved as a project of a
housing company pursuant to the provisions of the private
housing finance law.
(b) in the case of an industrial project:
(1) That the area in which the project is to be located is a
substandard or insanitary area, or is in danger of becoming a
substandard or insanitary area, wherein there exists a condition
of substantial and persistent unemployment or underemployment;
(2) That the acquisition or construction and operation of such
project will prevent, eliminate or reduce unemployment or
underemployment in such area;
(3) That such project shall consist of a building or buildings
which are suitable for manufacturing, warehousing or research or
other industrial, business or commercial purposes.
(4) That adequate provision has been, or will be made for the
payment of the cost of the acquisition, construction, operation,
maintenance and upkeep of such project.
(5) That the acquisition and construction, proposed leasing,
operation and use of such project will aid in the development,
growth and prosperity of the state and the area in which such
project is located;
(6) That the plans and specifications assure adequate light,
air, sanitation and fire protection.
(c) in the case of a land use improvement project:
(1) That the area in which the project is to be located is a
substandard or insanitary area, or is in danger of becoming a
substandard or insanitary area and tends to impair or arrest the
sound growth and development of the municipality;
(2) That the project consists of a plan or undertaking for the
clearance, replanning, reconstruction and rehabilitation of such
area and for recreational and other facilities incidental or
appurtenant thereto;
(3) That the plan or undertaking affords maximum opportunity
for participation by private enterprise, consistent with the
sound needs of the municipality as a whole.
(d) in the case of a civic project:
(1) That there exists in the area in which the project is to
be located, a need for the educational, cultural, recreational,
community, municipal, public service or other civic facility to
be included in the project;
(2) That the project shall consist of a building or buildings
or other facilities which are suitable for educational,
cultural, recreational, community, municipal, public service or
other civic purposes;
(3) That such project will be leased to or owned by the state
or an agency or instrumentality thereof, a municipality or an
agency or instrumentality thereof, a public corporation, or any
other entity which is carrying out a community, municipal,
public service or other civic purpose, and that adequate
provision has been, or will be, made for the payment of the cost
of acquisition, construction, operation, maintenance and upkeep
of the project;
(4) That the plans and specifications assure or will assure
adequate light, air, sanitation and fire protection.
(e) in the case of an industrial effectiveness project:
(1) That a feasibility study or productivity assessment exists
demonstrating the potential for future profitability of the firm
requesting financial assistance and such study or assessment has
been reviewed and approved by the commissioner of economic
development;
(2) That for loans to implement a corporate restructuring or
turnaround plan, the management of the industrial firm
requesting assistance is capable and the firm has a sound
business development plan that includes measures to ensure labor
and management cooperation and to effect changes required to
continue as a successful business;
(3) That the requested financial assistance is not available
from other public or private financing sources; and
(4) That the area in which the project is to be located is a
substandard or insanitary area, or is in danger of becoming a
substandard or insanitary area, wherein there exists a condition
of substantial and persistent unemployment or underemployment.
(f) in the case of a small and medium-sized business
assistance project:
(1) That the area in which the project will be located is a
substandard or insanitary area, or is in danger of becoming a
substandard or insanitary area, wherein there exists a condition
of substantial and persistent unemployment or underemployment;
(2) That the project demonstrates market, management and
financial feasibility and has a clear likelihood of success;
(3) That the industrial firm provides at least a ten percent
equity contribution and such contribution is not derived from
other governmental sources;
(4) That the requested financial assistance is not available
from other public or private financing sources on terms
compatible with the successful completion of the project;
(5) That the project will not result in the relocation of any
industrial firm from one municipality within the state to
another municipality, except under one of the following
conditions: (i) when an industrial firm is relocating within a
municipality with a population of at least one million where the
governing body of such municipality approves such relocation; or
(ii) the corporation notifies each municipality from which such
industrial firm will be relocated and each municipality agrees
to such relocation; and
(6) That the project is not for the purpose of refinancing any
portion of the total project cost or other existing loans or
debts of the project sponsor or owner.
(g) in the case of all projects, that there is a feasible
method for the relocation of families and individuals displaced
from the project area into decent, safe and sanitary dwellings,
which are or will be provided in the project area or in other
areas not generally less desirable in regard to public utilities
and public and commercial facilities, at rents or prices within
the financial means of such families or individuals, and
reasonably accessible to their places of employment. Insofar as
is feasible, the corporation shall offer housing accommodations
to such families and individuals in residential projects of the
corporation. The corporation may render to business and
commercial tenants and to families or other persons displaced
from the project area, such assistance as it may deem necessary
to enable them to relocate.
(h) in the case of all projects, the corporation shall state
the basis for its findings.
§ 11. Construction contracts. (1) Construction contracts let
by the corporation shall be in conformity with the applicable
provisions of section one hundred thirty-five of the state
finance law, provided, however, that construction contracts let
by subsidiaries of the corporation which are housing companies
shall be governed by the applicable provisions of the private
housing finance law; provided further, however, that in the case
of industrial projects, whenever the corporation determines that
trade secrets or other confidential information about the
prospective project occupant's business operations, products,
processes or designs would be revealed by public bidding, the
requirements of section one hundred thirty-five of the state
finance law with respect to public bidding may be waived. In
such event, separate specifications shall be prepared for, and
separate and independent contracts shall be entered into, for
the following three subdivisions of work to be performed: (a)
plumbing and gas fitting; (b) steam heating, hot water heating,
ventilating and air conditioning apparatus; and (c) electric
wiring and standard illuminating fixtures.
(2) The corporation may, in its discretion, assign contracts
for supervision and coordination to the successful bidder for
any subdivision of work for which the corporation receives bids.
Any construction contract awarded by the corporation shall
contain such other terms and conditions as the corporation may
deem desirable. The corporation shall not award any construction
contract except to the lowest bidder who, in its opinion, is
qualified to perform the work required and who is responsible
and reliable. The corporation may, however, reject any or all
bids or waive any informality in a bid if it believes that the
public interest will be promoted thereby. The corporation may
reject any bid if, in its judgment, the business and technical
organization, plant, resources, financial standing, or
experience of the bidder justifies such rejection in view of the
work to be performed.
§ 12. Subsidiaries: how created. (1) The corporation shall
have the right to exercise and perform its powers and functions
through one or more subsidiary corporations. The corporation by
resolution may direct any of its directors, officers or
employees to organize a subsidiary corporation pursuant to
either the business corporation law, the not-for-profit
corporation law or articles two, four or eleven of the private
housing finance law. Such resolution shall prescribe the
purposes for which such subsidiary corporation is to be formed.
Such corporation shall be deemed a subsidiary corporation
whenever and so long as (i) more than half of any voting shares
of such subsidiary are owned or held by the corporation, or (ii)
a majority of the directors, trustees or members of such
subsidiary are designees of the corporation.
(2) The corporation may transfer to any subsidiary corporation
any moneys, real or personal or mixed property or any project in
order to carry out the purposes of this act. Each such
subsidiary corporation shall have all the privileges,
immunities, tax exemptions and other exemptions of the
corporation to the extent the same are not inconsistent with the
statute or statutes pursuant to which such subsidiary was
incorporated.
(3) Notwithstanding any provision of this act to the contrary,
the superintendent of banks and the chairman of the New York
state science and technology foundation shall not serve as a
director, trustee or member of any such subsidiary corporation.
(4) No officer or director of the corporation shall receive
any additional compensation, either direct or indirect, other
than reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses incurred in
the performance of his duties, by reason of his serving as a
member, director, or trustee of any subsidiary corporation.
§ 13. Acquisition of real property. The corporation, upon
making a finding that it is necessary or convenient to acquire
any real property for its immediate or future use, may acquire
such property in any lawful manner, pursuant to the provisions
of the eminent domain procedure law, notwithstanding that such
property may already be devoted to a public use, nor shall such
property thereafter be taken for any other public use without
the consent of the corporation.
Prior to the commencement of condemnation proceedings, the
corporation shall cause a survey and map to be made of the
property to be condemned and file the same in its office. There
shall be annexed thereto a certificate, executed by such officer
or employee as the corporation may designate, stating that the
property described in such survey and map is necessary for
corporate purposes.
§ 13-a. Conveyance of state lands. The commissioner of general
services shall have power, in his discretion, from time to time
to grant and convey to the corporation, upon such terms and
conditions including consideration as the commissioner of
general services may fix and determine, unappropriated state
lands, lands under water, abandoned canal lands and salt springs
lands which the corporation shall certify to be necessary or
convenient for its corporate purposes. Certification shall be
evidenced by a formal request from the President of the
corporation.
§ 14. Acquisition of real property from a municipality or an
urban renewal agency. (1) Notwithstanding anything to the
contrary contained in article fifteen or article fifteen-A of
the general municipal law or in any general, special or local
law applicable to the sale of real property by a municipality or
an urban renewal agency, a municipality or an urban renewal
agency may, in addition to employing any other lawful method of
utilizing or disposing of any real property and appurtenances
thereto or any interest therein owned by such municipality or
urban renewal agency or acquired by such municipality or urban
renewal agency pursuant to article fifteen of article fifteen-A
of the general municipal law, sell, lease for a term not
exceeding ninety-nine years, or otherwise dispose of any such
real property and appurtenances thereto or any interest therein
to the corporation for the effectuation of any of the purposes
of an urban renewal program, without public auction, or sealed
bids or public notice.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general, special or
local law or charter, any municipality, by resolution of its
local governing body, is hereby empowered without referendum,
public auction, sealed bids or public notice, to sell, lease for
a term not exceeding ninety-nine years, grant or convey to the
corporation any real property owned by it which the corporation
shall certify to be necessary or convenient for its corporate
purposes. Any such sale, lease, grant or conveyance shall be
made with or without consideration and upon such terms and
conditions as may be agreed upon by such municipality and the
corporation. Certification shall be evidenced by a formal
request from the president of the corporation. Before any such
sale, lease, grant or conveyance may be made to the corporation,
a public hearing shall be held by the local governing body to
consider the same. Notice of such hearing shall be published at
least ten days before the date set for the hearing in such
publication and in such manner as may be designated by the local
governing body.
§ 15. Special provisions relating to residential projects. (1)
Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, whenever a
residential project is owned by or leased to a subsidiary which
is a limited profit housing company, or is sold or leased to a
limited profit housing company, such project shall be deemed to
be a state-aided project, as defined in section two of the
private housing finance law, unless such project is aided by a
municipal mortgage loan, in which event such project shall be
deemed to be a municipally-aided project.
(2) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, but
subject to any agreement with noteholders or bondholders, any
city, town or village and any housing authority is hereby
authorized to purchase or lease for a term not exceeding
ninety-nine years a residential project.
(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this act, projects
of a subsidiary organized pursuant to articles two, four or
eleven of the private housing finance law shall be exempt from
real property taxes to the extent and in the manner provided by
applicable law.
(4) In order to increase the availability of housing
accommodations for persons and families of low income, the
corporation shall undertake to utilize the state capital grant
low rent assistance program, pursuant to section forty-four-a of
the private housing finance law, in residential projects of the
corporation.
(5) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of this act or
of any general or special law, no plan for a proposed
residential project in a town or incorporated village which has
not been affirmed by the corporation prior to May first,
nineteen hundred seventy-three, shall be affirmed if, within
thirty days after the public hearing held pursuant to
subdivision two of section sixteen of this act or within thirty
days after June first, nineteen hundred seventy-three, whichever
date is later, the local governing body of such town or village
submits in writing to the corporation formal objections to the
proposed residential project, unless and until such objections
are withdrawn and subject to the following conditions and
limitations:
(a) The foregoing shall not apply to residential projects
initiated after June first, nineteen hundred seventy-three, if
such local governing body has, prior to submission, either
approved such plan or executed any agreement with the
corporation relating to such plan upon which the corporation has
relied in authorizing expenditures of funds or contracts, unless
such town or village reimburses the corporation for all of its
expenditures and indemnifies the corporation for liabilities
ensuing from cancellation of any contract, net of the proceeds
of any resale of property acquired by the corporation for such
project.
(b) The corporation may affirm, in any event, plans for
residential projects in the new community known as Audubon, in
the town of Amherst, county of Erie or in the new community
known as Lysander New Community, in the town of Lysander, county
of Onondaga, and the provisions of this first paragraph of this
subdivision shall not be applicable to any of such projects.
§ 16. Cooperation with municipalities. (1) In effectuating the
purposes of this act, the corporation and community advisory
committees created pursuant to section four of this act shall
work closely, consult and cooperate with local elected officials
and community leaders at the earliest practicable time. The
corporation shall give primary consideration to local needs and
desires and shall foster local initiative and participation in
connection with the planning and development of its projects.
Wherever possible, activities of the corporation shall be
coordinated with local urban renewal and other community
projects, and the corporation shall assist localities in
carrying out such projects. Consideration shall also be given to
local and regional goals and policies as expressed in urban
renewal, community renewal and local comprehensive land use
plans and regional plans.
(2) Except with respect to a project consisting in whole or in
part of real property acquired by the corporation pursuant to
section fourteen of this act, before commencing the acquisition,
construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, alteration or
improvement of any project: (a) upon adoption of the general
project plan, the corporation shall file a copy of such plan,
including the findings required pursuant to section ten of this
act, in its corporate offices and in the office of the clerk of
any municipality in which the project is to be located. Upon
request, any other person shall be furnished with a digest of
such plan; (b) pursuant to authorization from the chief
executive officer of the corporation, which authorization may be
given prior to the adoption of such plan by the corporation, the
corporation shall: (i) publish in one newspaper of general
circulation within the municipality, (ii) provide to the chief
executive officer of the municipality within which the project
is located, and (iii) in any city having a population of one
million or more, provide to any community board in which the
project will be located, a notice that such plan will be filed
upon its adoption by the corporation and that digests thereof
will be available, which notice shall also state that a public
hearing will be held to consider the plan at a specified time
and place on a date not less than ten days after such
publication; (c) the corporation shall conduct a public hearing
pursuant to such notice, provided that such public hearing shall
not take place before the adoption or the filing of such plan by
the corporation; (d) upon a written finding of the chief
executive officer of the corporation that no substantive
negative testimony or comment has been received at such public
hearing, such plan shall be effective at the conclusion of such
hearing; provided, however, that if any substantive negative
testimony or comment is received at such public hearing, the
corporation may, after due consideration of such testimony and
comment, affirm, modify or withdraw the plan in the manner
provided for the initial filing of such plan in paragraph (a) of
this subdivision.
(3) After consultation with local officials, as provided in
subdivision one of this section, the corporation and any
subsidiary thereof shall, in constructing, reconstructing,
rehabilitating, altering or improving any project, comply with
the requirements of local laws, ordinances, codes, charters or
regulations applicable to such construction, reconstruction,
rehabilitation, alteration or improvement, provided however,
that when, in the discretion of the corporation, such compliance
is not feasible or practicable, the corporation and any
subsidiary thereof shall comply with the requirements of the
state building construction code, formulated by the state
building code council pursuant to article eighteen of the
executive law, applicable to such construction, reconstruction,
rehabilitation, alteration or improvement. In those
circumstances where, in the discretion of the corporation, such
compliance with local laws, ordinances, codes, charters or
regulations is not feasible or practicable, and in the case of
any project where the corporation intends to acquire real
property pursuant to section thirteen of this act, the
requirements of subdivision two of this section shall be
complied with; provided, however, that (a) the corporation shall
provide a copy of the plan to the chief executive officer of any
municipality within which the project is to be located, the
chairman of the planning board or commission of any such
municipality, or if there is no planning board or commission, to
the presiding officer of the local governing body and in any
city having a population of one million or more, to any
community board in which the project is located, and the public
hearing to consider the plan required pursuant thereto shall be
held on thirty days notice following adoption of the plan by the
corporation; (b) any person shall have the opportunity to
present written comments on the plan within thirty days after
the public hearing; (c) any municipality within which the
project is to be located, by majority vote of its planning board
or commission, or in the event there is no planning board or
commission, by majority vote of its local governing body, may
recommend approval, disapproval or modification of the plan,
which recommendation shall be submitted in writing to the
corporation within thirty days after such hearing; and (d) after
due consideration of such testimony and comments and municipal
recommendations, if any, the corporation may affirm, modify or
withdraw the plan in the manner provided for the initial filing
of such plan in paragraph (a) of subdivision two of this
section, provided, however that in the event any such
municipality has recommended disapproval or modification of the
plan, as provided herein, the corporation may affirm the plan
only by a vote of two-thirds of the directors thereof then in
office. No municipality shall have power to modify or change the
drawings, plans or specifications for the construction,
reconstruction, rehabilitation, alteration or improvement of any
project of the corporation or of any subsidiary thereof, or the
construction, plumbing, heating, lighting or other mechanical
branch of work necessary to complete the work in question, nor
to require that any person, firm or corporation employed on any
such work shall perform any such work in any other or different
manner than that provided by such plans and specifications, nor
to require that any such person, firm or corporation obtain any
other or additional authority, approval, permit or certificate
from such municipality in relation to the work being done, and
the doing of any such work by any person, firm or corporation in
accordance with the terms of such drawings, plans,
specifications or contracts shall not subject said person, firm
or corporation to any liability or penalty, civil or criminal,
other than as may be stated in such contracts or incidental to
the proper enforcement thereof; nor shall any municipality have
power to require the corporation or any subsidiary thereof, or
lessee therefrom or successor in interest thereto, to obtain any
other or additional authority, approval, permit, certificate or
certificate of occupancy from such municipality as a condition
of owning, using, maintaining, operating or occupying any
project acquired, constructed, reconstructed, rehabilitated,
altered or improved by the corporation or by any subsidiary
thereof. The foregoing provisions shall not preclude any
municipality from exercising the right of inspection for the
purpose of requiring compliance by any such project with local
requirements for operation and maintenance, affecting the
health, safety and welfare of the occupants thereof, provided,
however, that such compliance does not require changes,
modifications or additions to the original construction of such
project.
(4) Each municipality or political subdivision, including but
not limited to a county, city, town, village or district, in
which any project of the corporation or of any subsidiary
thereof is located, shall provide for such project, whether then
owned by the corporation, any subsidiary thereof or any
successor in interest thereto, police, fire, sanitation, health
protection and other municipal services of the same character
and to the same extent as those provided for other residents of
such municipality or political subdivision.
(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general, special or
local law or charter, any municipality or any public corporation
is hereby empowered to purchase or lease for a term not
exceeding ninety-nine years a civic project, upon such terms and
conditions as may be agreed upon by such municipality or such
public corporation and the corporation. No agreement for such
purchase or lease shall be deemed to be a contract for public
work or purchase within the meaning of the general municipal
law. Nothing contained in this subdivision shall be deemed to
amend or supersede any other provision of law requiring a vote
of the qualified voters of any school district upon a proposed
expenditure of funds or incurring of indebtedness by such school
district.
(6) In carrying out any project, the corporation and its
subsidiaries shall be empowered to enter into contractual
agreements with municipalities and public corporations with
respect to the furnishing of any community, municipal or public
facilities or services necessary or desirable for such project,
and any municipality or public corporation is hereby authorized
and empowered, notwithstanding any other law, to enter into such
contractual agreements with the corporation and its subsidiaries
and to do all things necessary to carry out its obligations
under the same.
§ 16-a. Regional revolving loan program. (1) The corporation
shall establish a fund to be known as the "regional revolving
loan trust fund" and shall pay into such fund any monies made
available to the corporation for such fund from any source. The
monies held in or credited to the fund shall be expended solely
for the purposes set forth in this section. The corporation
shall not commingle the monies of such fund with any other
monies of the corporation or any monies held in trust by the
corporation.
(2) The corporation shall allocate any monies made available
for such fund for the purpose of making grants to regional
corporations. The grants shall be allocated as follows:
(a) fifty percent divided equally among the regions;
(b) fifty percent according to a formula weighted in favor of
those regions with the greatest levels of economic distress as
determined by poverty rates, number of persons receiving public
assistance, unemployment rates, rate of employment decline and
such other indicators of economic distress as the corporation
deems appropriate; and
(c) in the event a regional corporation advises the
corporation that it does not require all or a portion of the
funds to be distributed pursuant to this subdivision, such funds
shall be re-distributed by the corporation equally among the
other regional corporations.
(3) In accordance with the rules and regulations of the
corporation, each regional corporation shall establish two
special accounts for monies received by the regional corporation
pursuant to the provisions of this section. The grant monies
received from the corporation, earnings on such monies, and any
principal repayments shall be deposited in a loan fund account;
any interest earned by the regional corporation on loans will be
deposited in a separate interest repayment account. A regional
corporation shall be authorized to provide financing assistance
to eligible projects. Any interest earned from its loans may be
used by a regional corporation for the cost of administering the
programs authorized by this section.
(4) Regional corporations shall be selected by the corporation
from among eligible applicants to administer a regional
revolving loan program. An eligible applicant shall:
(a) represent at least two entire contiguous counties;
(b) have available to it staff with sufficient expertise to
analyze applications for financial assistance, to regularly
monitor financial assistance to clients, and have made
arrangements to provide management or technical assistance to
clients;
(c) have an effective plan to market its services to small
businesses through such entities as chambers of commerce,
industry trade associations, banks, local development
corporations, community based organizations and industrial
development agencies; and
(d) have established a loan committee composed of five or more
persons experienced in commercial lending or in the operation of
a for-profit business and a staff person of the regional office
of the department of economic development. Such loan committee
shall review every application to the regional corporation for
financial assistance pursuant to this section, shall determine
the feasibility of the transaction proposed in the application
and shall recommend to the board of directors or other governing
body of the regional corporation such action as the committee
deems appropriate.
(5) Applications to the corporation for certification or
recertification as a regional corporation shall:
(a) describe the applicant corporation, including its
organization, membership, loan committee, staff, and sources of
other funds, if any;
(b) identify the geographic region to be served;
(c) explain the methods and criteria to be used in determining
firms eligible for financial assistance from the regional
revolving loan program;
(d) describe the means for coordinating financial assistance
available from the regional revolving loan program with
financial assistance available from other public funding sources
within the region and how such program will be used to leverage
private financing for projects;
(e) at any time, the corporation may consider proposals to
reconfigure geographic areas served by regional corporations;
and
(f) contain such other information as the corporation deems
appropriate.
(6) The corporation shall select, from among eligible
applicants, regional corporations to administer revolving loan
programs, on the basis of:
(a) the ability of the regional corporation to administer the
financial assistance programs authorized under this section;
(b) the extent of coordination with other publicly supported
financial assistance programs available within the region
represented by the regional corporation;
(c) the degree of public and private support within the region
for the applicant regional corporation; and
(d) the ability of the regional corporation to provide
financial and other assistance to businesses located in
distressed areas within the region.
(6-a) The corporation shall, every five years, recertify that
each regional corporation has complied with the terms and
conditions of this section. In the event a regional corporation
is not recertified, or its certification is withdrawn pursuant
to subdivision nineteen of this section, then the corporation
shall give written notice to such regional corporation which
shall thereafter neither make new loans nor undertake new
obligations except upon written approval of the corporation. The
corporation may thereafter certify another regional corporation
in the manner provided in this section for the selection of
regional corporations. Upon the certification of a successor
regional corporation, all remaining loan funds, records and
accounts of the regional corporation not recertified shall be
transferred to the corporation and the regional corporation not
recertified shall cease to function pursuant to this section.
The corporation shall transfer returned funds to a successor
regional corporation, or in the event no successor regional
corporation is formed, equally to other existing regional
corporations.
(7) A regional corporation certified by the corporation shall
use the funds received from the corporation, subject to the
terms, conditions and restrictions set forth in this section, to
provide financial assistance to eligible businesses as defined
in subdivision seventeen of section three of this act, for
projects that demonstrate a substantial likelihood of providing
increases in net new permanent jobs or retaining jobs in
businesses that need such financial assistance to remain viable.
(8) The decision to approve or reject an application for
financial assistance pursuant to the provisions of this section
shall be made by a majority of the directors of the regional
corporation, and such decision shall be final. No member of the
board or other governing body of a regional corporation shall
participate in a decision on a project application when such
member is a party to or has a financial interest in such
project. Any member who cannot participate in a decision on a
project application for such reason shall not be counted as a
member of the board or other governing body for purposes of
determining the number of members required for a majority vote
on such application.
(9) No employee or officer of any regional corporation shall
be a party to or have any financial interest in any project that
receives financial assistance pursuant to this section.
(10) A regional corporation, in approving applications for
financial assistance, shall give priority to projects:
(a) that will provide increases in net new permanent jobs;
(b) located in economically distressed areas as defined by the
corporation or employing persons who live in such areas;
(c) of minority or women-owned enterprises or enterprises
owned by dislocated workers, such workers as defined in the
Workforce Investment Act (P.L. 105-220); and
(d) of businesses in the early stages of development that have
been denied access to credit.
(11) The funds allocated to each regional corporation pursuant
to this section may be used to guarantee the repayment of a
working capital loan provided by a banking organization to
finance an eligible project. Guarantees may be provided for up
to ninety percent of the required total project financing,
provided that no more than one hundred thousand dollars may be
guaranteed for any project. Guarantees may be made for the
following types of financing: short and medium term loans for
working capital, revolving lines of credit, and seasonal
inventory and accounts receivable loans. Guarantees may be made
for up to ninety percent of the required total financing up to a
maximum of one hundred fifty thousand dollars for interim
financing where another lender or guarantor will provide
permanent financing within one hundred eighty days. In no event
may a loan guarantee be for a term longer than five years. Any
loan made by a banking organization that is guaranteed pursuant
to this subdivision shall be secured by a security agreement,
chattel paper, loan agreement, or such other instruments or
documents deemed necessary or convenient by the regional
corporation to secure the loan. Any guarantee made pursuant to
this subdivision shall be backed by a minimum reserve within the
account established by each regional corporation of at least
twenty-five percent of the amount guaranteed that is
outstanding.
(11-a) A regional corporation, in addition to receiving funds
as provided in this section, may also apply for and accept funds
from any other source for the purpose of furthering its goals
and objectives. Such funds may be used in the same manner as
funds received from the corporation to carry out the purposes of
this section.
(12) The funds of each regional corporation derived pursuant
to this section may be used to provide loans for working capital
for eligible projects; provided that the amount of the loan does
not exceed ninety percent of the total project cost, or one
hundred thousand dollars, whichever is less. The interest rate
and the terms on such loans shall be determined by the regional
corporation, but in no event shall the interest rate be less
than five percent. The term of any loan shall not exceed five
years. All loans shall be secured by lien positions on
collateral at the highest level of priority that can accommodate
the borrower's ability to raise sufficient debt and equity
capital for the project.
(13) A regional corporation shall not provide any financial
assistance authorized by this section unless the following
conditions are met:
(a) the applicant has demonstrated that there is little
prospect of obtaining the project financing requested from other
public sources of funding within the region, including local
revolving loan funds, and that there is little prospect of
obtaining adequate project financing from private sources of
capital, or in the case of a loan guarantee, that there is
little prospect of obtaining project financing without the
guarantee; except that in the case of local revolving loan
funds, financial assistance from the regional revolving loan
fund account may be provided for a project in conjunction with
financial assistance from a local revolving loan fund, provided
that assistance from the regional revolving loan fund is no
greater than that provided by the local revolving loan fund, and
that a project qualifying for financial assistance available
from a local revolving loan fund is not denied such assistance;
(b) the applicant has a minimum equity interest of at least
ten percent in the business or project;
(c) there is a reasonable prospect of repayment;
(d) the project is located in the region represented by the
regional corporation;
(e) the project will comply with any applicable environmental
rules or regulations;
(f) the applicant has certified that it will not discriminate
against any employee or any applicant for employment because of
race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or age;
(g) a staff member or a representative of the regional
corporation acting in an official capacity has personally
visited the project site and/or the applicant's place of
business; and
(h) financial commitments for the project have been obtained
from other public and private sources.
(14) Grants made by the corporation pursuant to this section
shall not be made available for:
(a) projects that would result in the relocation of any
business operation from one municipality within the state to
another, except under one of the following conditions: (i) when
a business is relocating within a municipality with a population
of at least one million where the governing body of such
municipality approves such relocation; or (ii) the regional
corporation notifies each municipality from which such business
operation will be relocated and each municipality agrees to such
relocation;
(b) projects of newspapers, broadcasting or other news media;
medical facilities, libraries, community or civic centers; or
public infrastructure improvements;
(c) refinancing any portion of the total project cost or other
existing loans or debts of an applicant, except for the purpose
of transferring to the employees or to other local interests
ownership of a company that would otherwise depart from or cease
or substantially reduce operations in the state;
(d) providing funds, directly or indirectly, for payment,
distribution, or as a loan, to owners, partners or shareholders
of the applicant enterprise, except as ordinary income for
services rendered; and
(e) retail projects, except where the regional corporation
finds there will be an increase in net new permanent jobs.
(15) A regional corporation may charge application, commitment
and loan guarantee fees pursuant to a schedule of fees adopted
by the regional corporation and approved by the corporation.
(16) The regional corporations shall submit annual reports for
the previous fiscal year to the corporation describing the
financial assistance provided pursuant to this section,
including: the number of projects assisted; the amount and type
of assistance provided; a description of the projects; the
number of jobs created or retained; the status of outstanding
loans, guarantees, earnings and account balances; and such other
information as the corporation may require.
(17) The corporation shall, assisted by the commissioner of
economic development and in consultation with the department of
economic development, promulgate rules and regulations in
accordance with the state administrative procedure act setting
forth procedures to be followed by, and the responsibilities and
obligations of, regional corporations and the corporation. Such
rules and regulations shall be consistent with the program plan
required by subdivision nineteen of section one hundred of the
economic development law.
(18) For any positions opened as a result of assistance
provided in this section, businesses so assisted shall first
consider unemployed or low income individuals eligible to
participate in programs funded through the Workforce Investment
Act (P.L. 105-220) who shall be referred to the business by
local workforce investment boards created pursuant to such act
or by the job service division of the department of labor.
(19) The corporation shall annually conduct an audit of each
regional corporation to ensure conformity of all aspects of
program administration and of financial assistance transactions
with the substantive and procedural provisions of this section.
In the event that the corporation finds instances of substantive
noncompliance by a regional corporation with any of the
provisions of this section and such instances were, or should
have been, known to be in noncompliance, the regional
corporation shall return, within thirty days, upon demand by the
corporation, all uncommitted grant funds on hand and provide an
accounting of the loans currently outstanding.
The corporation may withdraw a regional corporation's
certification:
(a) when a member of a board of directors or other governing
body, an officer or an employee of said regional corporation is
party to or has financial interests in loan projects;
(b) when said regional corporation fails to comply with the
requirements for project loans pursuant to this section; or
(c) when a regional corporation makes no loans within the
previous fiscal year and there is more than one hundred thousand
dollars remaining in its loan fund account.
The corporation shall transfer funds returned from a
decertified regional corporation to a successor regional
corporation, or, if there be none, distribute such funds equally
among other existing regional corporations. Outstanding loans
and other obligations payable to such a decertified regional
corporation shall be assigned to its successor regional
corporation, or to the corporation or an agent designated by the
corporation upon such terms and conditions as the corporation
shall determine.
(20) Reporting. The corporation shall, on or before October 1,
1988 and on or before each October first thereafter, submit a
report to the governor and the legislature on the operations and
accomplishments of the regional revolving loan program. Such
report shall include a summary of the information contained in
the reports submitted pursuant to subdivision sixteen of this
section and of the results of the audits performed by the
corporation pursuant to subdivision nineteen of this section,
and shall set forth the status of the regional revolving loan
program for the previous fiscal year, including grants to the
regional corporations, earnings and account balances as reported
to the corporation. The report to be submitted on October 1,
2005 and on or before each October first thereafter shall be
consolidated with the annual program report of the corporation
required under the provisions of subdivision (b) of section
thirty of this act, as amended.
(21) Evaluation. (a) The corporation shall submit to the
director of the division of the budget, the chairperson of the
senate finance committee, and the chairperson of the assembly
ways and means committee an evaluation of this program prepared
by an entity independent of the corporation. Such evaluation
shall be submitted by September 1, 2005 and by September first
every four years thereafter.
(b) Between evaluation due dates, the corporation shall
maintain the necessary records and data required to satisfy such
evaluation requirements and to satisfy information requests
received from the director of the budget, the chairperson of the
senate finance committee and the chairperson of the assembly
ways and means committee between such evaluation due dates.
(22) The corporation shall recertify existing regional
corporations or, in the event a regional corporation's
certification has been withdrawn, seek successor corporations
among eligible applicants after April first, two thousand two.
§ 16-b. Job retention and defense industry working capital
loan program. (1) Program established. The corporation shall
establish the job retention and defense industry working capital
loan program for the purpose of establishing an economic
development working capital revolving loan fund to be
administered by the corporation. Such fund shall be used to
provide financial assistance in the form of working capital
loans or loan guarantees to companies at imminent risk of
reducing employment including, but not limited to, companies in
the defense sector or in the form of grants for the benefit of
communities whose employment is or could be impacted by a
planned or potential major military base closing and/or
downsizing or for the benefit of communities whose employment is
impacted by the downsizing of a community's major employer or
employers including, but not limited to, communities impacted by
cutbacks in defense contracts.
(2) Application criteria. In addition to such other criteria
as the corporation may adopt in rules and regulations for the
consideration of applications for loans or loan guarantees
pursuant to subdivision one of this section, the corporation
shall:
(a) determine that the company is unable to obtain sufficient
funding on reasonable terms from other public or private sources
to permit the company's planned investment to proceed without
the required assistance;
(b) give priority to those applications for assistance from
companies located in highly distressed areas as defined pursuant
to subdivision (a) of section nine hundred fifty-eight of
article eighteen-b of the general municipal law;
(c) consider whether the loan or loan guarantee will result in
a reasonable likelihood of success in meeting the purposes for
which it was sought by the applicant company;
(d) assess the demonstrated need for such assistance,
established by a showing of a short-term lack of liquidity of an
existing solvent business;
(e) request from a company a commitment to a business plan to
turn around the financial condition of the business;
(f) expect the existence of a completed company evaluation, or
commitment to undertake such an evaluation, by the industrial
effectiveness program, or its equivalent thereof; and
(g) require companies receiving assistance pursuant to this
section to first consider for any new position opened as a
result of assistance, persons eligible to participate in federal
job training partnership act programs (P.L. 97-3400) (29
U.S.C.A. SS 801 seq.) who shall be referred to the company by
administrative entities of service delivery areas created
pursuant to such act by the job service division of the
department of labor.
(3) Funds. The fund shall consist of such amounts as may be
appropriated, any repayment of the principal amount of any loan
made from the fund, and any interest earned by the corporation
from the investment of moneys of the fund.
(4) Nonapplication of certain provisions. The provisions of
section ten and subdivision two of section sixteen of this act
shall not apply to assistance provided under this program.
(5) Reports. The chairman of the corporation shall submit to
the director of the budget, the speaker of the assembly and the
temporary president of the senate an evaluation of the
effectiveness of the program prepared by an entity independent
of the corporation. The corporation shall select the program
evaluator through a request for proposal process. Such
evaluation shall determine whether the assistance provided has
enhanced the economic conditions of assisted companies or
communities, and shall make recommendations for improvements
which would make the program more effective. Such evaluation
shall be submitted by September first, nineteen hundred
ninety-five and September first every two years thereafter.
§ 16-c. Minority- and women-owned business development and
lending program.
(1) Minority- and women-owned business development and lending
program. (a) There is hereby created a minority- and
women-owned business development and lending program for the
purpose of providing financial and technical assistance to
minority and women-entrepreneurs.
(b) For the purposes of this section the following words or
terms shall mean as follows:
(i) "minority-owned business enterprise" or "minority-owned
business" shall mean the same as "minority business enterprise"
as defined in subdivision three of section two hundred ten of
the economic development law.
(ii) "women-owned business enterprise" or "women-owned
business" shall mean the same as "women-owned business
enterprise" as defined in subdivision five of section two
hundred ten of the economic development law.
(iii) "incubator" shall mean a facility providing low-cost
space, technical assistance and support services, including, but
not limited to, central services shared by tenants of the
facility, to minority- and women-owned business enterprises.
(c) Assistance shall not be provided under this section for:
(i) the purchase or rehabilitation of real property for
speculative purposes;
(ii) payment of any tax or employee benefit arrearage;
(iii) residential construction, renovation or development
construction, except for assistance to minority and women
contractors under subdivision four of this section;
(iv) educational institutions and proprietary education firms,
except licensed child care facilities;
(v) hospitals or residential health care facilities;
(vi) overnight lodging facilities;
(vii) refinancing of debt or equity invested in an enterprise
or project.
(d) The corporation is authorized to:
(i) establish programs in conjunction with locally, and
community based entities to decentralize lending for small loans
and loans to start up minority- and women-owned businesses;
(ii) establish a comprehensive program for minority and women
contractors, which may include assistance through loans, bonding
assistance and technical assistance;
(iii) establish a program to provide loans to established
minority- and women-owned businesses and for minority- and
women-owned businesses, including loans to such businesses
seeking to acquire or expand a franchise;
(iv) provide loan guarantees to financial institutions and
make linked deposits into federally and state chartered credit
unions for the purpose of encouraging private financial
institutions to make loans to minority- and women-owned
businesses;
(v) establish a program to create incubators to assist small
and high risk minority- and women-owned businesses to grow and
prosper;
(vi) promote equity investment in minority- and women-owned
businesses; and
(vii) establish a comprehensive technical assistance program
in cooperation with the department of economic development to
assist minority- and women-owned businesses and potential
minority and women-entrepreneurs.
(2) Minority and women revolving loan trust fund. For the
purpose of establishing programs in conjunction with locally and
community based entities to decentralize lending for small loans
and loans to start up minority- and women-owned businesses, the
corporation shall establish minority and women revolving loan
trust fund accounts and related administrative expenses trust
fund accounts.
(a) Each minority and women revolving loan trust fund account
shall be administered by one or more of the following types of
entities that provide services to community businesses and have
as one of their primary purposes the provision of services and
assistance to minority- and women-owned businesses:
(i) empire zone capital corporations established pursuant to
section nine hundred sixty-four of the general municipal law;
(ii) community-based local development corporations or
industrial development agencies that serve a municipality in
which an empire zone has been established pursuant to article
eighteen-B of the general municipal law and have as their
primary purpose assistance to minority- and women-owned
businesses located or to be located in such empire zone; or
(iii) local and community development corporations, industrial
development agencies, or other not-for-profit entities,
representative of the community.
(b) To be eligible to administer a minority and women
revolving loan trust fund account, the entity must also: (i)
have staff with sufficient expertise to analyze applications for
financial assistance, to regularly monitor financial assistance
to clients, and to provide management or technical assistance to
clients; and (ii) have established a loan committee composed of
six or more persons experienced in business management,
commercial lending or in the operation of a for-profit business,
at least one-half of whom shall be experienced in commercial
lending, at least one-third of whom shall be minority persons
and at least one-third of whom shall be women. Such loan
committee shall review every application, determine the
feasibility of the proposed project and the likelihood of
repayment of the requested financing and shall recommend to the
governing body of the entity such action on the application as
the loan committee deems appropriate. The corporation shall
identify entities eligible to administer minority and women
revolving loan trust fund accounts through a competitive
statewide request for proposal process.
(c) Any entity selected to administer a minority and women
revolving loan trust fund account shall be eligible to draw
funds from the account as needed to provide the following types
of financial assistance to minority- and women-owned businesses
upon certification to and acceptance by the corporation that
such assistance complies with rules and regulations promulgated
by the corporation: (i) working capital loans, provided that the
amount of the loan does not exceed thirty-five thousand dollars
and the term of the loan does not exceed five years; and (ii)
loans for the acquisition and/or improvement of real property
and for the acquisition of machinery and equipment provided that
the amount of the loan does not exceed fifty thousand dollars
and the term of the loan does not exceed the useful life of the
equipment or property.
(d) (i) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary,
the corporation may establish an administrative expenses trust
fund account for the benefit of each entity selected to
administer a minority and women revolving loan trust fund
account. The initial deposit of funds to an administrative
expenses trust fund account shall be an amount determined by the
corporation but shall not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars.
(ii) An entity selected to administer a minority and women
revolving loan trust fund account may use the funds in the
administrative expenses trust fund account for costs incurred by
it in the start up and administration of the financial
assistance program authorized pursuant to this subdivision.
(iii) The corporation shall deposit into each administrative
expenses trust fund account:
(A) all income earned from the moneys on deposit in the
corresponding minority and women revolving loan trust fund
account during the first year of the entity's administration of
said account; and
(B) beginning with its second year in administering a minority
and women revolving loan trust fund account, said amounts may be
used for costs incurred by the entity in administering the
minority and women revolving loan trust fund account; and
(C) repayments of interest on loans made from the
corresponding minority and women revolving loan trust fund
account.
(iv) Funds from the administrative expenses trust fund account
may be used for costs incurred at any time by an administering
entity in its administration of a minority and women revolving
loan trust fund account pursuant to this section.
(v) Funds deposited in an administrative expenses trust fund
account shall be disbursed by the corporation to the entity that
administers the corresponding minority and women revolving loan
trust fund account on a periodic basis and shall be expended by
the entity in accordance with an annual budget and any updates
of same, approved by the corporation.
(e) Any entity selected to administer a minority and women
revolving loan trust fund account shall pay to the corporation
for deposit any repayments received in connection with financial
assistance provided from its account. Payments consisting of the
repayment of the principal amount of a loan shall be deposited
by the corporation into the minority and women revolving loan
trust fund account from which the loan was made. The interest
earned by the corporation from the investment of moneys in each
minority and women revolving loan trust fund account during and
after the second year of a selected entity's administration of
said account shall be deposited by the corporation into the
corresponding minority and women revolving loan trust fund
account and used to provide the financial assistance to
minority- and women-owned businesses as authorized pursuant to
this section.
(f) The provisions of subdivisions eight, nine, and fourteen
through nineteen of section sixteen-a of this act pertaining to
the regional revolving loan trust fund shall also be applicable
to the minority and women revolving loan trust fund, provided
that: where the term "regional corporation" appears therein it
shall be interpreted to mean an entity selected to administer a
minority and women revolving loan trust fund account, and
"regional revolving loans trust fund" shall mean a minority and
women revolving loan trust fund, and where the term "this
section" appears therein it shall mean this section sixteen-c.
(g) The corporation may provide funds from an appropriation
for the minority- and women-owned business development and
lending program to any entity selected to administer a minority
and women revolving loan trust fund for the purposes of
recapitalizing such account and the entity's corresponding
administrative expenses trust fund account following an
evaluation by the corporation of the entity's administration and
use of such accounts.
(h) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the
corporation shall establish a minority and women revolving loan
trust fund to pay into such fund any moneys made available to
the corporation for such fund from any source, including moneys
appropriated by the state and any income earned by, or increment
to, the account due to the investment thereof, or any repayment
of moneys advanced from the fund. The corporation shall not
commingle the moneys of such fund with any moneys held in trust
by the corporation, except for investment purposes.
(3) Micro-loan program. (a) For the purposes of this
subdivision "micro-loan" shall mean a loan of under seven
thousand five hundred dollars.
(b) The corporation shall, pursuant to requests for proposals,
enter into agreements for other types of locally, community or
regionally administered loan programs than those set forth in
subdivision two of this section, including micro-loan programs
to be administered by local development corporations, local
industrial development organizations, municipalities and
not-for-profit organizations, to provide micro-loans to small
and high risk minority- and women-owned businesses located
within their respective service areas, provided that loan review
committees are established by such administering entity,
including women and minority persons experienced in business
management, business development, commercial lending,
entrepreneurship, or in the operation of a for-profit business.
(c) Agreements entered into pursuant to paragraph (b) of this
subdivision shall be governed by paragraphs (d) through (h) of
subdivision two of this section, and minority and women
revolving loan trust fund accounts and administrative expenses
trust fund accounts shall be established in a similar fashion
for entities selected to administer micro-loan funds pursuant to
this subdivision.
(4) Minority and women contracting program. For the purpose of
establishing a comprehensive program to assist minority and
women contractors, the corporation may provide loans, loan
guarantees, technical assistance and bonding assistance, the
corporation may enter into cooperative agreements with cities,
counties, municipalities, authorities, agencies, federally and
state chartered credit unions in New York state and federally
insured banking organizations and financial institutions for
such purposes.
(a) To be eligible for a contractor loan, the borrower must
have either (i) a construction contract with, or a contract to
provide goods or services to, a governmental entity or
authority, (ii) a subcontract on a government-sponsored
construction contract, (iii) a contract or subcontract on a
government sponsored residential project, or (iv) a contract or
subcontract on a construction project previously approved by the
corporation pursuant to section ten of this act.
(b) The corporation shall provide technical assistance
specifically oriented to minority and women-owned government
contractors as part of its comprehensive technical assistance
program.
(c) The corporation is authorized to provide assistance
through the creation of, or assistance to, a minority and women
bonding guarantee program to enable minority and women
contractors and subcontractors to meet payment or performance
bonding requirements.
(i) Through such program, assistance in the form of working
capital loans and loan guarantees pursuant to subdivision six of
this section may also be provided to minority and women
contractors and subcontractors who have secured contracts by
participating in the program.
(ii) The corporation shall either establish criteria for the
bonding guarantee program and for any required escrow funds
which shall include detailed provisions for eligibility; or if
the corporation is providing assistance to a program other than
one established by the corporation, review and approve the
criteria established for such other program.
(5) Direct financial assistance for minority- and women-owned
businesses. For the purpose of establishing a program to provide
direct financial assistance to minority- and women-owned
businesses, the corporation is authorized to provide assistance
in the form of:
(a) Business development loans and loan guarantees pursuant to
subdivision six of this section to eligible enterprises for the
acquisition or improvement of real property, machinery,
equipment or working capital, provided that to be eligible for a
business development loan, the borrowers must have been in
business for at least three years and provided that the loans
must be in an amount equal to or in excess of fifty thousand
dollars;
(b) Franchise loans to eligible enterprises seeking to acquire
or expand franchises of nationally recognized corporations,
provided that disbursements by the corporation of such loans
shall be conditioned on obtaining such franchises;
(c) Equity assistance for eligible minority and women-owned
enterprises to match equity contributions to such enterprises by
financial institutions and community development equity capital
funds, provided, however, that such assistance shall be targeted
to start-up and early stage enterprises in the manufacturing,
retail and service sectors located in economically distressed
areas.
(6) Deposits and loan guarantees. For the purpose of
encouraging private financial institutions to make loans to
eligible enterprises pursuant to this section for any of the
eligible projects pursuant to subdivisions four and five of this
section, the corporation is authorized to:
(a) Make linked deposits of funds into federally and state
chartered credit unions in New York state, in order to encourage
such organizations to make small loans to minority and
women-owned businesses; and
(b) Provide loan guarantees to private financial institutions
for loans made to eligible minority- and women-owned businesses
pursuant to this subdivision for eligible projects, provided
that the guarantee shall be at least fifty percent backed by
funds of the corporation. Any such loan guaranteed by the
corporation shall be made to borrowers that are approved by the
corporation and substantially meet the underwriting criteria the
credit union or financial institution customarily applies to
similar borrowers for similar loans supported by similar
guarantees, and no guaranteed loan funds shall be disbursed
until the corporation has received, reviewed and concurred, in
writing, with the recommendation of the credit union or banking
or financial institution to make a loan.
(7) Minority and women small business incubator program. (a)
The corporation shall establish a minority and women small
business incubator program for the purpose of providing
financial support for the creation of incubators to nurture
minority and women-owned business enterprises with growth
potential.
(b) Under this subdivision the corporation is authorized to
provide low-interest loans and grants for construction financing
and permanent financing of up to seventy-five percent of project
costs up to a maximum of six hundred fifty thousand dollars per
project, provided that the total amount of grant assistance
provided pursuant to this paragraph shall not exceed twenty
percent of an appropriation provided for the purposes of this
section.
(c) Incubator projects eligible for such assistance shall
involve the renovation or reconstruction of existing facilities
or the acquisition of equipment, except that construction shall
be allowable in cases in which an applicant can demonstrate to
the satisfaction of the corporation that an existing facility is
unavailable in the area to be served by the new incubator
facility.
(d) Incubator projects are not eligible to receive loans for
the purpose of covering operating costs or supplying incubator
support services, except that incubators in their first eighteen
months of operation may receive one-time grants not to exceed
forty thousand dollars, which costs may include administrative
costs of employing a resident administrator/advisor to the
incubator, provided that the corporation shall not expend a sum
greater than two hundred fifty thousand dollars in any one state
fiscal year, or so much as may be specifically appropriated for
this purpose.
(e) Eligible incubator projects shall be required to
demonstrate to the corporation's satisfaction:
(i) public or private support and involvement sufficient to
complete the renovation of existing facilities or the
construction of new facilities and the acquisition of equipment;
(ii) significant community support for the project;
(iii) the existence of prospective tenants for such incubator
space;
(iv) demand for such incubator space, which may include
evidence of the unavailability of suitable space for prospective
tenants at appropriate rental or lease costs in the community in
which such prospective tenants are located; and
(v) the inability of the project to occur without financial
assistance from the corporation.
(f) The corporation shall establish criteria for eligibility
for funding for incubator projects, including but not limited to
the following:
(i) the project must be designed to provide low-cost space and
support services to incubator tenants, coordination with other
sources of assistance and flexible leasing arrangements for
tenants;
(ii) the project sponsors must provide a management plan and a
business plan for operating the incubator satisfactory to the
corporation; and
(iii) the project gives preference for incubator space and
assistance to minority- and women-owned businesses which
currently receive, or have received, assistance from the
corporation pursuant to this section and to incubator projects
proposed to be located in economically distressed areas.
(8) Minority- and women-owned business technical assistance
program. (a) The corporation shall establish a comprehensive
technical assistance program within the minority and women
business development office, in cooperation with the department
of economic development's division of minority- and
women-business development established pursuant to article
four-A of the economic development law, to provide technical
assistance to minority- and women-owned business enterprises and
to prospective minority- and women-business entrepreneurs
through third party service providers, which assistance shall
include, but not be limited to: (i) technical assistance in
development and execution of business plans, including the
formation of, acquisition of, management of, or diversification
of a minority- or women-owned business enterprise; (ii)
technical assistance with applications for obtaining funds from
public and private financing sources; (iii) technical assistance
in the development of a working capital budget; (iv) referrals
to other providers of technical assistance to minority- and
women-owned businesses and minority and women entrepreneurs,
where appropriate, including the entrepreneurial assistance
program established pursuant to article nine of the economic
development law; and (v) technical assistance through education
programs directed primarily at women and minority entrepreneurs.
(b) Technical assistance may be provided through direct
corporate support, through grants to or contracts with service
providers or governmental entities, and minority- and
women-owned business enterprises and individuals.
(9) Priorities. The corporation shall give priority to
applications for assistance pursuant to this section in which
the business seeking such assistance indicates a commitment to
first consider persons eligible to participate in federal job
training partnership act (P.L. 97-300) programs.
(10) Non-application of certain provisions. The provisions of
section ten and subdivision two of section sixteen of this act
shall not apply to assistance or projects authorized pursuant to
this section.
(11) Rules and regulations. The corporation shall, assisted by
the commissioner of economic development and in consultation
with the department of economic development, promulgate rules
and regulations in accordance with the state administrative
procedure act. Such rules and regulations shall be consistent
with the program plan required by subdivision nineteen of
section one hundred of the economic development law. No funds
shall be disbursed under this program until such rules and
regulations have been reviewed and approved by the corporation.
All assistance and projects funded under this program shall be
funded in accordance with the rules and regulations in effect on
the date the completed application for such assistance shall be
received by the corporation.
(12) Minority and women business development and lending
account. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary,
the corporation shall establish within the treasury of the
corporation a minority and women business development and
lending account, and shall pay into such account any moneys
which may be made available to the corporation for this purpose
from any source including, but not limited to, moneys
appropriated by the state and any repayment of principal and
interest on loans made by the corporation pursuant to the
minority- and women-owned business development and lending
program. Funds in the minority and women business development
and lending account, including funds from the repayment of
principal and interest on loans made by the corporation, may be
used for any form of assistance authorized hereunder. The
amounts deposited in the minority and women business development
and lending account may not be interchanged with any other
account, but may be commingled with any other account for
investment purposes. All loans disbursed by the corporation
shall be repaid into the account. The corporation shall enter
into a written agreement with the director of the budget for
repayment, to the state comptroller to the credit of the capital
projects fund, of all moneys in the account after a period of
time to be determined by the corporation and the director of the
budget. The corporation shall transfer to the minority and
women business development and lending account: all moneys
appropriated or reappropriated by New York state for the
minority and women revolving loan trust fund that have not been
committed prior to the effective date of the appropriation for
the program in the current fiscal year, or become uncommitted
subsequent to the effective date of the program's appropriation
for the current fiscal year; and all repayments of principal and
interest on loans made by the corporation which are currently on
deposit in, or payable to, the minority and women business
development and lending account.
(13) Standardization. The corporation shall streamline the
review and approval process for projects and wherever possible
standardize all relevant attendant documentation and legal
documents.
(14) Approval cycle. The corporation shall approve eligible
loans or grants on at least a four-month cycle and shall give
priority consideration to the comparative degree of economic
distress within the areas in which the project is located. Other
factors to be considered by the corporation shall include the
impact of the project on the employment and economic condition
of the community and the financial feasibility of the project.
(15) Repayment. Notwithstanding the provisions of section
forty-a of the state finance law and any other general or
special law, no written agreement under this program shall
require repayment at any time or on any terms inconsistent with
the provisions of this act or the New York state project finance
agency act; except, however, that the corporation may make
grants to projects using funds appropriated for this purpose and
that the repayment provision may not apply to such grants.
(16) Reports. The chairman of the corporation shall submit to
the director of the budget, the speaker of the assembly and the
temporary president of the senate an evaluation of the
effectiveness of the program prepared by an entity independent
of the corporation. The corporation shall select the program
evaluator through a request for proposal process. Such
evaluation shall determine whether the assistance provided has
enhanced the economic condition of assisted companies or
communities, and shall make recommendation for improvements
which would make the program more effective. Such evaluation
shall be submitted by September first, nineteen hundred
ninety-five and September first every two years thereafter.
§ 16-d. Urban and community development program. (1)
Definitions. For the purposes of this section:
(a) "Business improvement district" shall mean a special
assessment district established pursuant to article nineteen-A
of the general municipal law.
(b) "Business district" or "central business district" shall
mean the central district of a municipality or neighborhood area
traditionally used for commercial purposes.
(c) "Commercial strip" shall mean a predominantly commercial
area traditionally used for commercial purposes which may not be
the primary business district and which is one of several
commercial districts in the municipality in which it is located.
(d) "Economically distressed areas" shall mean areas as
determined by the corporation meeting criteria indicative of
economic distress, including unemployment rate; rate of
employment change; percentages and numbers of low-income
persons; per capita income and per capita real property wealth;
such other indicators of distress as the corporation shall
determine. Economically distressed areas may include cities,
municipalities, block numbering areas, and census tracts.
(e) "Highly distressed" shall mean suffering from severe
economic distress as determined by the corporation using
criteria similar to those set forth in subdivision (a) of
section nine hundred fifty-eight of article eighteen-B of the
general municipal law for determining eligibility for empire
zone status.
(f) "Not-for-profit corporation" shall mean a corporation
organized under the provisions of the not-for-profit corporation
law.
(2) Urban and community development program. The corporation
shall establish an urban and community development program which
shall offer the following assistance:
(a) Urban and community development assistance grants pursuant
to subdivision five of this section.
(b) Urban and community project development assistance
pursuant to subdivision six of this section.
(c) Neighborhood and community partnership assistance pursuant
to subdivision seven of this section.
(d) Urban and community commercial revitalization revolving
loan fund assistance pursuant to subdivision eight of this
section.
(e) Urban and community technical assistance pursuant to
subdivision nine of this section.
(3) Applications. Applications for support under this program
shall be made in a form and manner as determined by the
corporation and applicants shall be required to meet the
criteria and requirements established by the corporation, which
shall include but not be limited to:
(a) Factors of economic distress;
(b) The extent of support for, and involvement in, the program
or project of units of local government, the local business
community and local economic development professionals; and
(c) Such other requirements as are necessary to implement the
provisions of this section.
(4) Preference. Preference will be given to projects which are
located in highly distressed communities, and for which other
public or private funding sources are not available.
(5) Urban and community development assistance grants. (a)
Grants awarded under this subdivision shall be awarded on a
competitive basis, in response to requests for proposals, and
through direct applications accepted at other times at the
discretion of the corporation, distributed to business
improvement districts, local development corporations,
municipalities and other not-for-profit economic development
organizations by the corporation for the purpose of soliciting
applications. Requests for proposals under this subdivision
shall set forth such criteria as the corporation deems
necessary, including those set forth in subdivision three of
this section and including, but not limited to the following:
(i) the potential impact the proposed project would have on
economic development and employment opportunities in the
community and the region; and
(ii) the existence of significant support for such activities
from the local business community, local government and
community organizations within the community, including the
commitment of financial resources.
(b) The corporation is hereby authorized, under this
subdivision to:
(i) provide grants to business improvement districts, local
development corporations, other not-for-profit economic
development organizations, and municipalities involved in
commercial revitalization activities in central business
districts or commercial strips, such activities to include
architectural design studies and services and other
redevelopment work in connection with the design and
implementation of a plan for facade and other improvements to
commercial strips and central business districts throughout New
York state. Such grants may include monies available for
individual property owners and/or tenants who agree to improve
their property in accordance with an overall design plan,
provided that, such individual property owners and/or tenants
shall be required to match the amount of any grant awarded to
them.
(ii) provide grants to local development corporations,
business improvement districts and other not-for-profit
organizations for studies, surveys or reports, and feasibility
studies and preliminary planning studies to assess a particular
site or sites or facility or facilities for any economic
development purpose other than residential; and to identify
development opportunities within established business
improvement districts.
(iii) provide urban planning grants on a matching basis to
cities, counties, or municipalities desiring to prepare and
develop strategic development plans for a city, county, or
municipality or a significant part thereof.
(iv) provide grants to municipalities for studies, surveys, or
reports and feasibility studies or preliminary planning studies
to assess the economic viability and local credit needs of the
community for the purposes of establishing a banking development
district pursuant to section ninety-six-d of the banking law.
(c) Notwithstanding anything contained to the contrary in this
subdivision, section ten and subdivision two of section sixteen
of this act shall not apply to any grants authorized under this
subdivision.
(6) Urban and community project development assistance. (a)
Grants, loans and loan guarantees authorized pursuant to this
subdivision shall be limited to fifty percent of the actual cost
of the proposed projects, and shall be located in empire zones
designated pursuant to article eighteen-B of the general
municipal law or in highly distressed areas.
(b) The corporation is hereby authorized, under this
subdivision to: provide loans, loan guarantees and grants for
projects as set forth in paragraph (c) of this subdivision, and
to provide project development assistance by the corporation
acting as a project developer pursuant to paragraph (d) of this
subdivision.
(c) Project development loans, loan guarantees and grants. (i)
The corporation may make loans, loan guarantees and grants in
accordance with the provisions of this act for which no other
funds of the corporation are available, with the exception of
the appropriations for this program and moneys reappropriated
under the high risk targeted investment program, for the
acquisition, renovation, and construction of commercial
industrial and mixed-use facilities, or for feasibility or
planning studies in connection with such development.
(ii) Such projects shall include projects related to the
implementation of necessary construction and reconstruction
projects identified or planned under grants received pursuant to
subdivision five of this section.
(iii) Projects intended to be publicly-owned shall not be
eligible for financial assistance in connection with the
acquisition, construction or renovation of a facility or
development hereunder unless such project is leased to a private
enterprise.
(d) Notwithstanding anything contained to the contrary in this
subdivision, section ten and subdivision two of section sixteen
of this act shall not apply to any feasibility grants or
planning studies authorized under paragraph (c) of this
subdivision.
(e) Project development assistance. (i) The corporation may
act as developer in the acquisition, renovation, construction,
leasing or sale of development projects, other than residential
projects, authorized pursuant to this act in order to stimulate
private sector investment within the affected community.
(ii) In acting as a developer, the corporation may borrow for
purposes of this paragraph for approved projects in which the
lender's recourse is solely to the assets of the project, and
may make such arrangements and agreements with community-based
organizations and local development corporations as may be
required to carry out the purposes of this section.
(iii) Prior to developing any such project, the corporation
shall secure a firm commitment from entities, independent of the
corporation, for the purchase or lease of such project.
(iv) Projects authorized under this paragraph whether
developed by the corporation or a private developer, must be
located in either state-designated empire zones or in highly
distressed communities.
(v) The corporation, for purposes of this paragraph shall only
select projects that have project costs not to exceed three
million dollars of which the corporation's participation shall
not exceed sixty percent of the total, for which there is a
demonstrated demand within the particular community.
(f) Any other provisions of this subdivision notwithstanding,
the corporation may establish a loan guarantee program in
conjunction with banks and other financial institutions to
guarantee working capital loans and loans for real estate,
construction and renovations to not-for-profit community and
economic development organizations that serve highly distressed
areas.
(7) Neighborhood and community partnership. (a) There is
hereby created within the urban and community development
program a neighborhood and community partnership program which
shall be used to support regional and local activities designed
to retain existing businesses and jobs within a region or
locality, increase the viability of existing businesses, and
stimulate and encourage the formation of new enterprises and
small business growth.
(b) The corporation shall, within available appropriations,
award grants or enter into contracts for services to eligible
entities and organizations as set forth in this subdivision on a
competitive basis, in response to requests for proposals, and
through direct applications accepted at other times at the
discretion of the corporation. Grants shall not exceed one
hundred thousand dollars per project, and an applicant shall be
permitted to apply for support in more than one project area
listed under paragraph (e) of this subdivision, but the sum
total of grants received under this subdivision by any one
applicant for more than one project approved under paragraph (e)
of this subdivision shall not exceed two hundred fifty thousand
dollars.
(c) For the purposes of this subdivision the corporation shall
enter into annual contracts for services or award grants in an
amount not to exceed fifty percent of program or project costs
in economically distressed areas, or forty percent of such costs
for eligible projects or programs in non-economically distressed
areas, or seventy percent of program or project costs in empire
zones established pursuant to article eighteen-B of the general
municipal law.
(d) The corporation shall enter into no more than one contract
or make more than one grant per year per application under this
subdivision regardless of the number of projects for which an
applicant has applied and for which funding has been approved.
In the case of applications for multiple projects to be
conducted by a single applicant, the corporation may, at its
discretion, provide a grant or enter into a contract for
services with the applicant for some or all of the projects for
which an applicant has applied.
(e) Not-for-profit corporations, business improvement
districts and community development organizations shall be
eligible to apply for support under this subdivision to operate
a program or programs of business and economic development
services to stabilize, retain or revitalize existing businesses,
and to assist small and new businesses, including, but not
limited to assistance to individual businesses or business
sectors in such project areas as:
(i) the analysis of industrial sectors;
(ii) the provision of services, such as regulatory compliance,
security and marketing, to industries;
(iii) productivity assistance to mature industries and small
businesses, including but not limited to, high performance work
organization and quality improvement programs;
(iv) labor-management cooperation specific to an area or
industry;
(v) management services to industrial parks and incubator
facilities;
(vi) the creation of business support networks, including
flexible manufacturing networks composed of small businesses,
surveys of existing businesses and business sectors, the
formation of quality networks, the targeting of firms or sectors
with networking potential, analysis of network firms' production
potential, group marketing, group purchasing, shared employee
programs, and the establishment of regular lines of
communication between such firms;
(vii) the establishment and staffing of network service
centers for flexible manufacturing networks, combining business
services, marketing/procurement assistance, and technology
demonstration/training centers, such centers to be industry
managed and to maintain strong connections to labor unions,
universities, and the services provided through the industrial
effectiveness program pursuant to article seven of the economic
development law, local or federal economic assistance programs;
(viii) export, marketing, procurement and subcontracting
assistance to small and medium-sized industrial firms, including
minority- and women-owned businesses, and to flexible
manufacturing networks, and programs to assist regional and
multi-county business marketing and procurement programs;
(ix) assistance to targeted incubator facilities to support
new firms producing products and services for which there exists
a stable demand but no local production;
(x) business planning, management assistance and counseling,
and financial packaging assistance to small and medium-sized
industrial firms, including minority- and women-owned
businesses, flexible manufacturing networks, and new enterprises
and small businesses, including the establishment of
neighborhood-based business service centers designed to deliver
comprehensive technical assistance to new and small businesses
in specific communities and neighborhoods;
(xi) programs to assist economically distressed regions and
communities to identify new business opportunities, plan for new
enterprise development, and manage economic development
projects;
(xii) innovative programs of public and private cooperation to
foster new enterprise development and small business growth;
(xiii) programs to assist new enterprises and small businesses
to identify and access public and private sources of equity,
working capital and other types of financing;
(xiv) programs that improve the ability of small businesses to
access state job training programs;
(xv) programs to assess the need for, or to implement total
quality management training programs, employee retraining, and
skills remediation and/or upgrading;
(xvi) employment exchange services such as job placement and
job development;
(xvii) tourism matching grants to regions, as defined by the
commissioner of economic development, to conduct tourism
marketing, promotion and information activities;
(xviii) programs to assist small businesses in developing
workplace policies, including but not limited to the design of
employee benefit and assistance programs and developing child
care programs;
(xix) assistance to formulate and implement a business
retention strategy developed by the corporation in cooperation
with a local development corporation. Such assistance may
include grants to local development corporations as well as
funding for services and expenses for that purpose.
(g) Applications for support or assistance under this
subdivision shall be made in a form and manner as determined by
the corporation, and applicants shall be required to meet the
criteria and requirements set forth in subdivision three of this
section and other criteria and requirements determined by the
corporation pursuant to this act, including:
(i) the likelihood that state assistance will enable local
not-for-profit organizations or other eligible organizations to
provide services and activities not otherwise provided in the
area served by the applicant;
(ii) the potential of the project or program to stimulate or
enhance economic development in the area and to create or retain
substantial, permanent private sector jobs;
(iii) the innovative nature of the proposed project or program
in furtherance of community economic development; and
(iv) the demonstrated ability of the applicant to deliver the
proposed assistance and services.
(h) Projects and programs in communities that do not qualify
as economically distressed areas shall be eligible for funding
under this subdivision if such projects meet one or more of the
following purposes:
(i) projects located in a non-distressed area that will
significantly contribute to the revitalization of an
economically distressed area;
(ii) support for business development projects of women,
members of minority groups, or dislocated workers;
(iii) assistance to small or medium-sized manufacturing firms
which are seeking to modernize to remain competitive;
(iv) projects to diversify the economic base of a community
heavily dependent on a single industry;
(v) projects that will prevent the loss or significant
contraction of a company which is the primary employer in a
community, or where loss of a company would have a major adverse
impact on a community's overall economic condition;
(vi) projects involving expanding companies that will create
substantial numbers of new, private sector jobs;
(vii) projects creating permanent private sector jobs for
dislocated workers, public assistance recipients, or the
long-term unemployed; or
(viii) projects that are an integral part of a community
commercial revitalization strategy which contributes to the
economic health of a community, including the provision of
matching funds to newly formed business improvement districts
pursuant to paragraph (i) of this subdivision.
(i) Notwithstanding any other subdivision of this section, the
corporation may make grants to newly formed small- and
medium-sized business improvement districts during their first
three years of operation. Such grants shall provide up to
sixty-six percent of eligible project costs in highly distressed
areas and up to fifty percent of project costs in distressed
areas.
(j) Notwithstanding anything contained to the contrary in this
subdivision, section ten and subdivision two of section sixteen
of this act shall not apply to any grants authorized under this
subdivision.
(8) Urban and community commercial revitalization revolving
loan and loan guarantee fund. (a) The corporation shall, from
any appropriations made available for this purpose, establish an
urban and community commercial revitalization revolving loan
fund account and a related administrative expenses trust fund
account in order to stimulate the development of central
business districts and commercial strips through a decentralized
lending program operated in conjunction with business
improvement districts, local development corporations and other
not-for-profit corporations serving central business districts
or commercial strips. Assistance from this subdivision will be
awarded through a competitive process initiated by the urban
development corporation, which includes a request for proposals
as well as direct applications accepted at other times at the
discretion of the corporation.
(b) Loans and loan guarantees made from the urban and
community commercial revitalization revolving loan fund shall be
for improvements, expansions, and start-ups of businesses
located in central business districts and commercial strips.
(c) Such loans and loan guarantees shall be administered by
qualified business improvement districts, local development
corporations and other not-for-profit corporations designated by
the corporation on a competitive basis pursuant to a request for
proposals process.
(d) For the purpose of this subdivision, "local trust fund
account" and "local revolving loan fund" shall mean a local
urban and community commercial revitalization revolving loan
fund account.
(e) The corporation shall pay into such fund any monies made
available to the corporation for such fund from any source
including monies appropriated by the state and any income earned
by, or incremental to, the fund due to the investment thereof,
or any repayment of monies advanced from the fund. The monies
held in or credited to the fund shall be expended for the
purposes set forth in this subdivision and may not be
interchanged with any other account or fund, but may be
commingled with any other account for investment purposes. All
loans disbursed by the corporation from such fund shall be
repaid into the fund.
(f) The corporation shall allocate any monies made available
for such fund for the purpose of establishing local trust fund
accounts and a corresponding number of local administrative
expenses trust fund accounts.
(g) The corporation shall establish a local administrative
expenses trust fund account for the benefit of each entity
selected to administer a local trust fund account pursuant to
the following conditions:
(i) the initial deposit in each local administrative expenses
trust fund account shall be in an amount to be determined by the
corporation, but shall not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars;
(ii) an entity designated to administer a local trust fund
account may use the funds in its local administrative expenses
trust fund account for expenses incurred by it in the start-up
and administration of the financial and technical assistance
programs it is required to administer under this section; and
(iii) the corporation shall also deposit into each local
administrative expenses trust fund account:
(A) all income earned from the moneys on deposit in the
corresponding local loan trust fund account during the first
year of the entity's administration of said account. Beginning
with its second year in administering a local revolving loan
trust fund account, said amounts may be used for costs incurred
by the entity in administering the local revolving loan trust
fund account; and
(B) repayments of interest on loans made from the
corresponding local revolving loan trust fund account. Such
funds may be used for costs incurred at any time by an
administering entity in its administration of a local revolving
loan trust fund hereunder;
(iv) funds deposited in an administrative expenses trust fund
account shall be disbursed by the corporation to the entity that
administers the corresponding local revolving loan trust fund
account on a semiannual basis and shall be expended by the
entity in accordance with a semiannual budget and any updates of
same approved by the corporation.
(h) To be eligible to apply for designation to administer a
local trust fund account, a not-for-profit corporation shall be
required to:
(i) have represented on its board of directors, in such cases
where an area to be served by a local trust fund account has
located within its service area an empire zone designated
pursuant to section nine hundred sixty of the general municipal
law, one or more of the following:
(A) an empire zone capital corporation if established pursuant
to section nine hundred sixty-four of the general municipal law;
or
(B) community based local development corporations, industrial
development agencies, or other not-for-profit entities which
serve a municipality in which an empire zone has been
established and which, as one of their primary purposes, provide
services and assistance to business enterprises located or to be
located in such empire zone, including minority- and women-owned
businesses;
(ii) have represented on its board of directors, selected
local and community development corporations, industrial
development agencies, and other not-for-profit entities that
provide services to community businesses and, as one of their
primary purposes, provide services and assistance to business
enterprises located in central business districts or commercial
strips;
(iii) have strong written commitments from any empire zone
capital corporation, local and community development
corporation, industrial development agency, and other
not-for-profit entities, if represented on its board, to assist
the not-for-profit corporation in administering the local trust
fund account, including the provision of business planning, loan
application preparation, loan application analysis, management
and other technical assistance as needed;
(iv) have staff, or have access to staff from organizations
which participate in the administration of a designated local
revolving loan trust fund with sufficient expertise to analyze
applications for financial assistance, to regularly monitor
financial assistance to clients, and to provide or arrange for
the provision of management or technical assistance to clients;
(v) have an effective plan to market its services and market
programs provided by the corporation and the department of
economic development; and
(vi) have established a loan committee composed of six or more
persons experienced in business management, commercial lending
or in the operation of a for-profit business. Such committee
shall review every application submitted by an eligible entity
for financial assistance from the local trust fund account and
shall determine the feasibility of the project proposed in the
application and the likelihood of repayment of the requested
financing and recommend to the governing body of the eligible
entity such action as the loan committee deems appropriate.
(i) Any entity selected to administer a local revolving loan
trust fund account shall be eligible to draw funds from the
account as needed to provide the following types of financial
assistance to eligible businesses upon certification to and
acceptance by the corporation that such assistance complies with
rules and regulations promulgated by the corporation:
(i) working capital loans, provided that the amount of the
loan does not exceed fifteen thousand dollars and the term of
the loan does not exceed five years; and
(ii) loans for the acquisition and/or improvement of real
property and for the acquisition of machinery and equipment,
provided that the amount of the loan does not exceed twenty
thousand dollars and the term of the loan does not exceed the
useful life of the equipment or property.
(j) Any other provisions of this subdivision notwithstanding,
the corporation may enter into agreements for other types of
locally, community or regionally administered loan programs
interested in making small loans, including micro-loans,
administered by municipalities and not-for-profit organizations,
to provide loans to businesses located in commercial strips and
central business districts located within their respective
service areas, provided that:
(i) the corporation must secure certification from an entity
administering such a program that the loans will be made to
businesses through these agreements and meet the purposes and
requirements set forth pursuant to this subdivision;
(ii) loan review committees are established by each such
administering entity and that each entity designated under this
paragraph have established a loan committee composed of six or
more persons experienced in business management, commercial
lending or in the operation of a for-profit business;
(iii) no other entity eligible under this subdivision which
satisfactorily meets all requirements of this program has
applied to meet the needs of an area proposed to be served under
this paragraph; and
(iv) the corporation shall not expend any more than
twenty-five percent of the amount appropriated for programs
pursuant to this subdivision in any one fiscal year, or an
amount appropriated specifically for the purpose of this
paragraph.
(k) An entity designated to administer such a revolving loan
trust fund account shall pay to the corporation for deposit any
repayments received in connection with financial assistance
provided from such account pursuant to the following:
(i) payments consisting of the repayment of the principal
amount of a loan shall be deposited by the corporation in the
local trust fund account from which the loan was made; and
(ii) the interest earned from the investment, by the
corporation, of monies in each local revolving loan trust fund
during and after the second year of a selected entity's
administration of said account shall be deposited by the
corporation into the corresponding local revolving loan trust
fund account and used to provide the financial assistance to
businesses located in commercial strips and central business
districts.
(l) The decision to approve or reject an application for
financial assistance pursuant to the provisions of this
subdivision shall be made by the majority of the board of
directors of the entity designated to administer the local
revolving loan trust fund account and such decision shall be
final.
(m) An entity designated to administer a local revolving loan
trust fund account shall not provide any financial assistance
authorized by this subdivision unless the following conditions
are met:
(i) the applicant has a minimum equity interest of at least
ten percent in the project;
(ii) there is reasonable prospect of repayment;
(iii) the project will comply with applicable environmental
rules and regulations;
(iv) the applicant has certified that it will not discriminate
against any employee or any applicant for employment because of
race, religion, color, national origin, sex, or age; and
(v) a staff member or a representative of the entity
designated to administer the local revolving loan trust fund
account acting in an official capacity has personally visited
the project site or the applicant's place of business.
(n) Financial assistance from the local trust fund shall not
be made available for:
(i) projects that would result in the relocation of any
business operation from one municipality within the state to
another, provided, however, that such a project shall not be
deemed ineligible if all municipalities from which such business
will be relocated are notified in writing of the corporation's
approval of such funding and the chief executive officers of the
municipalities do not object to the corporation in writing
within a period of twenty days of receipt of the notification;
(ii) refinancing any portion of the total project cost or
other existing loans or debts of an applicant, except for the
purpose of transferring to the employees or to other local
interests ownership of a company that would otherwise depart
from or cease or substantially reduce operations in the state;
and
(iii) providing funds, directly or indirectly, for payment,
distribution, or as a loan, to owners, partners or shareholders
of the applicant enterprise, except as ordinary income for
services rendered.
(o) An entity designated to administer a local revolving loan
trust fund account may charge application, commitment and loan
guarantee fees pursuant to a schedule of fees adopted by such
entity and approved by the corporation.
(p) An entity designated to administer a local revolving loan
trust fund account shall submit annual reports to the
corporation describing the financial assistance provided
pursuant to this subdivision, including:
(i) the number of projects assisted, the amount and type of
assistance provided and a description of the projects;
(ii) the number of jobs created or retained; and
(iii) such other information as the corporation may require.
(q) The corporation shall, assisted by the commissioner of
economic development and in consultation with the department of
economic development, promulgate rules and regulations in
accordance with the state administrative procedure act to
implement the provisions of the urban and community commercial
revitalization revolving loan fund established pursuant to this
subdivision, and to implement such revolving loan trust fund
established pursuant to this subdivision, setting forth
procedures to be followed by, and the responsibilities and
obligations of, entities designated to administer local trust
fund accounts. Such rules and regulations shall be consistent
with the program plan required by subdivision nineteen of
section one hundred of the economic development law. No funds
shall be disbursed from amounts appropriated to implement the
provisions of this section until such rules and regulations have
been reviewed and approved by the commissioner of economic
development and the director of the budget.
(9) Urban and community technical assistance. There is hereby
established within the urban and community development program
an urban and community technical assistance program. Assistance
awarded under this subdivision shall be awarded on a competitive
basis, in response to requests for proposals and through direct
applications accepted at other times at the discretion of the
corporation. The corporation shall, from appropriations made
available therefor, provide assistance for the purpose of
developing the capacity of local and regional development
organizations and communities to undertake economic development
initiatives by:
(a) Conducting outreach to communities in areas where little,
if any, economic development capacity exists, including
identifying potential applicants and providing assistance to
potential applicants in completing the application process for
assistance and meeting eligibility requirements for federal,
state and local programs. Assistance may be provided through
grants to not-for-profit economic development organizations and
through the deployment by the corporation of circuit riders.
(b) Providing community building grants to not-for-profit
economic development or community development organizations
where necessary, in organizing for economic development,
analyzing potential development opportunities or obstacles to
development, and developing economic development strategies,
including feasibility studies for the creation of business
improvement districts in highly distressed areas.
(c) Providing technical and financial packaging assistance to
not-for-profit community development and economic development
organizations through grants to third party providers of such
services.
(d) Contracting with third parties for the purpose of
providing technical assistance to municipalities, not-for-profit
organizations, local development corporations, local empire zone
administrative boards, or business improvement districts to
analyze potential development opportunities or obstacles.
(e) Providing grants to not-for-profit economic development or
community development organizations for approved costs to
strengthen their capacity to implement economic development, job
creation, or business retention strategies, including assistance
to enable such organizations to provide technical and financial
packaging assistance to local businesses, manage economic
development projects, and provide other economic development
services that are identified in their strategic plans.
(f) Creating an urban internship program to provide training
and field experience to individuals committed to working in
highly distressed communities.
(g) Organizing and coordinating seminars and conferences to
facilitate the exchange of information regarding commercial
revitalization strategies.
(h) Establishing a community revitalization economic self-help
program to assist public officials, community leaders, economic
development and community groups to undertake an economic
development planning process and to organize for economic
development. Eligible applicants for assistance under this
paragraph shall consist of a municipality or a consortium of
municipalities from a region of the state, such regions as
established by the commissioner of the department of economic
development pursuant to section two hundred thirty of the
economic development law.
(i) Each training program shall require each participating
municipality to:
(A) establish an economic development planning group;
(B) undertake a community profile and needs assessment;
(C) undertake labor market and resource surveys; and
(D) produce a five-year strategic plan and a one-year work
program.
(ii) Requests from municipalities or consortia of
municipalities for technical assistance under this paragraph
shall be made directly to the corporation or through the
regional offices of the department of economic development.
(iii) Participating municipalities shall be required to
provide matching funds in an amount at least equal to any funds
provided by the corporation under this paragraph.
(iv) The corporation is authorized to enter into cooperative
agreements with statewide and regional economic development
organizations in New York state, acting as consultants, to
conduct joint training programs to train and educate local
officials and economic development practitioners pursuant to
this paragraph. Any contract for services with such
organizations shall not exceed the sum of fifty thousand dollars
for the conduct of each training program.
(10) Standard project program application. The corporation
shall, for assistance provided in this program, develop and use
standard project program applications pursuant to rules and
regulations, which shall be promulgated by the corporation in
accordance with the state administrative procedure act.
(11) Standardization. The corporation shall streamline the
review and approval process for projects and shall standardize
all relevant attendant documentation and legal documents.
(12) Master agreement. The corporation shall enter into a
written master agreement with the director of the budget
providing for repayment by such corporation to the state of New
York of all amounts expended by the state from such
appropriation for loans, on terms which may include interest
thereon at a rate per annum to be determined by the director of
the budget and a copy of such agreement shall be filed with the
state comptroller, the chairman of the senate finance committee
and the chairman of the assembly ways and means committee.
(13) Repayment. Notwithstanding the provisions of section
forty-a of the state finance law and any other general or
special law, such written agreement shall not require repayment
at any time or on any terms inconsistent with the provisions of
this act or the New York state project finance agency act.
Except, however, that the corporation may make grants to
projects using funds appropriated for this purpose and that the
repayment provision may not apply to such grants.
(14) Report. The corporation shall: (a) Monitor the
performance of each recipient of a grant or contract under the
provisions of this section and require periodic and annual
reports from each such recipient at such time and in such a
manner as prescribed by the chairman.
(b) Submit to the director of the budget, the speaker of the
assembly and the temporary president of the senate an evaluation
of the effectiveness of the urban and community development
program prepared by an entity independent of the corporation.
The corporation shall select the program evaluator through a
request for proposal process. Such evaluation shall discuss the
variety and types of programs supported by the corporation under
this program; and, as appropriate, the extent to which the
program has served to create and maintain jobs; the extent to
which the program has helped to increase the vitality of local
communities; the extent to which the program is coordinated with
other related state and local assistance programs; the extent to
which the program serves minorities and women; the extent to
which the program serves urban and rural areas; the extent to
which the program serves economically distressed and highly
distressed areas; the extent to which the program has helped to
increase the capacity of local governments and organizations to
undertake economic development activities; and such other
components as the commissioner of economic development shall
deem appropriate; and shall make recommendations for
improvements which would make the program more effective. Such
evaluation shall be submitted by September first, nineteen
hundred ninety-five and by September first every two years
thereafter.
§ 16-e. Regional economic development partnership program. (1)
For the purposes of this section, the following words and terms
shall have the following meanings:
(a) "Business development project". A project involving an
industrial, manufacturing, commercial, research and development,
high technology, tourism, agricultural or service company.
(b) "Business infrastructure project". A project involving an
industrial, manufacturing, commercial, research and development,
high technology, tourism, agricultural or service company which
shall include, but not be limited to, basic systems and
facilities on public or privately owned property including
drainage systems, sewer systems, access roads, sidewalks, docks,
wharves, water supply systems, and site clearance, preparation,
improvements, and demolition.
(c) "Child care assistance project". A project for the
establishment, expansion, and development of licensed
not-for-profit child day care centers which serve the needs of
small and medium-sized commercial, industrial, service and other
small and medium-sized businesses, health-related businesses and
degree-granting institutions of higher education.
(d) "Infrastructure investment project". A project consisting
solely of site preparation, clearance and demolition on property
owned by a municipality, local development corporation, urban
renewal agency or industrial development agency designated by a
municipality.
(e) "Infrastructure planning projects" shall mean projects
consisting solely of planning, including the preparation of
schematic designs and preliminary environmental assessments for
a business infrastructure project or an infrastructure
investment project.
(f) "Skills training assistance". A project related to the
provision of firm-specific or industry-specific employee
retraining, skills upgrading, and productivity enhancement,
including assessment and training related to the implementation
of high-performance work organization strategies.
(g) "Tourism destination". A location or facility which is
likely to attract a significant number of visitors from outside
the region.
(h) "Revolving loan fund account grants" shall include: (i)
grants to provide the local match for federally funded
community-based loan funds; (ii) grants to capitalize and
recapitalize regional revolving loan trust fund accounts
pursuant to section sixteen-a of this act; and (iii) grants to
recapitalize minority and women revolving loan trust fund
accounts established pursuant to section sixteen-c of this act.
(2) Loans and grants. The corporation may make loans and
grants for regional strategic planning, business development
projects, business infrastructure and infrastructure investment
projects, skills training assistance projects, economic
development assistance projects, and child care assistance
projects, that create or retain permanent private-sector jobs.
Such projects and programs except as specifically provided
herein:
(a) Must be consistent with a regional strategic plan for
economic development, as coordinated by the chairman of the
corporation and approved by the director of the budget, with
copies filed with the speaker of the assembly and the temporary
president of the senate;
(b) Must create or retain substantial permanent private-sector
jobs in the case of business development loans and business
infrastructure projects, or in the case of a child care
assistance project the corporation determines that the child day
care center will improve or maintain the productivity of the
sponsoring company or companies;
(c) Must be reasonably likely to be completed within the time
and cost estimates presented in the proposal; and
(d) Must be unable to obtain sufficient funding on reasonable
terms from other public or private sources to permit the project
to proceed without the requested assistance; and
(3) Ineligible projects. Ineligible projects shall include
retail businesses, overnight lodging facilities, debt
refinancing, or the relocation of a business from one
municipality within the state to another municipality, provided,
however, that such a project shall not be deemed ineligible if
all municipalities from which such business will be relocated
are notified in writing of the corporation's approval of such
funding and the chief executive officers of the municipalities
do not object to the corporation in writing within a period of
twenty days of receipt of the notification.
(4) Nonapplication to certain grants and projects. Section ten
and subdivision two of section sixteen of this act shall not
apply to grants and projects funded pursuant to the provisions
of this section.
(5) Business development project loans. (a) Business
development project loans made by the corporation:
(i) may be for working capital, the purchase or leasing of
equipment and machinery, land acquisition, and the acquisition,
renovation or construction of facilities;
(ii) shall not exceed one-third of the total project cost or
five hundred thousand dollars, whichever is less; and
(iii) shall be at interest rates that are necessary to make
the project feasible, as determined by the corporation.
(b) Notwithstanding section five of this act, no more than
twenty percent of the funds available for business development
projects shall be grants limited to:
(i) interest subsidies to reduce costs of financing projects
that demonstrate an inability to occur without subsidy, which
shall not exceed one-third of project cost or four hundred
thousand dollars, whichever is less; and
(ii) feasibility studies of the transfer of ownership to local
interests of a company which shall not exceed forty thousand
dollars.
(c) The corporation may make loans or grants for business
development projects in economically distressed areas and in
other areas; provided, however, that in the case of other areas,
the project furthers:
(i) business development by women, minorities, or unemployed
persons;
(ii) modernization and productivity improvements by eligible
firms;
(iii) diversification of the economic base of a community;
(iv) creation of substantial, permanent private-sector jobs,
including jobs for dislocated workers, public assistance
recipients, disadvantaged youth, or long-term unemployed
persons;
(v) retention of jobs involving companies at imminent risk of
reducing employment;
(vi) prevention of the loss of a primary employer which will
have a major adverse impact on the economic condition of a
community; or
(vii) furthers the development of a tourism destination.
(6) Business infrastructure projects. (a) The corporation may
make loans and grants to businesses, municipalities, industrial
development agencies and local, county or regional development
corporations designated by local governments for specific
business infrastructure projects directly related and essential
to specific business developments.
(b) Grants and loans for infrastructure projects may be made
in areas encompassed by empire zones established pursuant to
article eighteen-b of the general municipal law and in other
areas, except that in the case of other areas, a project loan or
grant for a business infrastructure project must be for one of
the purposes authorized for business development projects in
such areas pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivision five of this
section, and shall be available only where there is a firm
commitment by a company to carry out a related business
development to create or retain substantial permanent
private-sector jobs.
(c) Assistance for business infrastructure projects shall not
exceed forty-nine percent of the total project cost or seven
hundred fifty thousand dollars, whichever is less. Loans for
such projects shall be at interest rates determined by the
corporation, that are necessary to make the project feasible.
(d) No more than fifty percent of funds available from the
corporation for any infrastructure project not located in an
empire zone, and no more than sixty percent of the funds
available from the corporation for any infrastructure project
located in an empire zone shall be disbursed as a grant.
(7) Infrastructure investment projects. Notwithstanding
paragraph (b) of subdivision two of this section, grants may be
made by the corporation for up to four hundred thousand dollars
or eighty percent of the total project cost, whichever is less,
for infrastructure investment projects which:
(a) Meet highly distressed area criteria as defined in article
eighteen-b of the general municipal law;
(b) Are part of an economic development or urban renewal plan
to attract, retain or permit the expansion of an industrial,
manufacturing, research and development, high-technology,
tourism, service, food processing or distribution company; and
(c) Are located in areas that are zoned industrial or
commercial.
(8) Infrastructure planning projects. The corporation may make
infrastructure planning project grants in an amount not to
exceed twenty-five thousand dollars or fifty percent of project
costs, whichever is less, for the purpose of conducting
preliminary planning on business infrastructure development and
infrastructure investment projects that meet the criteria set
forth in subdivisions six and seven of this section.
(9) Tourism destination projects. (a) The corporation may make
business development and business infrastructure loans and
grants for tourism destination projects. Such projects must:
(i) involve the development of a recreational, educational,
cultural or historical facility;
(ii) significantly contribute to the development of a tourism
destination; and
(iii) either (A) involve construction of a new facility that
will encourage investment in an area where a shortage of
tourism-related facilities, attractions or services has deterred
business growth and where the proposed facility would
significantly increase overall business activity and the
marketability of the location as a tourism destination; or (B)
improve an existing recreational, educational, or cultural or
historical facility where the proposed improvement would
significantly increase overall business activity and the
marketability of the location as a tourism destination.
(b) The corporation may make grants involving the regional
marketing of tourism destinations, including commercial tourism
destination areas, where an increase of visitors to such areas
will contribute to the stability and economic viability of the
area.
(c) Preference shall be given to tourism destination projects
which attract a significant number of visitors from outside the
state, provided, however, that funding priority shall be given
to tourism destination projects in distressed areas of the
state.
(d) No assistance shall be provided pursuant to this
subdivision to finance a tourism destination project consisting
solely of overnight lodging facilities or retail businesses.
Provided, however, that nothing contained herein shall prohibit
the corporation from providing assistance to a tourism
destination project which includes such facilities or
businesses.
(10) Economic development assistance grants. (a) The
corporation shall, within available appropriations, award grants
or enter into contracts for services to eligible entities and
organizations as set forth in this subdivision on a competitive
basis and in response to requests for proposals issued by the
corporation. Grants shall not exceed one hundred thousand
dollars per project. An applicant shall be permitted to apply
for support in more than one project area listed under paragraph
(c) of this subdivision, provided, however, that the sum total
of the grant received under this subdivision by any one
applicant for more than one project approved under paragraph (c)
of this subdivision shall not exceed two hundred fifty thousand
dollars. No application for industrial effectiveness on global
export and marketing assistance shall be approved by the
corporation unless it is first approved by the department of
economic development.
(b) The corporation shall enter into no more than one contract
or make more than one grant per year per application under this
subdivision regardless of the number of projects for which an
applicant has applied and for which funding has been approved.
In the case of applications for multiple projects to be
conducted by a single applicant, the corporation may, at its
discretion, provide a grant or enter into a contract for
services with the applicant for some or all of the projects for
which an applicant has applied.
(c) Not-for-profit corporations, business improvement
districts and regional and community development organizations
shall be eligible to apply for support under this subdivision to
operate a program or programs of business and economic
development services to stabilize, retain or revitalize existing
businesses, and to assist small and new businesses, including,
but not limited to assistance to individual businesses or
business sectors in project areas, including, but not limited
to:
(i) the preparation of strategic plans for the economic
development of the region;
(ii) analysis of industrial sectors;
(iii) productivity assistance to mature industries;
(iv) assistance in marketing and promoting regional business
clusters;
(v) export assistance;
(vi) management and procurement assistance to small business,
including minority- and women-owned businesses;
(vii) regional marketing of state economic development
programs to areas underserved in those programs;
(viii) assistance in the training of community and economic
development staff to assist communities to build capacity to
engage in economic development;
(ix) assistance to expand the capacity of existing entities
administering minority and women revolving loan funds to deliver
services;
(x) feasibility studies for the establishment of business
improvement districts and for initial eligible organizational
costs; and
(xi) grants for the establishment and operation of
neighborhood-based small business service centers.
(d) In awarding grants or contracts pursuant to this
subdivision, preference shall be given to programs that:
(i) are located in distressed areas;
(ii) meet a substantial regional need;
(iii) complement local programs or provide services not
readily available from units of local government or the private
sector;
(iv) provide a local match; or
(v) foster small business and minority business development.
(11) Skills training projects. (a) Funds may be available for
expenditure related to the provision of skills training
assistance when utilized in conjunction with other public or
private development funds for the purposes of the prevention of
worker dislocation or the creation of new employment
opportunities.
(b) To the extent that training expenditures involve classroom
or on-the-job training, all funding by the corporation shall be
in the form of grants or contracts with employers matching fifty
percent of the cost of training.
(c) Allowable training expenditures may include expenses for
classroom instruction and on-the-job training.
(d) No skills training assistance shall be provided by the
corporation unless and until the department of economic
development has reviewed and approved each project.
(e) For those projects funded pursuant to the provisions of
this subdivision, the corporation shall submit to the governor,
the speaker of the assembly, the temporary president of the
senate, and the chair of the commission on skills development
and vocational education a report of the training assistance
provided by such projects to be submitted not later than
September first of each year. Such report shall include, but not
be limited to, a description of the training activity provided,
evidence of linkages with other publicly funded training
programs, specification of outcomes achieved including number of
job placements, jobs retained, jobs created, or a measure of
productivity improvement, the types of businesses served by size
and sector, and funds provided for the construction/renovation
of facilities or purchase of equipment for training purposes.
(12) Child care assistance projects. (a) The corporation shall
provide financing for child care assistance projects for the
establishment, expansion and development of not-for-profit child
day care centers which serve the needs of small and medium-sized
commercial, industrial, service and other small and medium-sized
businesses, and of health-related businesses and degree-granting
institutions of higher education. Such financing may consist of
grants for the establishment of licensed, not-for-profit child
day care centers developed in conjunction with small and
medium-sized businesses, health-related businesses and
degree-granting institutions of higher education. Such grants
shall not exceed forty percent of the total project cost, may be
in amounts up to one hundred thousand dollars and may be used
for general project development costs, including, but not
limited to:
(i) studies to assess the feasibility of, or preliminary
planning for, the development of child day care centers
sponsored by a not-for-profit provider or a consortia of firms;
(ii) the acquisition, design, construction, improvement or
renovation of the child day care center; and
(iii) the purchase of permanently installed machinery and
equipment necessary to establish or expand a child day care
center.
(b) Loans for costs associated with the development or
expansion of child day care centers to a not-for-profit child
care provider, or a small or medium-sized business, consortia of
such firms or health-related business or degree-granting
institution of higher education that has contracted with a
not-for-profit child care provider to supply child care
services, provided, however, that:
(i) such loans may be used for the acquisition, design,
construction, improvement or renovation of a child day care
center at the project site and/or for the purchase of
permanently installed machinery and equipment in connection
therewith, or for the provision of working capital to such
center; and
(ii) the corporation shall determine the terms and interest
rates of such loans, except that no loan shall exceed fifty
percent of the total project cost, or two hundred fifty thousand
dollars, whichever is less, provided that the total amount given
to any individual child care project shall not exceed two
hundred fifty thousand dollars.
(c) Financing for child care assistance projects authorized
pursuant to this subdivision, shall only be made upon a
determination by the corporation that such center will improve
or maintain the productivity of the sponsoring company or
companies. Such loans and grants shall only be made for child
care centers where adequate day care facilities are not
available for employees of businesses within the area of the
proposed center. Such centers shall:
(i) demonstrate an ability to obtain, from the appropriate
governmental agencies, all necessary approvals and licenses
required to operate the center; and
(ii) demonstrate an ability to prevent access by children to
any equipment in such centers which could be injurious to their
health or safety.
(d) The corporation shall work closely with the New York state
job development authority, the New York state department of
economic development, the New York state department of social
services, child care resource and referral centers, and other
sources offering assistance for child care in the state in order
to assure coordination of services.
(13) Regional loan fund account grants. Assistance from this
program may be provided for grants of up to five hundred
thousand dollars to capitalize, and up to two hundred thousand
dollars to recapitalize, regional revolving loan trust fund
accounts established pursuant to section sixteen-a of this act
and up to two hundred thousand dollars to recapitalize minority
and women revolving loan trust fund accounts established
pursuant to section sixteen-c of this act; and up to two hundred
thousand dollars to provide the local match for appropriately
federally-financed community-based loan funds.
(14) Determination of economic distress. (a) The corporation
shall develop and consider criteria for determining economic
distress within the areas of the state. Factors to be
considered in determining economic distress shall include:
(i) unemployment rate;
(ii) rate of employment change;
(iii) percentages and numbers of low-income persons;
(iv) per capita income and per capita real property wealth;
and
(v) such other indicators of distress as the corporation shall
determine.
(b) Economically distressed areas shall also include parts of
municipalities otherwise not qualifying, which meet
unemployment, income and other criteria established by the
corporation.
(15) Application. (a) The corporation shall develop and use a
standard project application form. Project applications shall be
completed, reviewed and evaluated by the regional economic
development councils established pursuant to this section,
pursuant to eligibility requirements and criteria promulgated by
the corporation pursuant to this section. Such applications
shall be submitted to the corporation with recommendations for
the project ranked in priority order; provided, however, that an
applicant may make an application directly to the corporation
for approval. Upon such direct application, the applicable
regional economic development council shall review the
application and shall make a recommendation within twenty days
of receipt of such application. The corporation may act on any
such application twenty days after the receipt of such
application by the regional council.
(b) The corporation shall expedite the processing of approved
loans and grant awards with the objectives of simplifying the
administrative process and making prompt and timely payments to
recipients and simplify procedures by which approved
applications are processed.
(16) Regional economic development assistance revolving loan
account. Notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary,
the corporation shall establish within its treasury a regional
economic development assistance revolving loan account, shall
pay into such account any moneys which may be made available to
the corporation for this purpose from any source including, but
not limited to, moneys appropriated by the state and any income
earned by, or increment to, the account due to the investment
thereof, or any repayment of principal and interest on loans
made by the corporation for projects authorized pursuant to this
section. The amounts deposited in the regional economic
development assistance revolving loan account may not be
interchanged with any other account. All loans disbursed by the
corporation shall be repaid into such account and such
repayments shall be available to the corporation for relending
and up to one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars of such
repayments shall be available for the co-location of staff of
the corporation in the regional offices of the department of
economic development, expediting project disbursement or
outreach in highly distressed areas.
(17) Approval cycle. The corporation shall approve project
loans or grants made under this section on at least a four-month
cycle.
(18) Priority. In approving loans or grants authorized
pursuant to the provisions of this section, the corporation
shall give priority consideration to whether a project is
located in an area of economic distress. Other factors to be
considered by the corporation shall include:
(a) The number of jobs created or retained;
(b) The number of jobs created for persons eligible for
benefits under the provisions of the job training partnership
act (P.L. 97-3400)(29 U.S.C.A. § 801 et seq.);
(c) The priority accorded the proposed project by the regional
economic development council;
(d) The participation of minority- and women-owned businesses;
(e) The impact of the project on the employment and economic
condition of the community;
(f) The cost per job created or retained based on total
project cost;
(g) The amount of private investment leveraged;
(h) The level of local public support; and
(i) The likelihood of accomplishing the project in a timely
fashion.
In the event that the corporation does not follow the
priorities of a regional economic development council, it shall
make a finding, in writing, as to why the council priority was
not followed.
(19) Preference. For any positions opened as a result of
business development project loans, entities assisted shall
first consider persons eligible to participate in federal job
training partnership act programs (P.L. 97-3400) (29 U.S.C.A.
𨽹 et. seq.) who shall be referred to the business by
administrative entities of service delivery areas created
pursuant to such act by the job service division of the
department of labor.
(20) Regional economic development council. Beginning April
first, nineteen hundred ninety-five, there shall be established
within each economic development region of the state, pursuant
to section two hundred thirty of the economic development law, a
regional economic development council.
(a) Appointments to a regional economic development council
shall be made according to the following provisions:
(i) Except as provided in subparagraph (iii) of this
paragraph, in regions composed of two or more counties, the
chief executive officer of each county within such region shall
each appoint one representative to serve on the regional
economic development council; and the mayor or other chief
executive of each city within the region whose population
exceeds fifty thousand, shall each appoint one member to serve
on the regional economic development council; except that for
regions that do not contain a city of at least fifty thousand
inhabitants, the mayor or other chief executive of the
municipality with the largest population shall make such
appointment.
(ii) In the case of regions composed of two or fewer counties,
the chief executive officer of each county within a region shall
each appoint three representatives to serve on the regional
economic development council; and the mayor or other chief
executive of the two largest towns within each county shall each
appoint one member to serve on the regional economic development
council.
(iii) In the case of cities of one million or more
constituting an economic development region, six appointments to
the regional economic development council shall be made by the
mayor, and one appointment each shall be made by the chief
executive officer of any county within such city, who shall
represent the county.
(iv) The governor shall make a number of appointments in each
region equal to the total number of appointments made pursuant
to subparagraph (i), (ii) or (iii) of this paragraph, as
appropriate; provided however, that of the appointments made by
the governor in each region, one shall be the director of the
regional office of the department of economic development; one
shall be the regional representative of the New York state job
development authority, and one shall be a regional office
representative of the corporation. In addition, the governor
shall appoint the chair of each regional economic development
council.
(b) Each individual appointed to a regional economic
development council shall serve for a term of four years but
shall serve for no longer than two consecutive terms.
(c) The chair of a regional economic development council shall
serve as chair for a single term of four years only.
(d) Representatives appointed pursuant to this section may be
removed for cause by the appointing authority.
(e) Any vacancy on a regional economic development council
shall be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as the
original appointment.
(21) Reports. The chairman of the corporation shall submit to
the director of the budget, the speaker of the assembly and the
temporary president of the senate an evaluation of the
effectiveness of the program prepared by an entity independent
of the corporation. The corporation shall select the program
evaluator through a request for proposal process. Such
evaluation shall determine whether the assistance provided has
enhanced the economic conditions of assisted businesses or
projects, and shall make recommendations for improvements which
would make the program more effective. Such evaluation shall be
submitted by September first, nineteen hundred ninety-six.
(22) Co-location of services. The commissioner of economic
development, in consultation with the New York state science and
technology foundation, the New York state urban development
corporation, the New York state job development authority, the
state university of New York and the city university of New York
shall develop and implement a plan and schedule for the
co-location of services provided by such agencies in each
economic development region throughout the state. Such plan and
schedule shall provide that at least one employee of each agency
providing such services shall be located at each co-located
regional office in New York state on at least a regularly
scheduled part time basis. The commissioner of economic
development shall report to the temporary president of the
senate, the speaker of the assembly, the chairpersons of the
fiscal committees of the senate and assembly, and the governor
on the plan and schedule required pursuant to this act by
December thirty-first, nineteen hundred ninety-four.
§ 16-f. Bonding guarantee assistance program. (1) Program
created. There is hereby created a state bonding guarantee
assistance program to enable small businesses, and
minority-owned and women-owned business enterprises, certified
as a minority-owned or women-owned business enterprise pursuant
to article fifteen-A of the executive law, to meet payment
and/or performance bonding requirements by providing additional
financial backing needed to induce a surety company to issue a
bond for construction projects, including but not limited to,
government sponsored, transportation related construction
projects. For purposes of this section, the term small business
shall have the same meaning as defined in section one hundred
thirty-one of the economic development law. Such program shall
give preference to minority-owned and women-owned business
enterprises and shall:
(a) Make available funds to surety companies providing bonds
to small businesses and minority- owned or women-owned business
enterprises in an amount equal to a percentage not to exceed
fifty percent of the face value of bonds issued by the surety.
(b) Provide technical assistance in completing bonding
applications for small businesses and minority-owned or
women-owned business enterprises seeking to become eligible for
bonding in preparation for bidding on construction projects,
including transportation related projects. The corporation shall
provide and may refer such businesses to the department of
economic development for technical assistance as such businesses
may need, including but not limited to:
(i) a review of the applicants' market and business
competitive strategy;
(ii) consultation and review of the development and planned
implementation of a working capital budget;
(iii) assistance with applications for the receipt of funding
from other financial sources and providing referrals to other
appropriate public and private sources of financing; and
(iv) assistance from the regional offices of the department of
economic development, pursuant to article eleven of the economic
development law, and the entrepreneurial assistance program,
pursuant to article nine of such law, and any other such program
receiving state funds from this act or the department of
economic development or any other state agency that is intended
to provide technical assistance to small businesses and
minority-owned and women-owned small business enterprises.
(2) Criteria and regulations. (a) The corporation shall by
rule establish criteria for such program, such criteria to
include detailed provisions for eligibility.
(b) The corporation shall promulgate rules and regulations to
effectuate the purposes of this section which shall be approved
by the director of the budget.
(3) Funds. Funds for this program shall consist of such
amounts as may be appropriated, any repayment of funds made
available under this program, and any interest earned by the
corporation from the investment of moneys from this program.
(4) Nonapplication of certain provisions. The provisions of
section ten and subdivision two of section sixteen of this act
shall not apply to assistance provided under this program.
§ 16-g. Child care facilities construction program. 1.
Definitions. For the purposes of this section:
(a) "Child care facilities construction project" shall mean a
project for the establishment, expansion, and development of
licensed not-for-profit child day care centers which are
intended to serve the needs of low-income working families or
economically distressed areas or highly distressed communities.
The project shall be used as a licensed child day care center
for a period of at least ten years with at least one-quarter of
the available day care placements offered to the local
department of social services or set aside for persons eligible
for low-income day care subsidies.
(b) "Economically distressed areas" shall have the same
meaning as provided for in section 16-d of this act.
(c) "Highly distressed" shall have the same meaning as
provided for in section 16-d of this act.
(d) "Not-for-profit corporation" shall mean a corporation
organized under the provisions of the not-for-profit corporation
law.
2. The corporation shall, from any appropriations made
available for this purpose, establish a child care facilities
construction program which shall offer the following assistance:
(a) Child care construction grants pursuant to paragraphs (a)
and (b) of subdivision 3 of this section.
(b) Child care construction revolving loans and loan
guarantees pursuant to paragraphs (c) and (d) of subdivision 3
of this section.
3. To the extent that monies are appropriated for the child
care facilities construction program, the corporation shall
provide financing for child care facilities construction
projects for the establishment, expansion and development of
not-for-profit child day care centers which are intended to
serve the needs of low-income working families or economically
distressed areas or highly distressed communities. The
corporation, in consultation with the department of economic
development, shall develop a joint request for applications with
the department of social services soliciting potential
applicants seeking assistance for the development of licensed,
not-for-profit child day care centers. In determining award
recipients, the corporation shall consider, among other factors,
the department of social services' grouped rankings of the
applications. Such financing shall consist of grants, revolving
loans and loan guarantees for the establishment, expansion, and
development of licensed, not-for-profit child day care centers
in accordance with section 410-ccc of the social services law
and this section.
(a) 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.
(b) For the purposes of this subdivision grants shall not
exceed eighty percent of the total project cost in highly
distressed communities; shall not exceed sixty-five percent of
the total project cost in economically distressed areas; and
shall not exceed fifty percent of the total project cost in
non-economically distressed areas.
(c) Child care construction revolving loan and loan
guarantees. The corporation shall provide revolving loans and
loan guarantees for the establishment of licensed,
not-for-profit child day care centers. Such revolving loans and
loan guarantees shall be for construction costs, including, but
not limited to the design, construction, improvement or
renovation of a child day care center, and may include interim
financing.
(d) Child care construction revolving loan and loan guarantee
fund. For the purposes of this subdivision, the corporation
shall establish a child care construction revolving loan and
loan guarantee fund account. The corporation shall determine
the terms and interest rates of such loans, except that no loan
shall exceed eighty percent of the total project cost in highly
distressed communities; sixty-five percent of the total project
cost in economically distressed areas; and fifty percent of the
total project cost in non-economically distressed areas. In
instances where an otherwise qualified applicant lacks equity in
a project, equity participation may include any commitment for
grants. Payments consisting of the repayment of the principal
amount of the loan and interest shall be deposited by the
corporation into the child care construction revolving loan fund
account from which the loan was made.
4. Financing for child care facilities construction projects
authorized pursuant to this subdivision, shall only be made upon
a determination by the corporation, in consultation with the
department of economic development, and the department of social
services that such a center will increase supply and access to
day care services. Such revolving loans, loan guarantees and
grants shall only be made for child care centers where there is
an insufficient supply of child day care. Such centers shall
demonstrate the potential to obtain, from the local department
of social services and other appropriate governmental agencies,
all necessary approvals, licenses, and other supports required
to operate the center.
5. In addition to the department of social services, the
corporation shall work closely with the job development
authority, the department of economic development, child care
resource and referral programs, local development corporations,
neighborhood preservation companies, rural preservation
companies, and other sources offering assistance for child care
in the state in order to assure coordination of services.
§ 16-h. The JOBS Now program is hereby created. 1. Funds of
this program, within available appropriations, shall be
available to any regional partnership, as provided in section
3154 of the public authorities law, eligible business expansion
or attraction project: (a) Job creation grants. Proceeds from a
job creation grant shall be used by an eligible business to pay
any tax liability resulting from any tax imposed by the state or
a local government that the business owes for any taxable period
beginning on or after the date in which the job creation grant
was awarded. A job creation grant shall equal a portion, as
determined by the urban development corporation, of the New York
state income tax that is withheld on the employees that were
hired as a result of the expansion or attraction project not to
exceed one million five hundred thousand dollars;
(b) Worker training grants. Worker training grants, that are
completed pursuant to eligible expansion and attraction
projects, may receive partial or total reimbursement of the
costs associated with such programs through a worker training
grant if such training programs include, but are not limited to
skills training and upgrading, productivity enhancement and
total product/service quality improvements;
(c) Capital loans and grants. Capital loans and grants may be
awarded if the proceeds are used for the acquisition or
improvements of land, infrastructure and buildings and the
acquisition of machinery and equipment;
(d) Interest subsidy grants. Interest subsidy grants may be
awarded if the proceeds of such grants are used to offset debt
service costs which are associated with loans supplied to the
business by a private lending institution; and
(e) Working capital loan and loan guarantees. Working capital
loans may be awarded if the proceeds are used to cover
capital-related expenses such as, but not limited to, accounts
receivable, inventory, and other expenses required to upgrade
and reconfigure the competitive position of the project
applicant.
2. To be eligible for a loan or grant from the JOBS Now
program, a regional partnership, as provided in section 3154 of
the public authorities law, or a business expansion or
attraction project must result in the creation of at least 100
new, permanent, full-time private sector jobs. Not more than
twenty-five percent of funds appropriated for this program shall
be allocated for projects that create less than 300 jobs. At
least seventy-five percent of funds appropriated for this
program shall be allocated to projects that create at least 300
jobs. Provided, however, a regional partnership, as provided in
section 3154 of the public authorities law, shall be able to
aggregate the total number of jobs created among more than one
eligible business in order to meet the job creation amounts in
this subdivision. Provided further, however, that such
aggregation shall be within similar industry clusters.
3. Applications for assistance pursuant to this section shall
be reviewed and evaluated in consultation with local government
officials and regional economic development offices pursuant to
eligibility requirements and criteria set forth in rules and
regulations promulgated by the corporation. The corporation
shall develop and use a standard application project form.
4. The corporation shall, on or before March 1, 1997, submit a
report to the governor, the temporary president of the senate
and the speaker of the assembly on the operation and
accomplishments of the assistance provided pursuant to this
section, including a complete inventory of projects financed
pursuant to this section.
* § 16-i. The empire state economic development fund. 1. The
empire state economic development fund is hereby created. The
corporation is authorized, within available appropriations, to
provide financial, technical or other assistance from such fund
for the following: (a) Loans, loan guarantees and grants
including interest subsidy grants to manufacturing and
non-retail service firms, for headquarters facilities of firms
engaged generally in retail industries, retail firms located in
distressed areas and to other businesses, for the purpose of
developing recreational, cultural, or historical facilities that
are likely to attract significant numbers of visitors. Loans,
loan guarantees and interest subsidy grants may be used to
finance new construction, renovation or leasehold improvements
and the acquisition of land, buildings, machinery and equipment.
The proceeds of such loans, loan guarantees and interest subsidy
grants may also be used to finance working capital;
(b) Loans, loan guarantees, and grants including interest
subsidy grants may be provided to municipalities, industrial
development agencies, not-for-profit corporations or local
development corporations for the purpose of developing federal
facility sites, urban industrial sites, industrial parks and
incubator buildings; or to undertake preliminary planning
relating thereto;
(c) Grants for the purpose of creating or retaining jobs or
preventing, reducing or eliminating unemployment or
underemployment including, but not limited to, productivity
assessments, export market development plans and other projects
to promote international trade; skills training assistance
including classroom instruction or on the job training; and
programs to assist economically distressed regions and
communities to identify new business opportunities, plan for new
enterprise development and manage economic development projects;
(d) Loans, loan guarantees, interest subsidies and grants to
businesses, municipalities, industrial development agencies and
local and regional economic development corporations for
projects for the purpose of attracting, retaining or permitting
the expansion of industrial, manufacturing, commercial, research
and development, high technology, tourism, agricultural or
non-retail service businesses and not-for-profit organizations
which shall include, but not be limited to basic systems and
facilities on public and privately owned property including
drainage systems, sewer systems, access roads, sidewalks, docks,
wharves, water supply systems, and site clearance, preparation,
improvements and demolition. In addition, grants for preliminary
planning of projects eligible to apply for financing pursuant to
this paragraph may be provided;
(e) Grants to municipalities, not-for-profit corporations and
local and regional economic development organizations seeking to
attract, stabilize, retain or revitalize existing businesses,
and to assist small and new businesses for activities including,
but not limited to, the preparation of strategic plans for local
or regional economic development, the analysis of business
sectors, marketing and promoting regional business clusters, and
feasibility studies;
(f) Loans, loan guarantees, interest subsidy grants and direct
grants for feasibility studies, surveys and reports,
architectural design, studies, and other redevelopment work for
non-residential improvements to commercial buildings, commercial
strips, downtown areas or business districts;
(g) Assistance to local or regional organizations to
facilitate financing for small- and medium-sized business,
including minority- and women-owned business enterprises through
flexible financing programs, including, but not limited to, loan
loss reserve and revolving loan programs, working capital loans,
working capital loan guarantees, or other flexible financing
programs that leverage traditional financing;
(h) Assistance to eligible entities and organizations as set
forth in section 16-l of this act to support community economic
development programs and activities, including value-added small
business growth, agricultural, agribusiness and forest products
and those projects that promote the family farm, increase or
retain employment opportunities and otherwise contribute to the
revitalization of local rural areas which are economically
distressed.
2. Applications for assistance pursuant to this section shall
be reviewed and evaluated in cooperation with regional economic
development offices pursuant to eligibility requirements and
criteria set forth in rules and regulations promulgated by the
corporation. Approval of project applications shall be made only
upon a determination by the corporation:
(a) that the proposed project would promote the economic
health of New York state by facilitating the creation or
retention of jobs or would increase business activity within a
municipality or region of the state or would enhance or help to
maintain the economic viability of family farms;
(b) that the project would be unlikely to take place in New
York state without the requested assistance.
(c) that the project is reasonably likely to accomplish its
stated objectives and that the likely benefits of the project
exceed costs; and
(d) the project is undertaken in accordance with the
memorandum of understanding executed in accordance with this
section.
3. The provisions of this section shall expire,
notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of subdivision 4 of
section 469 of chapter 309 of the laws of 1996 or of any other
law, upon the effective date of a chapter of the laws of 2000
which appropriates funds for the principal support of the urban
development corporation for the 2000-01 state fiscal year.
* NB Expired upon appropriation of funds to UDC for 2000--01
fiscal year notwithstanding being repealed March 31, 1997 by
chap. 309/1996 § 469 sub. 4.
See ch. 413/99 Pt. M
§ 16-j. Strategic training alliance program. 1. Program
created. Pursuant to this section and article 24-A of the labor
law there is hereby established within the corporation and the
department of labor a strategic training alliance program to
identify and address employer demands for skilled workers. The
corporation and the department of labor may cooperate with the
department of economic development, the state university of New
York, the city university of New York, and the state education
department, in providing support within amounts available for
the program for training activities by an eligible applicant
which is defined as an employer or an employer in conjunction
with a labor organization, a strategic alliance or network or
association of employers with common problems or concerns, a
private industry council established pursuant to the federal job
training partnership act (P.L. 97-300) or one or more local
workforce investment boards established pursuant to the federal
workforce investment act (P.L. 105-300) representing a strategic
alliance.
2. Project plans. (a) Project plans shall be submitted to the
corporation or the department of labor by applicants. The
corporation and the department of labor shall, upon receipt of
project plans, jointly review such plans in order to assure that
they are approved or disapproved within the time limits set
forth in paragraph (c) of this subdivision.
(b) Plans submitted pursuant to this article shall include:
(i) documentation of the need for such training;
(ii) the type of training and the number of individuals to be
trained;
(iii) a commitment of a cash or in-kind contribution to the
cost of the project;
(iv) a commitment to first consider individuals who are
unemployed, dislocated, or economically disadvantaged for
employment in positions created as a result of training;
(v) the identification of an eligible training provider which
is defined as a community college, agricultural and technical
college, an institution of higher education, a local education
agency, a community based organization or a strategic alliance;
(vi) the identification of specific projects to be assisted;
and,
(vii) a description of technologies to be used to disseminate
the training to participating employers.
(c) The corporation and the department of labor shall jointly
approve or disapprove project plans within thirty days of
receipt of such plans.
3. Assistance. (a) Assistance provided by the corporation to
eligible applicants pursuant to the joint approval involving the
department of labor set forth in this article shall be used for
the costs of classroom training, curriculum development, and
training materials associated with on the job training, skills
upgrading, skills retraining, and basic skills training; and
(b) The corporation and the department of labor shall ensure
that:
(i) not less than twenty percent of the program funds are used
in support of projects that assist small businesses as defined
in section one hundred thirty-one of the economic development
law; and
(ii) not less than twenty percent of program funds are used in
support of projects that assist strategic alliances or networks
or associations of employers with common problems or concerns.
(c) The corporation and the department of labor may within
amounts available for the program provide additional funds for
regional and statewide initiatives that lead to the development
and implementation of an electronically supported training and
workforce education system.
4. Report and evaluation. (a) The corporation and the
department of labor shall report to the legislature annually
identifying the employers or alliances receiving training
assistance, the type of training provided, and the number of
individuals trained and newly hired including those who were
previously unemployed or economically disadvantaged.
(b) The corporation and the department of labor shall also
provide for an independent evaluation of the program on or
before June 1, 2002, and every three years after. The cost of
such evaluation shall be deemed to be an eligible expense of the
New York state strategic training alliance program.
§ 16-k. Capital access program. 1. Definitions. For the
purposes of this section:
(a) "Financial institution", means any bank, trust company,
savings bank, savings and loan association or cooperative bank
chartered by the state or any national banking association,
federal savings and loan association or federal savings bank;
provided, however, that the financial institution has its
principal office located in the state.
(b) "Participating financial institution" shall mean any
financial institution participating in the program established
by this section.
(c) "Small business" shall have the same meaning as set forth
in section 131 of the economic development law, whose primary
place of business is in New York state.
2. (a) The corporation, or its agent, shall establish a
capital access program to provide a loan loss reserve to assist
small businesses that otherwise find it difficult to obtain
regular bank financing.
(b)(i) Assistance from this program shall be provided for a
capital access program under which the corporation or its agent
shall be authorized to assist small businesses that otherwise
find it difficult to obtain regular bank financing. Such
assistance shall take the form of deposits by the corporation or
its agent in the reserve funds in participating financial
institutions to fund loan loss reserves for loans made to such
small businesses.
(ii) Any financial institution desiring to become a
participating financial institution shall execute an agreement
in such form as the corporation or its agent may prescribe,
which agreement shall contain the terms and provisions set forth
in paragraph (c) of this subdivision and such other terms and
provisions as the corporation or its agent may deem necessary or
appropriate.
(c) A participating financial institution originating a loan
to a small business pursuant to this section shall:
(i) provide a plan to the corporation or its agent for the
marketing of the capital access program in highly distressed
areas and to minority- and women-owned businesses, with
appropriate lending objectives identified by the financial
institution for such areas and businesses;
(ii) disperse funds for the purposes of expansion,
facility/technology upgrading, start-up and working capital;
(iii) not disperse funds which exceed an amount greater than
five hundred thousand dollars;
(iv) set aside an amount specified by the corporation or its
agent, but which shall not be less than one and one-half percent
nor more than three and one-half percent of the principal amount
of the loan, into a loan loss reserve which the institution
shall maintain, applicable to all such loans by said institution
to small businesses pursuant to this section;
(v) obtain from the small business an amount equal to the
reserve contribution made by the participating financial
institution with respect to such loan;
(vi) set aside such amount into said loan loss reserve
maintained by the participating financial institution applicable
to all loans pursuant to this section; and
(vii) certify to the corporation or its agent in such a
fashion and with such supporting information as the corporation
or its agent shall prescribe, that it has made such loan and has
set aside its contribution and the equal contribution of the
small business.
(d) The corporation or its agent shall after such
certification as provided in subparagraph (vii) of paragraph (c)
of this subdivision, transfer to the participating financial
institution an amount equal to the total of the contributions of
the participating financial institution and the small business
or such additional amount up to one hundred fifty percent of
such contributions as determined by the corporation or its
agent. The participating financial institution shall set aside
such amount so received into said loan loss reserve.
(e) In the event the participating financial institution
suffers a loss on any such loan, it may in its discretion draw
upon the funds in such loan loss reserve to repay the loan in
whole or in part.
(f) All amounts set aside by the participating financial
institution into said loan loss reserve shall be in an account
at said institution.
(g) Earnings or interest from the principal of said loan loss
reserve accounts shall be:
(i) maintained in the account and held as additional loan loss
reserves; and
(ii) available to the corporation or its agent at any time and
from time to time, to be used to defray the costs of
administering the program or to replenish the loan loss reserve
account of the corporation or its agent.
3. Administration of the capital access program. (a) The
corporation is hereby authorized to do the following:
(i) enter into a contract with the New York business
development corporation, hereinafter referred to as NYBDC,
established under section 210 of the banking law, to act as the
agent of the corporation with respect to the administration of
the program;
(ii) conduct an annual review and assessment of the
performance of the NYBDC in its capacity as agent for the
corporation to determine whether the contract referenced in
subparagraph (i) of this paragraph should be renewed for an
additional two year period. The review shall be based on whether
the NYBDC has satisfactorily met the terms and conditions of the
contract;
(iii) where an initial determination finds that the NYBDC's
performance is unsatisfactory, allow the NYBDC the opportunity
to take corrective action;
(iv) where a final review of the NYBDC's performance continues
to conclude that the NYBDC's performance is unsatisfactory,
submit to the speaker of the assembly and the temporary
president of the senate its recommendation to terminate the
contract with the NYBDC and transfer the contract to another
agent; and
(v) promulgate rules and regulations with respect to the
implementation of the capital access program established by this
section and any other rules and regulations necessary to fulfill
the purposes of this section, in accordance with the state
administrative procedure act, and shall be consistent with the
program plan required by subdivision 19 of section 100 of the
economic development law.
(b) Any contract entered into pursuant to subparagraph (i) of
paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall:
(i) be for a period of two years and shall be renewed for an
additional two year period subject to requirements of
subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (a) of this subdivision; and
(ii) provide for compensation for expenses incurred by the
NYBDC in connection with its services as agent and for such
other services as the corporation may deem appropriate
including, but not limited to the use of the premises, personnel
and personal property of the NYBDC.
§ 16-l. Rural revitalization program. 1. Statement of
legislative intent. The legislature finds that vast areas of
rural New York state show signs of severe economic distress and
lag behind the rest of the state in employment growth and
income, with the gap widening with passing years. Poverty in
many rural areas is pervasive, with the poor often outnumbering
the affluent.
The legislature further finds that rural communities in New
York state need immediate assistance to develop the capacity to
plan and organize for economic development, to undertake new
economic development initiatives, to overcome obstacles to
economic development and to fully utilize indigenous resources
to provide rural residents with economic opportunities.
The legislature further finds that, to begin to address these
needs, a catalyst is needed to stimulate and encourage
innovative economic development alternatives to declining
employment in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors.
The legislature further finds that, while agriculture is
considered to be a major New York industry, state economic
development financing programs do not treat agriculture as an
industrial sector, and financing is not available to provide
farmers with assistance to become more competitive in national
and international markets.
Therefore, the legislature declares that the revitalization of
the state's rural economy is essential to New York's economic
health and that state assistance in this regard is necessary and
proper for achieving this public purpose.
2. Rural revitalization assistance grants. (a) The corporation
is authorized, within available appropriations in the empire
state economic development fund established pursuant to section
16-i of this act, to award grants or enter into contracts for
services, on a competitive basis in response to requests for
proposals, to eligible entities and organizations as set forth
in this subdivision to support community economic development
programs and activities which increase or retain employment
opportunities in rural New York state and otherwise contribute
to the revitalization of local rural areas which are
economically distressed through innovative activities designed
to generate economic alternatives and opportunities in rural
areas.
(b) Grants and contracts made by the corporation pursuant to
this subdivision shall be subject to the following limitations:
(i) no such grant shall exceed one hundred thousand dollars
per year, except that for the purpose of paragraph (f) of this
subdivision, no such grant shall exceed fifty thousand dollars.
(ii) the corporation shall enter into no more than one grant
per year per application under this subdivision.
(c) Preference shall be given to programs which meet highly
distressed area criteria or which support empire zones
established pursuant to article 18-B of the general municipal
law; provide a local match; meet a substantial local or regional
need; complement local programs or provide services not readily
available from units of local government or the private sector.
(d) For the purposes of this subdivision, "rural area" shall
mean a rural area as defined in subdivision 7 of section 481 of
the executive law.
(e) Not-for-profit corporations, agricultural cooperative
corporations, public benefit corporations and educational
institutions serving rural areas, shall be eligible to apply for
support under this subdivision for the following activities,
provided, however, that the sum total of grants received by any
one eligible entity does not exceed two hundred fifty thousand
dollars in any one year:
(i) innovative activities and programs designed to encourage
value-added small business development and growth in rural
areas, including cottage and crafts industries; group marketing
of local products; women-owned industries; natural resources
development; and tourism. Such activities and programs shall
also include projects pertaining to agriculture and agribusiness
development to stimulate the development and implementation of
new and alternative production, processing, storage,
distribution and marketing technologies and improvements for New
York food, agricultural and forest products. Projects promoting
strengthened farm management practices shall also be eligible
for assistance;
(ii) in-depth analysis within rural areas to support local
efforts to identify new business opportunities, and to organize
industry-wide collaborative efforts designed to create jobs and
to develop growth strategies;
(iii) support for the operation of programs designed to
generate and leverage equity-type or working capital financing
for new and small business enterprises in rural areas, or to
meet other critical financing needs of existing rural
businesses;
(iv) support for multi-county activities designed to provide
small business development and financial packaging assistance to
new and small rural business enterprises to assure the
continuation and growth of such enterprises; and
(v) provide, or cause to be provided, technical assistance to
small businesses to help such businesses comply with applicable
federal, state and local rules and regulations, including, but
not limited to, assistance to applicants for permits required by
such rules and regulations.
(f) Any vocational education agency offering technical
assistance services to small business, any small business
development center located at a post-secondary educational
institution, any county cooperative extension service, any
agricultural cooperative corporation offering technical
assistance services to farmers and non-farm agricultural
businesses or any not-for-profit corporation offering technical
assistance, shall be eligible to apply under this paragraph to
establish rural enterprise extension services designed to
provide technical assistance and services to entrepreneurs who
are seeking to establish or who are operating small business
ventures in rural areas where, for reasons of distance,
population dispersal, or scale of business venture, conventional
business incubation and assistance programs are not feasible,
such extension services to sponsor, employ and support technical
assistance specialists as circuit riders to serve the rural area
served by the sponsoring entity.
(i) Such specialists shall be the outreach arm of the
technical assistance program and shall:
(A) provide technical and management assistance to
entrepreneurs seeking to establish a new small business,
including but not limited to, agribusinesses, part-time
businesses, crafts-related businesses, tourism-related
businesses, and other new businesses that are started in areas
distant from other existing programs and sources of technical
assistance;
(B) regularly visit outlying areas of the region or areas
served by the entity sponsoring the rural enterprise extension
service program to provide both short-term and ongoing technical
assistance and services to clients;
(C) arrange, when needed, for supplemental assistance to be
provided by the sponsoring entity;
(D) conduct, with assistance from both local sources of
expertise and the sponsoring entity local seminars in outlying
regions on various aspects of entrepreneurship and new
enterprise development; and
(E) provide information on other sources and programs of
assistance, services and support, including financial sources,
to entrepreneurs and small business operators.
(ii) Applications for support under this paragraph shall be
required to demonstrate a need for a rural enterprise extension
service program in the area to be served; the ability and
willingness of the applicant to support technical assistance
specialists employed as circuit riders with additional resources
to provide intensive, long-term technical assistance or
specialized technical assistance to client entrepreneurs and
small business operators when necessary; and the ability to
assist entrepreneurs and small business operators in locating
appropriate sources of financial assistance.
(iii) For the purposes of this subdivision "vocational
education agency" shall mean a community college or board of
cooperative educational services operating within the state.
3. Agricultural job training assistance. The corporation is
authorized, within available appropriations in the empire state
economic development fund established pursuant to section 16-i
of this act, to contract with the commissioner of agriculture
and markets, in consultation with the commissioner of labor, to
administer a program of job training for workers engaged in or
to be engaged in the production, harvesting and processing of
farm or aquatic products.
4. Farmers' market grant program. (a) The corporation is
authorized, within available appropriations in the empire state
economic development fund established pursuant to section 16-i
of this act, to award grants, on a competitive basis in response
to requests for proposals, to municipal corporations, local
development corporations, business improvement districts,
not-for-profit corporations, regional marketing authorities and
agricultural cooperatives organized pursuant to the cooperative
corporations law, for the construction, reconstruction,
improvement, expansion or rehabilitation of farmers' markets.
The corporation is further authorized to contract with the
commissioner of agriculture and markets, and such commissioner
is authorized to contract with the corporation, to prepare and
issue requests for proposals, accept grant applications,
recommend those applications which best meet established
criteria and to administer grants awarded under this
subdivision.
(b) Grants made by the corporation pursuant to this
subdivision shall:
(i) not exceed fifty thousand dollars per year; and
(ii) be limited to fifty percent of the total proposed
farmers' market start-up or expansion costs, not including any
capital expenditures except as set forth in paragraph (a) of
this subdivision.
(c) The corporation shall enter into no more than one grant
per year per application under this subdivision.
(d) The corporation shall consult with the department of
agriculture and markets in order to establish such criteria
governing the award of grants as authorized herein, as the
corporation and such department deem necessary. Such criteria
shall include, but not be limited to:
(i) the relative impact of the proposed farmers' market
project on the economy of the area to be served;
(ii) the anticipated level of municipal support and local
participation in the project by farmers and others;
(iii) the extent to which New York farmers would benefit,
through the direct sale of farm and food products;
(iv) the equitable distribution of monies awarded for state
assistance for farmers' markets among urban and rural areas; and
(v) the anticipated quantity of non-farm jobs which would be
created and retained due to the proposed project.
(e) Preference shall be given to: applicants located in highly
distressed areas and providing services not readily available
from units of local government or the private sector and to
applicants who are proposing to start a new farmers' market.
5. Rural single-tenant entrepreneurship and incubator
facilities. The corporation is authorized, within available
appropriations in the empire state economic development fund
established pursuant to section 16-i of this act, to award
grants, loans and loan guarantees to vocational education
agencies for the development of single tenant entrepreneurship
and incubator facilities in rural areas as provided in this
subdivision. (a) For the purposes of this subdivision:
(i) "rural area" shall mean a rural area as defined in
subdivision 7 of section 481 of the executive law;
(ii) "vocational education agency" shall mean a community
college or board of cooperative educational services operating
within the state; and
(iii) "entrepreneurship and incubator facility" shall mean a
single-tenant facility providing low-cost space, technical
assistance and support services, to new business enterprises.
(b) In sparsely populated rural areas where multi-tenant
incubator facilities are not feasible, assistance from the rural
revitalization program may be provided to vocational education
agencies that have an existing technical assistance capability
that can be applied to the incubation of new firms for the
purpose of constructing a single-tenant entrepreneurship and
incubator facility or rehabilitating an existing space for use
as a single-tenant entrepreneurship and incubator facility.
(c) Funds from the rural revitalization program pursuant to
this subdivision shall only be provided for construction or
rehabilitation of a facility. A vocational education agency
receiving such assistance shall be required to provide any
machinery and equipment necessary for a tenant to operate a
start-up enterprise and shall be responsible for operating the
facility, such operation to include classroom training in
business principles and practices to the prospective owners of
such enterprises prior to entering into any tenancy agreement
with such prospective owners, and the provision of technical
assistance and services to a tenant.
6. Agricultural industry competitiveness assistance. (a) For
the purposes of this subdivision, "project" shall mean an
agricultural project as set forth in paragraphs (b) and (b-1) of
this subdivision.
(b) The corporation is authorized, within available
appropriations in the empire state economic development fund
established pursuant to section 16-m of this act, to provide
financial assistance in the form of loans, loan guarantees, and
interest subsidy grants to subsidize loans from federally
chartered instrumentalities and state and private lending
institutions, including agricultural cooperative corporations,
provided that such assistance to state lending institutions
shall not exceed one-third of the total project cost or four
hundred thousand dollars, whichever is less, to agricultural
enterprises seeking to implement the following agricultural
projects:
(i) making the transition from dairy farming to crop or
livestock farming or specialty wood productions, or using former
dairy farms for crop, livestock or specialty wood production, in
order to keep farmland in production by producing products in
local, national or international demand;
(ii) start-ups of new agribusinesses or expansions or upgrades
of the facilities, technologies and operations of existing
agribusinesses.
(b-1) The corporation is authorized, within available
appropriations in the empire state economic development fund
established pursuant to section 16-m of this act, to provide
financial assistance in the form of loans, loan guarantees,
working capital loans, and interest subsidy grants to subsidize
loans from federally chartered instrumentalities and state and
private lending institutions, including agricultural cooperative
corporations, provided that such assistance to state lending
institutions shall not exceed one-third of the total project
cost or four hundred thousand dollars, whichever is less, to
agricultural enterprises seeking to implement the projects
listed in this paragraph. Funds for such loans, grants,
subsidies, or any other assistance specified pursuant to this
act may come from funds derived from the financial assistance
for small and medium-sized business assistance projects
established pursuant to section 9-a of this act, the regional
revolving loan trust fund established pursuant to section 16-a
of this act, the regional economic development partnership
program established pursuant to section 16-e of this act, the
empire state economic development fund established pursuant to
section 16-m of this act, or from any other funds, programs, or
projects administered by the corporation or by other state
appropriations.
(i) the establishment or replanting of existing vineyards with
other varieties that are in greater demand in the national and
international marketplace and which will increase the national
and international competitiveness of New York state grape
growers;
(ii) the establishment or replanting of fruit orchards or
small fruit acreages that have reached the end of their natural
life cycles, with preference to plantings in the more popular
varieties which have national and international markets;
(iii) the establishment, construction, retention, or expansion
of facilities, buildings, machinery, equipment, and other
productive assets used in the production, manufacture,
processing, warehousing, research, or distribution or sale of
fresh fruits or the processing of such fruits into juices,
wines, or other food products. Such project costs may include,
but not be limited to, buildings, machinery, equipment, New York
raw fruits, New York unprocessed or partially processed fruits,
or other necessary working capital or operational funds or
assistance needed to ensure the success of such project.
(c) The corporation shall determine the terms and interest
rates of such loans; provided, however, in the case of financial
assistance for vineyards, orchards, small fruit acreages,
wineries, or processing plants, the corporation may defer
repayment of principal and interest on loans for up to five
years.
(d) Funds may be used to undertake feasibility studies to
determine the projected local, national, and/or international
demand for the proposed crop or product to be financed and the
suitability of the land and climate for such production. In the
case of a proposal to establish or replant a vineyard, the
corporation shall consult with the New York state wine and grape
foundation and the agricultural extension service of Cornell
University to determine the appropriateness and feasibility of
the proposed project.
(e) The provisions of section 10 and subdivision 2 of section
16 of this act shall not apply to assistance provided under this
subdivision.
7. Micro business revolving loan assistance grants. (a) The
corporation is authorized, within available appropriations in
the empire state economic development fund, to provide financial
assistance in the form of grants for the purpose of developing a
statewide infrastructure that delivers financing and technical
assistance to micro businesses across the state to stimulate new
and existing micro business development relating to the use of
agricultural products, forest products, cottage and crafts
industries, tourism, and other businesses as provided for in
subparagraph (i) of paragraph (e) of subdivision 2 of this
section; provided such business employs five or fewer full-time
persons and is based on the production, processing, and/or
marketing of products grown or produced in this state.
Assistance provided under this subdivision shall be awarded
through a competitive process initiated by the corporation, in
response to a request for proposals.
(b) Not-for-profit corporations and public benefit
corporations located in the state shall be eligible to apply to
the corporation, in response to a request for proposals, for a
grant, not to exceed two hundred thousand dollars in any one
calendar year, to create a micro business revolving loan fund to
be administered by the entity applying for such grant, hereafter
referred to in this subdivision as "micro loan administrators",
who shall be selected by the corporation from among eligible
applicants. The corporation shall show preference in its
awarding of grants to micro loan administrators whose service
area meets the provisions of paragraph (c) of subdivision 2 of
this section. All grant funds shall be dedicated to being
re-lent to individual micro business borrowers, except that ten
percent of such funds as are awarded may be used by micro loan
administrators to provide training and technical assistance for
such borrowers. Micro business loans shall be limited to
twenty-five thousand dollars per borrower. Borrowers shall
provide ten percent equity for loans up to ten thousand dollars.
Loans above ten thousand dollars shall be matched on a one to
one basis by including other loans, equity capital and in some
circumstances, leveraged capital. The interest rate and the
terms on such loans shall be determined by the micro loan
administrators. The term of any loan shall not exceed five
years. All loans shall be secured by lien positions on
collateral at the highest level of priority that can accommodate
the borrower's ability to raise sufficient debt and equity
capital for the project. Any interest earned on micro business
loans shall be retained in a special account for the purpose of
paying expenses of the loan administrator associated with
administering the micro loan program.
(c) An eligible micro loan administrator applicant shall:
(i) serve one or more rural counties;
(ii) have established a loan committee comprised of five or
more persons experienced in commercial lending in rural areas or
in the operation of a for-profit small business and a staff
person of the regional office of the department of economic
development. Such loan committee shall review every application
for micro loan assistance pursuant to this subdivision, shall
determine the feasibility of the transaction proposed in the
application and shall recommend to the board of directors or
other governing body of the micro loan administrator such action
as the committee deems appropriate;
(iii) have available to its staff sufficient expertise to
analyze applications for micro loan assistance, provide
technical assistance to borrowers and to regularly monitor micro
loan assistance to clients; and
(iv) have an acceptable plan to market its services to
potential borrowers through such entities as chambers of
commerce, industry trade associations, banks, local development
corporations, community based organizations and industrial
development agencies.
(d) Applications to the corporation for certification or
recertification as a micro loan administrator shall:
(i) describe the organization, membership, loan committee,
staff and sources of other funds, if any;
(ii) identify the geographic area to be served;
(iii) explain the method and criteria to be used in
determining businesses eligible for micro loan assistance;
(iv) describe the means for coordination of micro loan
assistance with other funding sources within the geographic area
to be served for the purposes of leveraging project financing;
(v) include a proposal to reconfigure the geographic area
served by the micro loan administrator, if applicable; and
(vi) contain such other information as the corporation deems
appropriate.
(e) The corporation shall, every five years, recertify that
each micro loan administrator has complied with the terms and
conditions of this subdivision. In the event a micro loan
administrator is not recertified, or its certification is
withdrawn, then the corporation shall give written notice to
such micro loan administrator which shall thereafter neither
make new loans under this subdivision nor undertake new
obligations except upon written approval of the corporation. The
corporation may thereafter certify another micro loan
administrator in the manner provided in this subdivision for the
selection of micro loan administrators. Upon the certification
of a successor micro loan administrator, all remaining micro
business loan funds, records and accounts of the micro loan
administrator not recertified shall be transferred to the
corporation, and the micro loan administrator not recertified
shall cease to function pursuant to this subdivision. The
corporation shall transfer returned funds to a successor micro
loan administrator, or in the event no successor micro loan
administrator is certified, equally to other existing micro loan
administrators.
* § 16-m. The empire state economic development fund. 1. The
empire state economic development fund is hereby created. The
corporation is authorized, within available appropriations, to
provide financial, technical or other assistance from such fund
for the following: (a) Loans, loan guarantees and grants
including interest subsidy grants to manufacturing and
non-retail service firms, for headquarters facilities of firms
engaged generally in retail industries, retail firms located in
distressed areas and to other businesses, for the purpose of
developing recreational, cultural, or historical facilities that
are likely to attract significant numbers of visitors. Loans,
loan guarantees and interest subsidy grants may be used to
finance new construction, renovation or leasehold improvements
and the acquisition of land, buildings, machinery and equipment.
The proceeds of such loans, loan guarantees and interest subsidy
grants may also be used to finance working capital;
(b) Loans, loan guarantees, and grants including interest
subsidy grants may be provided to municipalities, industrial
development agencies, not-for-profit corporations or local
development corporations for the purpose of developing federal
facility sites, urban industrial sites, industrial parks and
incubator buildings; or to undertake preliminary planning
relating thereto;
(c) Grants for the purpose of creating or retaining jobs or
preventing, reducing or eliminating unemployment or
underemployment including, but not limited to, productivity
assessments, export market development plans and other projects
to promote international trade; skills training assistance
including classroom instruction or on the job training; and
programs to assist economically distressed regions and
communities to identify new business opportunities, plan for new
enterprise development and manage economic development projects;
(d) Loans, loan guarantees, interest subsidies and grants to
businesses, municipalities, industrial development agencies and
local and regional economic development corporations for
projects for the purpose of attracting, retaining or permitting
the expansion of industrial, manufacturing, commercial, research
and development, high technology, tourism, agricultural or
non-retail service businesses and not-for-profit organizations
which shall include, but not be limited to basic systems and
facilities on public and privately owned property including
drainage systems, sewer systems, access roads, sidewalks, docks,
wharves, water supply systems, and site clearance, preparation,
improvements and demolition. In addition, grants for preliminary
planning of projects eligible to apply for financing pursuant to
this paragraph may be provided;
(e) Grants to municipalities, not-for-profit corporations and
local and regional economic development organizations seeking to
attract, stabilize, retain or revitalize existing businesses,
and to assist small and new businesses for activities including,
but not limited to, the preparation of strategic plans for local
or regional economic development, the analysis of business
sectors, marketing and promoting regional business clusters, and
feasibility studies;
(f) Loans, loan guarantees, interest subsidy grants and direct
grants for feasibility studies, surveys and reports,
architectural design, studies, and other redevelopment work for
non-residential improvements to commercial building, commercial
strips, downtown areas or business districts;
(g) Assistance to local or regional organizations to
facilitate financing for small- and medium-sized business,
including minority- and women-owned business enterprises through
flexible financing programs, including, but not limited to, loan
loss reserve and revolving loan programs, working capital loans,
working capital loan guarantees, or other flexible financing
programs that leverage traditional financing;
(h) Assistance to eligible entities and organizations as set
forth in section 16-l of this act to support community economic
development programs and activities, including value-added small
business growth, agricultural, agribusiness, and forest products
and those projects that promote the family farm, increase or
retain employment opportunities and otherwise contribute to the
revitalization of local rural areas which are economically
distressed;
(i) Assistance to eligible entities set forth in section 16-l
of this act to support value-added small businesses in the
agricultural and agribusiness industries that promote fruit
production, fruit processing, or wineries and which increase or
retain employment opportunities in such industries or in the
related tourism industry;
(j) Assistance to local or regional organizations to
facilitate financing for the come home to New York program
pursuant to article 9-A of the economic development law;
(k) Assistance for regional partnership proposals, as provided
in subdivision 12 of section 3154 of the public authorities law.
2. Applications for assistance pursuant to this section shall
be reviewed and evaluated in cooperation with regional economic
development offices pursuant to eligibility requirements and
criteria set forth in rules and regulations promulgated by the
corporation. Approval of project applications shall be made only
upon a determination by the corporation:
(a) that the proposed project would promote the economic
health of New York state by facilitating the creation or
retention of jobs or would increase activity within a
municipality or region of the state or would enhance or help to
maintain the economic viability of family farms;
(b) that the project would be unlikely to take place in New
York state without the requested assistance.
(c) that the project is reasonably likely to accomplish its
stated objectives and that the likely benefits of the project
exceed costs; and
(d) the project is undertaken in accordance with the
memorandum of understanding executed in accordance with this
section.
3. The provisions of this section shall expire,
notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of subdivision 4 of
section 469 of chapter 309 of the laws of 1996 or of any other
law, upon the effective date of a chapter of the laws of 2007
which appropriates funds for the principal support of the urban
development corporation for the 2007-08 state fiscal year.
* NB Expires upon appropriation of funds to UDC for 2007--08
fiscal year notwithstanding Ch. 309/1996 § 469 sub. 4.
See Ch. 756/2005 § 4
§ 17. Bonds and notes of the corporation. (1) Subject to the
provisions of section eighteen of this act, the corporation
shall have the power and is hereby authorized from time to time
to issue its negotiable bonds and notes in conformity with
applicable provisions of the uniform commercial code in such
principal amounts, as, in the opinion of the corporation, shall
be necessary to provide sufficient funds for achieving any of
its corporate purposes, including the payment of interest on
bonds and notes of the corporation, establishment of reserves to
secure such bonds and notes, and all other expenditures of the
corporation incident to and necessary or convenient to carry out
its corporate purposes and powers.
(2) All bonds and notes issued by the corporation may be
secured by the full faith and credit of the corporation or may
be payable solely out of the revenues and receipts derived from
the lease, mortgage or sale by the corporation of its projects
or of any thereof, all as may be designated in the proceedings
of the corporation under which the bonds or notes shall be
authorized to be issued. Such bonds and notes may be executed
and delivered by the corporation at any time and from time to
time, may be in such form and denominations and of such tenor
and maturities, may be in bearer form or in registered form, as
to principal and interest or as to principal alone, all as the
corporation may determine.
(3) Bonds may be payable in such installments and at such time
or times not exceeding fifty years from the date thereof, as
shall be determined by the corporation.
(4) Notes, or any renewals thereof, may be payable in such
installments and at such time or times as shall be determined by
the corporation, not exceeding ten years from the date of the
original issue of such notes.
(5) Bonds and notes may be payable at such place or places
whether within or without the state, may bear interest at such
rate or rates payable at such time or times and at such place or
places and evidenced in such manner, and may contain such
provisions not inconsistent herewith, all as shall be provided
in the proceedings of the corporation under which the bonds or
notes shall be authorized to be issued.
(6) If deemed advisable by the corporation, there may be
retained in the proceedings under which any bonds or notes of
the corporation are authorized to be issued an option to redeem
all or any part thereof as may be specified in such proceedings,
at such price or prices and after such notice or notices and on
such terms and conditions as may be set forth in such
proceedings and as may be recited in the face of the bonds or
notes, but nothing herein contained shall be construed to confer
on the corporation any right or option to redeem any bonds or
notes except as may be provided in the proceedings under which
they shall be issued.
(7) Any bonds or notes of the corporation may be sold at such
price or prices, at public or private sale, in such manner and
from time to time as may be determined by the corporation, and
the corporation may pay all expenses, premiums and commissions
which it may deem necessary or advantageous in connection with
the issuance and sale thereof. No bonds or notes of the
corporation may be sold at private sale, however, unless such
sale and the terms thereof have been approved in writing by (a)
the comptroller where such sale is not to the comptroller, or
(b) the state director of the budget, where such sale is to the
comptroller.
(8) Any moneys of the corporation, including proceeds from the
sale of any bonds or notes, and revenues, reciepts and income
from any of its projects or mortgages, may be invested and
reinvested in such obligations, securities and other investments
as shall be provided in the resolution or resolutions under
which such bonds or notes are authorized.
(9) Issuance by the corporation of one or more series of bonds
or notes for one or more purposes shall not preclude it from
issuing other bonds or notes in connection with the same project
or any other project, but the proceedings whereunder any
subsequent bonds or notes may be issued shall recognize and
protect any prior pledge or mortgage made for any prior issue of
bonds or notes unless in the proceedings authorizing such prior
issue the right is reserved to issue subsequent bonds or notes
on a parity with such prior issue.
(10) The corporation is authorized to provide for the issuance
of its bonds or notes for the purpose of refunding any bonds or
notes of the corporation then outstanding, including the payment
of any redemption premium thereon and any interest accrued or to
accrue to the earliest or subsequent date of redemption,
purchase or maturity of such bonds or notes, and, if deemed
advisable by the corporation, for the additional purpose of
paying all or any part of the cost of acquiring, constructing,
reconstructing, rehabilitating, or improving any project, or the
making of any mortgage loan on any project. The proceeds of any
such bonds or notes issued for the purpose of refunding
outstanding bonds or notes, may, in the discretion of the
corporation, be applied to the purchase or retirement at
maturity or redemption of such outstanding bonds or notes either
on their earliest or any subsequent redemption date, and may,
pending such application, be placed in escrow to be applied to
such purchase or retirement at maturity or redemption on such
date as may be determined by the corporation. Any such escrowed
proceeds, pending such use, may be invested and reinvested in
obligations of or guaranteed by the United States of America, or
in certificates of deposit or time deposits secured in such
manner as the corporation shall determine, maturing at such time
or times as shall be appropriate to assure the prompt payment,
as to principal, interest and redemption premium, if any, on the
outstanding bonds or notes to be so refunded. The interest,
income and profits, if any, earned or realized on any such
investment may also be applied to the payment of the outstanding
bonds or notes to be so refunded. After the terms of the escrow
have been fully satisfied and carried out, any balance of such
proceeds and interest, income and profits, if any, earned or
realized on the investments thereof may be returned to the
corporation for use by it in any lawful manner. The portion of
the proceeds of any such bonds or notes issued for the
additional purpose of paying all or any part of the cost of
acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, rehabilitating, or
improving any project, or the making of any mortgage loan on any
project, may be invested and reinvested in obligations of or
guaranteed by the United States of America, maturing not later
than the time or times when such proceeds will be needed for the
purpose of paying all or any part of such cost, or the making of
any such mortgage loan. The interest, income and profits, if
any, earned or realized on such investments may be applied to
the payment of all or any part of such cost, or the making of
any such mortgage loan, or may be used by the corporation in any
lawful manner. All such bonds or notes shall be issued and
secured and shall be subject to the provisions of this act in
the same manner and to the same extent as any other bonds or
notes issued pursuant to this act.
§ 18. Bond authorization. The corporation shall not issue
bonds and notes in an aggregate principal amount exceeding one
billion two hundred ninety-five million dollars, excluding (1)
bonds and notes issued to refund or otherwise repay outstanding
bonds and notes of the corporation or of the New York state
project finance agency, (2) notes issued by the corporation to
evidence eligible loans made to the corporation pursuant to the
New York state project finance agency act, and (3) bonds and
notes issued with the approval of the state director of the
budget and the New York state public authorities control board
which are secured by and payable solely out of a specific
project, other than a residential project, undertaken by the
corporation subsequent to June first, nineteen hundred
seventy-seven, and the revenues and receipts derived therefrom,
without recourse against other assets of the corporation or
against a debt service reserve fund to which state funds are
apportionable pursuant to subdivision three of section twenty of
this act, provided that the corporation shall not issue bonds or
notes pursuant to this clause (3) if (a) (i) the arrangements
under which the project is undertaken do not provide for annual
real property taxes, or payments in lieu of real property taxes,
on the real property included in the project securing such bonds
or notes which together at least equal the average annual real
property taxes which were paid with respect to such real
property for three years prior to the acquisition of such
project or any portion thereof by the corporation or a
subsidiary thereof, and (ii) after a public hearing, the local
legislative body of the city, town or village in which such
project is to be located has not consented to such arrangements,
provided, however, that in a city having a population of one
million or more such consent shall be given by the board of
estimate of such city, or (b) the aggregate principal amount of
any such bonds and notes is less than twice the amount of any
moneys appropriated by the state and made available by the
corporation to the project securing such bonds and notes, or (c)
the aggregate principal amount of the bonds and notes issued
pursuant to this clause (3) will thereby exceed three hundred
seventy-nine million dollars, excluding bonds and notes issued
to refund or otherwise repay outstanding bonds and notes issued
pursuant to this clause (3), provided, however, that the
corporation may provide for a pooled financing arrangement with
regard to bonds issued for the purposes of financing the
construction of the Center for Computers, Microelectronics and
Telecommunications at Columbia University, the Center for
Science and Technology at Syracuse University, the Cornell Super
Computer Center at Cornell University, the Onondaga County
Convention Center Complex, the Center for Advanced Materials
Processing at Clarkson University, the Center for Electro-Optic
Imaging at University of Rochester, the Center for Neural
Science at New York University, the Alfred University Incubator
Facilities in Allegany County and Steuben County, the Broadway
Redevelopment Project, and the Sematech Semiconductor facility,
and, that the aggregate amount of bonds which may be issued
pursuant to this clause (3) shall be increased above the amounts
in the following schedule for the purposes of providing for the
costs of issuance including any debt service reserve
requirements that may be necessary in accordance with the
following schedule:
Schedule
Project Amount
The Carborundum Company
Niagara Falls............................ 4,400,000
Hooker Chemicals & Plastics Corporation
Niagara Falls............................ 13,500,000
Moog, Inc.
Town of Elma............................. 8,925,000
Sybron Corporation
Rochester................................ 6,600,000
Refined Syrups & Sugars, Inc.
Yonkers.................................. 7,500,000
Sheraton Hotel
Utica.................................... 4,300,000
Urban Renewal Parcel
Office Building
Utica.................................... 5,000,000
Downtown Retail Center
Binghamton............................... 3,000,000
American Stock Exchange/Office Facility
New York City............................ -0
New Printing Plant
New York City (Bronx).................... 16,000,000
New Electronics Manufacturing Plant
New York City (Bronx).................... 8,000,000
Savin Corporation
Binghamton............................... 6,000,000
Industrial Renewal Project
New York City (Brooklyn)................. 2,700,000
Manufacturing Plant Expansion
New York City (Bronx).................... 15,000,000
Shopping Mall
City of Buffalo.......................... 2,100,000
Nettleton Shoe
Syracuse................................. 2,200,000
Batten Kill Railroad Project
Warren/Washington Counties............... 2,250,000
Carrier Corporation
Onondaga County.......................... 27,000,000
Center for Industrial Innovation
City of Troy............................. 33,000,000
Fordham Plaza
New York City (Bronx).................... 10,000,000
Freezer Queen Foods, Inc.
Buffalo.................................. 2,380,000
Chelsea Homes Project
Marlboro (Ulster County)................. 2,700,000
Columbia University
Center for Computers, Microelectronics
and Telecommunications
City of New York......................... 36,000,000
Syracuse University
Center for Science and Technology
City of Syracuse......................... 27,000,000
Cornell University
Cornell Super Computer Center
City of Ithaca........................... 5,000,000
Onondaga County Convention
Center Complex at Syracuse............... 40,000,000
Clarkson University
Center for Advance
Materials Processing..................... 23,500,000
University of Rochester
Center for Elector-Optic Imaging......... 10,000,000
New York University
Center for Neural Science................ 5,000,000
Alfred University Incubator Facilities in
Allegany County and Steuben County....... 10,000,000
Broadway Redevelopment Project
at Schenectady........................... 5,500,000
Albany International
East Greenbush (Rensselaer County)....... 2,500,000
Sematech Semi-Conductor Facility
New York State........................... 40,000,000
Stony Brook Incubator
Project.................................. 2,305,000
-----------
Total of Schedule...................... $389,360,000
============
The amounts in the above schedule are interchangeable among
the projects listed but in no case may be used to fund or
initiate any other project.
§ 19. Security for bonds or notes; construction and
acquisition of projects. (1) The principal of and interest on
any bonds or notes issued by the corporation may be secured by a
pledge of any revenues and receipts of the corporation and may
be secured by a mortgage or other instrument covering all or any
part of a project, including any additions, improvements,
extensions to or enlargements of any projects thereafter made.
(2) Bonds or notes issued for the acquisition, construction,
reconstruction, rehabilitation, or improvement of a project may
also be secured by an assignment of any lease of or mortgage on
such project and by an assignment of the revenues and receipts
derived by the corporation from any such lease or mortgage.
(3) The resolution under which the bonds or notes are
authorized to be issued and any such mortgage, lease or other
instrument may contain agreements and provisions respecting the
maintenance of the projects covered thereby, the fixing and
collection of rents or other revenues therefrom, including
monies received in repayment of mortgage loans, and interest
thereon, the creation and maintenance of special funds from such
rents or other revenues and the rights and remedies available in
the event of default, all as the corporation shall deem
advisable.
(4) Each pledge, agreement, mortgage or other instrument made
for the benefit or security of any of the bonds or notes of the
corporation shall continue effective until the principal of and
interest on the bonds or notes for the benefit of which the same
were made shall have been fully paid, or until provision shall
have been made for such payment in the manner provided in the
resolution or resolutions under which the same may be
authorized.
(5) The corporation may provide in any proceedings under which
bonds or notes may be authorized that any project or part
thereof may be constructed, reconstructed, rehabilitated or
improved by the corporation, any subsidiary, or any lessee or
any designee of the corporation, and may also provide in such
proceedings for the time and manner of and requisites for
disbursements to be made for the cost of such construction, and
for all such certificates and approvals of construction and
disbursements as the corporation shall deem necessary and
provide for in such proceedings.
(6) Any resolution or resolutions or trust indenture or
indentures under which bonds or notes of the corporation are
authorized to be issued may contain provisions for vesting in a
trustee or trustees such properties, rights, powers and duties
in trust as the corporation may determine which may include any
or all of the rights, powers and duties of the trustee appointed
by the holders of any issue of notes or bonds pursuant to
section twenty-seven of this act, in which event the provisions
of said section twenty-seven authorizing the appointment of a
trustee by such holders of bonds or notes shall not apply.
(7) It is the intention hereof that any pledge or assignment
for security made by the corporation shall be valid and binding
from the time when the same is made; that the monies or property
so pledged or assigned and then held or thereafter received by
the corporation shall immediately be subject to the lien or
security interest of such pledge or assignment without any
physical delivery thereof or further act; and that the lien or
security interest of any such pledge or assignment shall be
valid and binding as against all parties having claims of any
kind in tort, contract or otherwise against the corporation,
irrespective of whether such parties have notice thereof.
Neither the resolution nor any other instrument by which any
such pledge or assignment is created need be recorded, and no
filing with respect to such pledge or assignment need be made
under the uniform commercial code.
§ 20. Reserve funds and appropriations. (1) The corporation
may create and establish one or more reserve funds to be known
as debt service reserve funds and may pay into such reserve
funds (a) any moneys appropriated and made available by the
state for the purposes of such funds, (b) any proceeds of sale
of bonds and notes to the extent provided in the resolution of
the corporation authorizing the issuance thereof, and (c) any
other moneys which may be made available to the corporation for
the purposes of such funds from any other source or sources. The
moneys held in or credited to any debt service reserve fund
established under this subdivision, except as hereinafter
provided, shall be used solely for the payment of the principal
of bonds of the corporation secured by such reserve fund, as the
same mature, the purchase of such bonds of the corporation, the
payment of interest on such bonds of the corporation or the
payment of any redemption premium required to be paid when such
bonds are redeemed prior to maturity; provided, however, that
moneys in any such fund shall not be withdrawn therefrom at any
time in such amount as would reduce the amount of such fund to
less than the maximum amount of principal and interest maturing
and becoming due in any succeeding calendar year on the bonds of
the corporation then outstanding and secured by such reserve
fund, except for the purpose of paying principal and interest on
the bonds of the corporation secured by such reserve fund
maturing and becoming due and for the payment of which other
moneys of the corporation are not available. Any income or
interest earned by, or increment to, any such debt service
reserve fund due to the investment thereof may be transferred to
any other fund or account of the corporation to the extent it
does not reduce the amount of such debt service reserve fund
below the maximum amount of principal and interest maturing and
becoming due in any succeeding calendar year on all bonds of the
corporation then outstanding and secured by such reserve fund.
(2) The corporation shall not issue bonds at any time if the
maximum amount of principal and interest maturing and becoming
due in a succeeding calendar year on the bonds outstanding and
then to be issued and secured by a debt service reserve fund
will exceed the amount of such reserve fund at the time of
issuance, unless the corporation, at the time of issuance of
such bonds, shall deposit in such reserve fund from the proceeds
of the bonds so to be issued, or otherwise, an amount which
together with the amount then in such reserve fund, will be not
less than the maximum amount of principal and interest maturing
and becoming due in any succeeding calendar year on the bonds
then to be issued and on all other bonds of the corporation then
outstanding and secured by such reserve fund.
(3) To assure the continued operation and solvency of the
corporation for the carrying out of the public purposes of this
act provision is made in subdivision one of this section for the
accumulation in each debt service reserve fund of an amount
equal to the maximum amount of principal and interest maturing
and becoming due in any succeeding calendar year on all bonds of
the corporation then outstanding and secured by such reserve
fund. In order further to assure the maintenance of such debt
service reserve funds, there shall be annually apportioned and
paid to the corporation for deposit in each debt service reserve
fund such sum, if any, as shall be certified by the chairman of
the corporation to the governor and state director of the budget
as necessary to restore such reserve fund to an amount equal to
the maximum amount of principal and interest maturing and
becoming due in any succeeding calendar year on the bonds of the
corporation then outstanding and secured by such reserve fund.
The chairman of the corporation shall annually, on or before
December first, make and deliver to the governor and state
director of the budget his certificate stating the sum, if any,
required to restore each such debt service reserve fund to the
amount aforesaid, and the sum or sums so certified, if any,
shall be apportioned and paid to the corporation during the then
current state fiscal year.
(4) In computing any debt service reserve fund for the
purposes of this section, securities in which all or a portion
of such reserve fund shall be invested shall be valued at par,
or if purchased at less than par, at their cost to the
corporation.
(5) With respect to any project, the corporation may create
and establish a special fund to be known as the project reserve
fund and deposit therein (a) any moneys appropriated and made
available by the state for the purposes of such fund, (b) such
amount as may be determined by the corporation in connection
with any lease by the corporation to others to be charged to
such lessee for deposit in such fund, and (c) any other moneys
which may be made available to the corporation for the purpose
of such fund from any other source or sources. All moneys held
in or credited to any project reserve fund shall be first used
for the payment of the principal of and interest on the bonds or
notes of the corporation issued for the project secured by such
project reserve fund in the event that other moneys of the
corporation, other than moneys held in the debt service reserve
fund, are not available for such purpose. Upon the retirement of
the bonds or notes of the corporation issued for the project
secured by such project reserve fund, moneys so held in such
fund may be used by the corporation for any lawful purpose.
§ 21. Trust funds. All moneys received pursuant to the
authority of this act, whether as proceeds from the sale of
bonds or notes or as revenues, receipts or income, shall be
deemed to be trust funds to be held and applied solely as
provided in the proceedings under which such bonds or notes are
authorized. Any officer with whom or any bank or trust company
with which such moneys shall be deposited as trustee thereof
shall hold and apply the same for the purposes thereof, subject
to such provisions as this act and the proceedings authorizing
the bonds or notes of any issue or the trust agreement securing
such bonds or notes may provide.
§ 22. Exemption from taxation. The exercise of the powers
granted by this act will be in all respects for the benefit of
the people of this state, for the increase of their commerce,
welfare and prosperity, and for the improvement of their health
and living conditions, and will constitute the performance of an
essential governmental function and the corporation and its
subsidiaries shall not be required to pay any taxes, other than
assessments for local improvements, upon or in respect of a
project or of any property or moneys of the corporation or any
of its subsidiaries, levied by any municipality or political
subdivision of the state, nor shall the corporation or its
subsidiaries be required to pay state taxes of any kind, and the
corporation, its subsidiaries, projects, property and moneys
and, except for estate and gift taxes and taxes on transfers,
any bonds or notes issued under the provisions of this act and
the income therefrom, shall at all times be free from taxation
of every kind by the state and by the municipalities and all
other political subdivisions of the state.
§ 23. Notes and bonds as legal investments. The notes and
bonds of the corporation are hereby made securities in which all
public officers and bodies of this state and all municipalities
and municipal subdivisions, all insurance companies and
associations, and other persons carrying on an insurance
business, all banks, bankers, trust companies, savings banks and
savings associations, including savings and loan associations,
building and loan associations, investment companies and other
persons carrying on a banking business, all administrators,
guardians, executors, trustees and other fiduciaries, and all
other persons whatsoever who are now or may hereafter be
authorized to invest in bonds or other obligations of the state,
may properly and legally invest funds, including capital, in
their control or belonging to them.
§ 24. Agreement with the state. The state does hereby pledge
to and agree with the holders of any bonds or notes issued under
this act, that the state will not limit or alter the rights
hereby vested in the corporation to fulfill the terms of any
agreements made with the holders thereof, or in any way impair
the rights and remedies of such holders until such bonds or
notes, together with the interest thereon, with interest on any
unpaid installments of interest, and all costs and expenses in
connection with any action or proceeding by or on behalf of such
holders, are fully met and discharged. The corporation is
authorized to include this pledge and agreement of the state in
any agreement with the holders of such bonds or notes.
§ 25. State's right to require redemption of bonds.
Notwithstanding and in addition to any provisions for the
redemption of bonds which may be contained in any contract with
the holders of the bonds, the state may, upon furnishing
sufficient funds therefor, require the corporation to redeem,
prior to maturity, as a whole, any issue of bonds on any
interest payment date not less than twenty years after the date
of the bonds of such issue at one hundred five per centum of
their face value and accrued interest or at such lower
redemption price as may be provided in the bonds in case of the
redemption thereof as a whole on the redemption date. Notice of
such redemption shall be published at least twice in at least
two newspapers publishing and circulating respectively in the
cities of Albany and New York, the first publication to be at
least thirty days before the date of redemption.
§ 26. State payments to municipalities and political
subdivisions. In order to prevent undue loss of revenues to
municipalities and political subdivisions, there shall be
annually apportioned and paid by the state, during the then
current state fiscal year, to any municipality or political
subdivision in which an industrial project is located, a sum
equal to one hundred per centum of the average annual real
property taxes paid or due to such municipality or political
subdivision on the real property constituting the project site
for three years prior to the time of its acquisition by the
corporation or subsidiary thereof, or in the case of real
property acquired by the corporation from an urban renewal
agency or from a municipality which acquired such property for
urban renewal purposes, for three years prior to the time of its
acquisition by such urban renewal agency or municipality. The
chairman of the corporation shall annually, on or before
December first, make and deliver to the governor and director of
the budget his certificate stating the sum, if any, required to
be paid to each municipality and political subdivision by reason
of tax exemptions for industrial projects received pursuant to
section twenty-two of this act, and the sum or sums so
certified, if any, shall be apportioned and paid to each such
municipality and political subdivision, as provided herein. Such
apportionment and payment shall also be made to each
municipality and political subdivision in which is located real
property of the corporation as to which no project findings have
been made by the corporation, pursuant to section ten hereof,
and the chairman of the corporation shall certify the sums
required to be paid in respect of such real property, and the
state shall apportion and pay such sums, if any, in the manner
provided herein.
§ 27. Remedies of noteholders and bondholders. (1) In the
event that the corporation shall default in the payment of
principal of or interest on any issue of notes or bonds after
the same shall become due, whether at maturity or upon call for
redemption, and such default shall continue for a period of
thirty days, or in the event that the corporation shall fail or
refuse to comply with the provisions of this act, or shall
default in any agreement made with the holders of any issue of
notes or bonds, the holders of twenty-five per centum in
aggregate principal amount of the notes or bonds of such issue
then outstanding, by instrument or instruments filed in the
office of the clerk of the county of Albany and approved or
acknowledged in the same manner as a deed to be recorded, may
appoint a trustee to represent the holders of such notes or
bonds for the purposes herein provided.
(2) Such trustee may, and upon written request of the holders
of twenty-five per centum in principal amount of such notes or
bonds then outstanding shall, in his or its own name:
(a) by suit, action or proceeding in accordance with the civil
practice law and rules, enforce all rights of the noteholders or
bondholders, to require the corporation to carry out any other
agreements with the holders of such notes or bonds and to
perform its duties under this act;
(b) bring suit upon such notes or bonds;
(c) by action or suit, require the corporation to account as
if it were the trustee of an express trust for the holders of
such notes or bonds;
(d) by action or suit, enjoin any acts or things which may be
unlawful or in violation of the rights of the holders of such
notes or bonds;
(e) declare all such notes or bonds due and payable, and if
all defaults shall be made good, then, with the consent of the
holders of twenty-five per centum of the principal amount of
such notes or bonds then outstanding, to annul such declaration
and its consequences.
(3) Such trustee shall in addition to the foregoing have and
possess all of the powers necessary or appropriate for the
exercise of any functions specifically set forth herein or
incident to the general representation of bondholders or
noteholders in the enforcement and protection of their rights.
(4) The supreme court shall have jurisdiction of any suit,
action or proceeding by the trustee on behalf of such
noteholders or bondholders. The venue of any such suit, action
or proceeding shall be laid in the county in which the principal
office of the corporation is located.
(5) Before declaring the principal of notes or bonds due and
payable, the trustee shall first give thirty days notice in
writing to the governor, to the corporation, and to the attorney
general of the state.
§ 28. Monies of the corporation. (1) All monies of the
corporation, except as otherwise authorized or provided in this
act, shall be paid to the commissioner of taxation and finance
as agent of the corporation, who shall not commingle such monies
with any other monies. Such monies shall be deposited in a
separate bank account or accounts. The monies in such accounts
shall be paid out on checks signed by the commissioner of
taxation and finance on requisition of the chairman of the
corporation or of such other officer or employee or officers or
employees as the corporation shall authorize to make such
requisition. All deposits of such monies shall, if required by
the commissioner of taxation and finance or the corporation, be
secured by obligations of the United States or of the state of a
market value equal at all times to the amount of the deposit,
and all banks and trust companies are authorized to give such
security for such deposits.
Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the
corporation shall have power to contract with the holders of any
of its notes or bonds, as to the custody, collection, securing,
investment, and payment of any monies of the corporation, of any
monies held in trust or otherwise for the payment of notes or
bonds, and to carry out such contract. Monies held in trust or
otherwise for the payment of notes or bonds or in any way to
secure notes or bonds and deposits of such monies may be secured
in the same manner as monies of the corporation, and all banks
and trust companies are authorized to give such security for
such deposits.
(2) Subject to agreements with noteholders and bondholders and
the approval of the comptroller, the corporation shall prescribe
a system of accounts.
(3) The comptroller, or his legally authorized representative,
is hereby authorized and empowered from time to time to examine
the books and accounts of the corporation including its
receipts, disbursements, contracts, reserve funds, sinking
funds, investments, and any other matters relating to its
financial standing. Such an examination shall be conducted by
the comptroller at least once in every five years; the
comptroller is authorized, however, to accept from the
corporation, in lieu of such an examination, an external
examination of its books and accounts made at the request of the
corporation.
(4) The corporation shall submit to the governor, chairman of
the senate finance committee, chairman of the assembly ways and
means committee and the comptroller, within thirty days of the
receipt thereof by the corporation, a copy of the report of
every external examination of the books and accounts of the
corporation other than copies of the reports of such
examinations made by the comptroller.
§ 29. Assistance by state officers, departments, boards and
commissions. (1) The department of audit and control, department
of law, and all other state agencies may render such services to
the corporation within their respective functions as may be
requested by the corporation.
(2) Upon request of the corporation, any state agency is
hereby authorized and empowered to transfer to the corporation
such officers and employees as it may deem necessary from time
to time to assist the corporation in carrying out its functions
and duties under this act. Officers and employees so
transferred shall not lose their civil service status or rights.
(3) In order most effectively to carry out its corporate
purposes, the corporation shall assist and cooperate with the
corporation for urban development and research of New York,
created by the New York state urban development and research
act.
§ 30. Reports and evaluations. (a) Annual fiscal report. The
corporation shall submit to the governor, the chairman of the
senate finance committee, the chairman of the assembly ways and
means committee, the comptroller and the director of the budget
within 6 months after the end of its fiscal year, a complete and
detailed report setting forth: (1) its operations and
accomplishments; (2) its receipts and expenditures during such
fiscal year in accordance with the categories or classifications
established by the corporation for its operating and capital
outlay purposes, including a listing of all private consultants
engaged by the corporation on a contract basis and a statement
of the total amount paid to each such private consultant; (3)
its assets and liabilities at the end of its fiscal year,
including a schedule of its leases and mortgages and the status
of reserve, special or other funds; and (4) a schedule of its
bonds and notes outstanding at the end of its fiscal year,
together with a statement of the amounts redeemed and incurred
during such fiscal year.
(b) Annual program report. The corporation shall report on an
annual basis beginning October 1, 2005, and on each October 1
thereafter, to the governor, the chairpersons of the senate
committees on finance, commerce, economic development and small
business, and corporations, authorities and commissions, the
chairpersons of the assembly committees on ways and means,
economic development, job creation, commerce and industry,
corporations, authorities and commissions, and small business on
each of the financial assistance programs, and for each program,
each category of assistance administered by the corporation,
identifying each proposal for assistance through such program
for which the corporation has received a formal application or
otherwise has begun to undertake an analysis.
(1) For those requests which are currently being evaluated but
which have not yet been approved such description shall include,
but not be limited to, the name and location of the applicant,
the amount of assistance requested, the date of receipt of such
request, and the status of such request.
(2) In providing such report, where necessary to promote the
development of proposed projects, the corporation may delete
references to the specific names of the participants, instead
making references to them in some other form so as to make it
possible to identify the progress of specific proposals.
(3) Such report shall provide a breakdown, for each of the
regions established pursuant to section 230 of the economic
development law, of proposals for assistance through each
program. In addition, such report shall summarize, by program,
the data reported pursuant to this paragraph.
(4) For those requests which have been evaluated and for which
no further action has been recommended, the corporation shall
present summary data indicating why no further action was taken.
(5) The corporation shall make available to each of the
legislative committees specified in this subdivision, a copy of
the materials provided to its board prior to each board meeting.
(c) Evaluations. (1) In addition to any other requirements
imposed by the act or otherwise regarding evaluations of
programs administered by the corporation, each evaluation shall
include an analysis of the job creation effect of such program,
the number of small businesses that received assistance, the
number of minority and women-owned firms that received
assistance, the number of projects undertaken in distressed and
highly distressed communities, and, if applicable, the repayment
experience of borrowers of funds from the corporation.
(2) (i) In the case of any assistance programs administered by
the corporation for which independent evaluations are not
otherwise required, the corporation shall submit to the director
of the budget, the chairperson of the senate finance committee
and the chairperson of the assembly ways and means committee an
evaluation of such programs prepared by an entity independent of
the corporation. Such evaluations shall be submitted by
September 1, 2005 and by September 1 every four years
thereafter.
(ii) Between evaluation due dates, the corporation shall
maintain the necessary records and data required to satisfy such
evaluation requirements and to satisfy information requests
received from the director of the budget, the chairperson of the
senate finance committee and the chairperson of the assembly
ways and means committee between such evaluation due dates.
§ 30-a. With respect to applications for assistance submitted
pursuant to this act:
(a) The corporation shall, upon receipt of an application or
other formal request for funding for any project, provide notice
of such application or request within ten days of such receipt
to the senator and member of assembly representing the district
in which such project is to be located;
(b) The corporation shall provide copies of all correspondence
relating to each such application to such senator or member of
assembly on a timely basis; provided, however, that proprietary
information may be withheld from such correspondence if such
senator and member of assembly is given notice that such
information has been withheld;
(c) Such senators and members of assembly shall be provided
notice of all proceedings relating to such application and shall
be invited to participate in such proceedings. A copy of such
notice shall also be provided to the designees of the temporary
president of the senate and the speaker of assembly;
(d) Such senators and members of assembly shall be provided
with notice of the final disposition of the application by the
corporation and the reasons for such disposition;
(e) In order to ensure that the funds appropriated for
existing statutory programs are approved in a equitable, ratable
and timely manner, the corporation shall:
(1) require all projects, including those in an amount of
fifty thousand dollars or less, be approved by the governing
board of the corporation and included in the agenda and the
minutes of the meetings of the board, accompanied by a summary
of the proposed project and the source of funds used to finance
the project; and
(2) require projects to be financed out of the empire state
economic development fund be approved generally in amounts which
are proportional to amounts appropriated for the urban and
community development program, and the minority and women-owned
business development and lending program;
(f) The corporation shall accept no funds through transfer
from the department of economic development for personal or
nonpersonal service expenses, except for economic development
program funds where such transfer will facilitate the prompt and
effective distribution of program funds to projects, provided
that those funds are used for the statutory purposes for which
they were appropriated to the department of economic
development;
(g) No later than twenty days after the end of each fiscal
year quarter, the chairman of the urban development corporation
shall:
(1) report to the senate majority leader and the speaker of
the assembly on the status of all economic development programs
administered during the current fiscal year. Such report shall
include but not be limited to:
(A) a cumulative summary of commitments and disbursements by
year of original appropriation;
(B) the geographic distribution of approved projects;
(C) the extent to which approved projects are expected to
create or retain jobs in New York state; and
(D) the impact of approved projects, where quantified and
available, on distressed urban and rural communities, small- and
medium-sized businesses, and strategic industries.
(2) Copies of such report shall also be provided to the
designees of the temporary president of the senate and the
speaker of the assembly in both paper and electronic format;
(h) If: (1) such report is not submitted on or before the
required date, or (2) the corporation has failed to undertake a
good faith effort to comply with this act, upon a written
determination of non-compliance issued, not more than quarterly,
by either the temporary president of the senate or speaker of
the assembly, the corporation agrees that it shall approve no
further project commitments from the empire state economic
development fund and no state funds appropriated from the local
assistance account shall be allocated to the corporation for
such commitments until such report is submitted or the
corporation provides evidence of good faith effort to be in
compliance with provisions hereof; and
(i) Upon the issuance of such a determination of
non-compliance, the corporation shall undertake the necessary
acts to comply with this agreement and shall provide evidence of
such compliance within ten days of receipt of such
determination.
§ 31. Court proceedings; preferences; venue. Any action or
proceeding to which the corporation or the people of the state
of New York may be parties, in which any question arises as to
the validity of this act, shall be preferred over all other
civil causes except election causes in all courts of the state
of New York and shall be heard and determined in preference to
all other civil business pending therein except election causes,
irrespective of position on the calendar. The same preference
shall be granted upon application of counsel to the corporation
in any action or proceeding questioning the validity of this act
in which he may be allowed to intervene. The venue of any such
action or proceeding shall be laid in the county in which the
principal office of the corporation is located.
§ 31-a. Actions against corporation. Except in an action for
wrongful death, in any case founded upon tort a notice of claim
shall be required as a condition precedent to the commencement
of an action or special proceeding against the corporation, any
of it subsidiary corporations, or any officer, appointee or
employee thereof, and the provisions of section fifty-e of the
general municipal law shall govern the giving of such notice. No
such action shall be commenced more than one year and ninety
days after the cause of action therefor shall have accrued. An
action for wrongful death shall be commenced in accordance with
the notice of claim and time limitation provisions of title
eleven of article nine of the public authorities law.
§ 32. Special provisions relating to directors of the
corporation and members of the business advisory council for
urban development. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other
law, any state instrumentality, including any state agency,
trust fund or public benefit corporation other than the
corporation, may purchase from, sell to, borrow from, loan to,
contract with or otherwise deal with any corporation, trust,
association, partnership or other entity in which any director
of the corporation or any member of the business advisory
council for urban development, created by section four of this
act, has a financial interest, direct or indirect, and the
corporation may engage in any such transaction with any other
state instrumentality with which any director of the corporation
is affiliated as a state officer or employee, provided that
prior to such transaction such interest or affiliation is
disclosed to such other state instrumentality and is disclosed
in the minutes of the corporation, and provided further that no
director having such an affiliation (except such an affiliation
with a subsidiary corporation of the corporation organized in
accordance with section twelve of this act or with any authority
or commission heretofore or hereafter continued or created under
the public authorities law) may participate in any decision of
the corporation affecting such transaction.
§ 33. Inconsistent provisions of other laws superseded.
Insofar as the provisions of this act are inconsistent with the
provisions of any other law, general, special or local, the
provisions of this act shall be controlling.
§ 34. Construction. This act, being necessary for the welfare
of the state and its inhabitants, shall be liberally construed
so as to effectuate its purposes.
§ 35. Separability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph,
section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of
competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not
affect, impair or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be
confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph,
section or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in
which such judgment shall have been rendered.
§ 36. Limitation on new projects
The corporation shall not expend any proceeds of the sale of
assets to, or borrowings from, the New York state project
finance agency for the construction or development of any new
project which on February twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred
seventy-five, was not under construction by the corporation, or
the subject of a contract or legally binding commitment for the
construction or financing thereof by the corporation, except for
expenditures related to the prompt and orderly termination of
the corporation's activities in relation to a project that was
not under construction or subject to such a contract or legally
binding commitment on that date.
§ 37. Assistance; application and evaluation, generally. (1)
The corporation shall develop guidelines for application for
assistance through each of its programs which are consistent
with the rules published pursuant to section 9-c of this act and
pursuant to the state administrative procedure act. Guidelines
shall provide clear guidance to potential applicants as to
criteria for program eligibility, and shall specify criteria
used by the corporation in evaluating applications.
(2) The corporation shall prepare forms, application
procedures and evaluation processes which are consistent with
the rules and guidelines promulgated by the corporation and
which are developed with the goal of making them easily
understandable to applicants.
(3) The corporation shall make available, with the department
of economic development, applications and guidance to applicants
for each of its programs of assistance at the regional offices
of the department of economic development.
(4) The corporation shall establish, by rule, procedures for
(i) the notification to each applicant for assistance of the
receipt of such application; (ii) notification to each applicant
for assistance of such additional materials as the corporation
requires for evaluation of such application; and (iii) periodic
notifications not exceeding thirty days apart to each applicant
of the status of such application. Such rule shall specify
uniform time periods within which the corporation shall make the
notifications required by this paragraph.
(5) Whenever possible, the corporation shall render a
determination on an application within thirty working days of
the receipt of a completed application including necessary
documentation. In the event that a determination cannot be
reached within the thirty working day period, the corporation
shall submit to the applicant a statement of the reasons for
such delay upon or prior to the expiration of the thirty working
day period.
(6) Upon approval of an application for financial assistance,
the corporation shall inform the recipient of all steps which
must be taken in order to receive the promised assistance. The
requirements imposed by the corporation shall be pursuant to
statute or rules adopted pursuant to the state administrative
procedure act.
§ 38. Small business and minority-owned and women-owned
business enterprises transportation capital assistance and
guaranteed loan program. 1. To provide financial assistance to
small business and minority-owned and women-owned business
enterprises engaged in government sponsored, transportation
related construction projects, the corporation shall establish a
small business and minority-owned and women-owned business
enterprise transportation capital assistance revolving loan fund
which shall provide loans or loan guarantees to small business
and minority-owned and women-owned business enterprises. For
purposes of this section: (a) the term small business shall have
the same meaning as defined in section one hundred thirty-one of
the economic development law and (b) the term project shall mean
a project of state agency or authority that sponsors
transportation related construction projects and participates in
this program and any definition of project contained elsewhere
in this act shall not apply.
2. Such loans, or loan guarantees for loans made by federally
and state chartered credit institutions, financial institutions,
and federally insured banking organizations to small business
and minority-owned and women-owned business enterprises, shall
be used to (a) enable such businesses, through the acquisition,
leasing or improvement of real property, machinery or equipment,
or through the provision of working capital to secure service,
commodity or construction contracts; (b) restore working capital
to such businesses which have successfully completed work under
a contract but whose liquidity has been adversely affected by
problems resulting from delayed payments; and (c) ensure the
completion of the work associated with a governmental service,
commodity or construction contract in order to prevent default
on such contract.
3. (a) To be eligible for such loans or loan guarantees (i) a
minority-owned or women-owned business enterprise must be
certified as a minority-owned or women-owned business enterprise
pursuant to article 15-A of the executive law; and (ii) a small
business or a minority-owned or women-owned business enterprise
shall have a contract or sub-contract to provide goods or
services related to a government sponsored, transportation
related construction project.
(b) Only such business enterprises referred to the corporation
by a written application of a state agency or authority that
sponsors transportation related construction projects shall be
eligible for program assistance. Such assistance shall be
provided to such an enterprise only in connection with its
performance as a contractor or sub-contractor on a specific
transportation related project of the referring agency or
authority. In order for such an agency or authority to refer
such enterprises to the corporation, such agency or authority
shall enter into a master agreement with the corporation
covering procedures and requirements for providing program
assistance. The corporation shall determine whether or not to
approve such an agency's or authority's written application for
program assistance to such a business within twenty business
days of the corporation's receipt of such application. If it
approves the application, the corporation will provide
assistance pursuant to the applicable master agreement.
4. The corporation shall give preference to minority-owned and
women-owned business enterprises in making such loans and loan
guarantees and shall establish such other criteria as it may
deem necessary for this program and for any required amount that
shall be held in reserve for any guarantees made under this
program.
5. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, general,
special or local, including pursuant to capital projects budget
appropriations or reappropriations, where applicable, the
corporation is hereby authorized to enter into such agreements
as may be necessary for the operation and administration of a
small business and minority-owned and women-owned business
enterprises transportation capital assistance and guaranteed
loan program.
6. The corporation is authorized to establish a revolving loan
fund account into which funds may be received and from which
funds may be expended for the aforementioned purposes.
7. The provisions of section ten and subdivision two of
section sixteen of this act shall not apply to assistance
provided under this program.
§ 39. Lease and operation of seventh regiment armory. (a) The
corporation is hereby authorized to act on behalf of the state
and the division of military and naval affairs to enter into a
lease or subsequent leases and the management agreement on
behalf of the state and the division with a lessee, subsequent
lessee or the manager pursuant to the terms of the management
agreement in order to accomplish the purposes of this section.
The leasing of the armory to a lessee or subsequent lessee and
the entrance into the management agreement and the repair,
restoration and refurbishment of the armory and operation
thereof by a lessee or subsequent lessee for cultural and other
civic uses pursuant to the lease is hereby declared to be a
valid use under the city lease, and is undertaken for public
purposes.
(b) The lease with a lessee or subsequent lessee authorized by
this section shall require a lessee or subsequent lessee to
undertake a program of repair, restoration and refurbishment of
the armory and to manage and use the same as a facility for
cultural and other civic uses. The lease shall demise all
portions of the armory other than those reserved for a homeless
shelter for women operated by the city of New York pursuant to
agreement with the state and for that reserved for military use
by the division. The portion of the premises allocated to the
shelter for homeless women shall be sufficient and suitable
space for the current and uninterrupted operation of the shelter
by the city of New York. The division shall cause the 107th
corps support group or its lineal descendent to maintain
military use within the reserved portions of the armory. The
division, and the city of New York, respectively, shall be
responsible to repair and maintain their reserved premises,
including the costs of renovation and uninterrupted use, and to
pay an annual common maintenance charge to a lessee or
subsequent lessee to cover allocated costs of repair,
maintenance and operation of the common portions of the armory.
The lessee or subsequent lessee shall be required to apply all
revenues generated by operations at the armory to pay or provide
for costs of repairs, restoration, refurbishment, operating,
maintenance and programming of the armory and the uses therein
and the activities of the lessee or subsequent lessee with
respect thereto.
(c) The corporation, in carrying out its authorization under
this section may exercise all of the power granted it in law, as
if fully enumerated herein. Without limiting the generality of
the foregoing, the powers granted to the corporation under
sections sixteen and twenty-two of this act shall be utilized by
the corporation in its administration of the lease, and shall be
applicable in respect to the repair, restoration, refurbishment
and operation of the armory pursuant to the lease.
(d) In no event shall the lessee or subsequent lessee be
deemed a state actor or an agent or an instrumentality of the
state by reason of the lease or this section or any of the
activities of the lessee or subsequent lessee with respect to
the armory pursuant to the lease or this section.
(e) Except with respect to military use or periods of civil or
military emergency, for any action involving the armory that may
have a significant effect on the environment, the corporation
shall be the lead agency having principal responsibility for
carrying out or approving such action for purposes of article
eight of the environmental conservation law.