2020 New York Laws
STF - State Finance
Article 2 - General Fiscal Provisions
4 - Payments, Transfers and Deposits.
§ 4. Payments, transfers and deposits. 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other section of law to the contrary, no money shall be paid from any fund under the management of the state, or any agency or officer thereof except in pursuance of an appropriation by law. 2. If, at any time, the legislature shall fail to make an appropriation for a payment from a fund where the failure to make such payment would violate a covenant contained in a statute or resolution which was in force prior to the effective date of this section, between the state and holders of any obligations, pursuant to which the state had agreed that it would not limit or alter the rights vested in the issuers of such obligations to fulfill any and all agreements with such holders or that it would not in any way impair the rights and remedies of such holders, such payment shall nevertheless be made from such fund to the extent necessary to comply with the rights of the issuer of such obligations and of the holders thereof. 3. If, at any time, the legislature shall fail to make an appropriation for the payment of the interest upon and installments of principal of all debts created on behalf of the state as the same shall fall due, and for the contribution to all of the sinking funds heretofore created by law, the comptroller shall set apart from the first revenues thereafter received, applicable to the general fund of the state, a sum sufficient to pay such interest, installments of principal, or contributions to such sinking fund, as the case may be, and shall so apply the moneys thus set apart. 4. Money which has not been given, granted, or bequeathed to the state, or any agency thereof conditionally or otherwise, and the ownership and equitable title of which belongs to an individual or organization other than the state, but which is being held by any agency or officer of the state pending transfer of such money to such individual or organization in accordance with the terms and conditions pursuant to which it was placed in the custody of such agency or officer, may be transferred to such individual or organization by such agency or officer without an appropriation by law provided that such transfers are made in accordance with such terms and conditions. * 5. No money or other financial resources shall be transferred or temporarily loaned from one fund to another without specific statutory authorization for such transfer or temporary loan, except that money or other financial resources of a fund may be temporarily loaned to the general fund during the state fiscal year provided that such loan shall be repaid in full no later than the end of the same fiscal year in which it was made, so that an accurate accounting and reporting of the balance of financial resources in each fund may be made. The comptroller is hereby authorized to temporarily loan money from the general fund or any other fund to the fund/accounts that are authorized to receive a loan. Such loans shall be limited to the amounts immediately required to meet disbursements, made in pursuance of an appropriation by law and authorized by a certificate of approval issued by the director of the budget with copies thereof filed with the comptroller and the chair of the senate finance committee and the chair of the assembly ways and means committee. The director of the budget shall not issue such a certificate unless he or she shall have determined that the amounts to be so loaned are receivable on account. When making loans, the comptroller shall establish appropriate accounts and if the loan is not repaid by the end of the month, provide on or before the fifteenth day of the following month to the director of the budget, the chair of the senate finance committee and the chair of the assembly ways and means committee, an accurate accounting and report of the financial resources of each such fund at the end of such month. Within ten days of the receipt of such accounting and reporting, the director of the budget shall provide the comptroller and the chair of the senate finance committee and the chair of the assembly ways and means committee an expected schedule of repayment by fund and by source for each outstanding loan. Repayment shall be made by the comptroller from the first cash receipt of this fund. * NB Effective until March 31, 2021 * 5. No money or other financial resources shall be transferred or temporarily loaned from one fund to another without specific statutory authorization for such transfer or temporary loan, except that money or other financial resources of a fund may be temporarily loaned to the general fund during the state fiscal year provided that such loan shall be repaid in full no later than (a) four months after it was made or (b) by the end of the same fiscal year in which it was made, whichever period is shorter, so that an accurate accounting and reporting of the balance of financial resources in each fund may be made. The comptroller is hereby authorized to temporarily loan money from the general fund or any other fund to the fund/accounts that are authorized to receive a loan. Such loans shall be limited to the amounts immediately required to meet disbursements, made in pursuance of an appropriation by law and authorized by a certificate of approval issued by the director of the budget with copies thereof filed with the comptroller and the chair of the senate finance committee and the chair of the assembly ways and means committee. The director of the budget shall not issue such a certificate unless he or she shall have determined that the amounts to be so loaned are receivable on account. When making loans, the comptroller shall establish appropriate accounts and if the loan is not repaid by the end of the month, provide on or before the fifteenth day of the following month to the director of the budget, the chair of the senate finance committee and the chair of the assembly ways and means committee, an accurate accounting and report of the financial resources of each such fund at the end of such month. Within ten days of the receipt of such accounting and reporting, the director of the budget shall provide the comptroller and the chair of the senate finance committee and the chair of the assembly ways and means committee an expected schedule of repayment by fund and by source for each outstanding loan. Repayment shall be made by the comptroller from the first cash receipt of this fund. * NB Effective March 31, 2021 * 6. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, at the beginning of the state fiscal year, the state comptroller is hereby authorized and directed to receive for deposit to the credit of a fund and/or an account such monies as are identified by the director of the budget as having been intended for such deposit to support disbursements from such fund and/or account made in pursuance of an appropriation by law. As soon as practicable upon enactment of the budget, the director of the budget shall, but not less than three days following preliminary submission to the chairs of the senate finance committee and the assembly ways and means committee, file with the state comptroller an identification of specific monies to be so deposited. Any subsequent change regarding the monies to be so deposited shall be filed by the director of the budget, as soon as practicable, but not less than three days following preliminary submission to the chairs of the senate finance committee and the assembly ways and means committee. All monies identified by the director of the budget to be deposited to the credit of a fund and/or account shall be consistent with the intent of the budget for the then current state fiscal year as enacted by the legislature. The provisions of this subdivision shall expire on March thirty-first, two thousand twenty-two. * NB Expires March 31, 2022 7. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section, the taxes, interest and penalties collected or received by the commissioner of taxation and finance under sections four hundred seventy-one and four hundred seventy-one-a of the tax law, and the revenue (including taxes, interest and penalties) from the imposition of cigarette taxes by a local government paid to the comptroller of the state of New York by such local government, which are required to be deposited to the credit of the tobacco control and insurance initiatives pool established by section twenty-eight hundred seven-v of the public health law and moneys received in the tobacco settlement fund established by section ninety-two-x of this chapter shall be made pursuant to statute but without an appropriation. 8. For the purposes of this section, agency shall mean any department, agency, board, bureau, commission, division, council or office of the state except as otherwise provided in section eighty-eight of the workers' compensation law. 9. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section, the moneys transferred to the universal prekindergarten reserve fund pursuant to paragraph f of subdivision ten of section thirty-six hundred two-e of the education law shall be paid pursuant to statute but without an appropriation. * 10. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section, the moneys deposited in the health insurance fund authorized in section one hundred sixty-seven of the civil service law shall be paid pursuant to statute but without an appropriation. * NB Expired March 31, 2006 11. (a) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary and except as provided by paragraph (b) of this subdivision, no state agency or a state official or employee acting in their official capacity, may pay out or otherwise disburse funds obtained as the result of a judgment, stipulation, decree, agreement to settle, assurance of discontinuance, or other legal instrument resolving any claim or cause of action, whether filed or unfiled, actual or potential, and whether arising under common law, equity, or any provision of law, except pursuant to an appropriation. Such funds shall not be retained by any state official, employee, or agency in any fund held in the sole custody of a state agency for a period of more than thirty days but shall, consistent with section seven of article seven of the state constitution be deposited in the state treasury, or fund under its management as may be directed by statute or as otherwise directed by the comptroller with the concurrence of the director of the budget.(b) Paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall not apply to (1) moneys to be distributed to the federal government, to a local government, or to any holder of a bond or other debt instrument issued by the state, any public authority, or any public benefit corporation; (2) moneys to be distributed solely or exclusively as a payment of damages or restitution to individuals or entities that were specifically injured or harmed by the defendant's or settling party's conduct and that are identified in, or can be identified by the terms of, the relevant judgment, agreement to settle, assurance of discontinuance, or relevant instrument resolving the claim or cause of action; (3) moneys recovered or obtained by a state agency or a state official or employee acting in their official capacity where application of paragraph (a) of this subdivision is prohibited by federal law, rule, or regulation, or would result in the reduction or loss of federal funds or eligibility for federal benefits pursuant to federal law, rule, or regulation; (4) moneys recovered or obtained by or on behalf of a public authority, a public benefit corporation, the department of taxation and finance, the workers' compensation board, the New York state higher education services corporation, the tobacco settlement financing corporation, a state or local retirement system, an employee health benefit program administered by the New York state department of civil service, the Title IV-D child support fund, the lottery prize fund, the abandoned property fund, or an endowment of the state university of New York or any unit thereof or any state agency, provided that all of the moneys received or recovered are immediately transferred to the relevant public authority, public benefit corporation, department, fund, program, or endowment; (5) moneys to be refunded to an individual or entity as (i) an overpayment of a tax, fine, penalty, fee, insurance premium, loan payment, charge or surcharge; (ii) a return of seized assets, or (iii) a payment made in error; and (6) moneys to be used to prevent, abate, restore, mitigate, or control any identifiable instance of prior or ongoing water, land or air pollution. 12. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section and any other law to the contrary, the revenue (including taxes, interest and penalties) from the metropolitan commuter transportation mobility tax imposed pursuant to article twenty-three of the tax law which are paid in accordance with subsection (b) of section eight hundred five of the tax law into the metropolitan transportation authority finance fund established by section twelve hundred seventy-h of the public authorities law shall be made pursuant to statute but without an appropriation. 13. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section and any other law to the contrary, the revenue (including fees, taxes, interest and penalties) from the metropolitan commuter transportation district supplemental fees and taxes imposed pursuant to paragraph (b-1) of subdivision two of section five hundred three of the vehicle and traffic law, paragraph (c-3) of subdivision two of section five hundred three of the vehicle and traffic law, article seventeen-C of the vehicle and traffic law, article twenty-nine-A of the tax law and section eleven hundred sixty-six-a of the tax law which are paid in accordance with subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (b-1) of subdivision two of section five hundred three of the vehicle and traffic law, subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (c-3) of subdivision two of section five hundred three of the vehicle and traffic law, section twelve hundred eighty-eight of the tax law and section eleven hundred sixty-seven of the tax law into the corporate transportation account of the metropolitan transportation authority special assistance fund established by section twelve hundred seventy-a of the public authorities law shall be made pursuant to statute but without an appropriation.
