BILL NUMBER: S472
SPONSOR: TEDISCO
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the state finance law, in relation to enacting the
"truth in spending act"
 
PURPOSE:
This bill requires a full disclosure of all "lump sum funds" and other
monies not specifically itemized in the New York State Budget where
decisions about spending purposes and recipients of such funds are
currently deferred.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 53-e to read as
follows:
§ 53-e. Appropriations; full disclosure. 1. Prior to the disbursement of
any budgetary allocation made pursuant to this article, section ninety-
nine-d of this chapter (which relates to the Community projects Fund),
or subdivision five of section twenty-four of this chapter at the
request of the governor or member of the legislature, the governor and
the legislature shall:
*Ensure that the funds shall include a brief description of the project
to be funded.
*Require the Governor or member of the legislature requesting such
appropriation to submit a signed conflict of interest form to be
prescribed by the attorney general, which shall be submitted to the
attorney general to ensure that no conflict of interest exists. Such
form shall require disclosure of all political donations received.
within the past five years by such official from the intended recipient
of appropriated funding if the cumulative amount of such donations meets
or exceeds four-thousand dollars were made within the past five years.
*Ensure that funds be used for a public purpose.
*At least seventy-two hours prior to approval by the legislature of the
state budget, or a legislative bill containing an appropriation as
described in subdivision five of section twenty-four of this chapter the
legislature must make public with respect to each allocation, the member
of the senate, the member of the assembly or the governor sponsoring the
allocation, the dollar amount to be appropriated, the senate and assem-
bly district in which the entity receiving such funding is principally
located, the name of the local project, organization or other entity
receiving such allocation and a description of the project to be funded
or purpose for making such allocation. Such publication shall, at a
minimum, be made available on the website of each house of the legisla-
ture and shall be accessible via a link on the homepage of such website.
Such webpage shall be in a machine readable format and shall include all
memoranda of understanding, plans, resolutions, contracts, and any other
agreements related to the distribution of funds to recipients.
Additionally, the comptroller shall establish and maintain such informa-
tion on a separate website.
*All allocation recipients shall provide certification of proper use of
funds received.
*Prior to submitting an application for an allocation, each organization
seeking an allocation shall meet the pre-certification standards as
established by the office of the New York State Attorney General. At a
minimum, those standards shall require that the organization seeking
pre-certification is a certified, tax-exempt nonprofit organization
under section 501 (C) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code in New York
State, a state agency, a municipality or their affiliated department,
university, college, or school district capable of accepting potential
funding and that such entity is not in bankruptcy or arrears on any
state obligations.
*Any allocation by the legislature and the governor shall be set forth
separately and apart from any other allocation in the state budget in
order to clearly identify each legislator's or the governor'sò request.
*Any violation of the provisions of this section shall be referred to
the legislative ethics commission or its successor entity. Complaints
regarding the failure to use an allocation to comply with the provisions
of this chapter shall be submitted to (a) the legislative ethics commis-
sion with regard to an allocation made at the discretion of a legisla-
tor, or (b) the joint commission on public ethics with regard to an
allocation made at the discretion of the governor.
§ 3. Subdivisions 4 and 5 of section 24 of the state finance law, as
added by chapter 1 of the laws of 2007, arc amended to ensure desig-
nation for each appropriation a grantee of such appropriation.
§ 4. Section 40 of the state finance law is amended by adding two new
subdivisions 5 and 6 to read as follows:
*Notwithstanding any other law, rule or regulation to the contrary, The
provisions of subdivision three of this section shall not be superseded
except upon approval by a two-thirds vote of the senate and assembly.
*A resolution providing for the disbursement of funds pursuant to any
provision of law shall not be approved less than seventy-two hours
subsequent to the introduction of such resolution.
§ 5. Subdivision 2 3òf section 24 of the state finance law is amended by
adding a new paragraph (c) to read as follows: ò
(c) On or after January first, two thousand nineteen, any budget bill
submitted by the governor shall only contain itemized appropriations.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The taxpayer's dollars and the state budget is not any leader's or rank
and file . member's own personal piggy bank. This truth in spending law
is the hammer to smash open that piggy bank and create total transparen-
cy to see where the money comes from as allocated in the state budget
and how it's being spent. When it comes to legislative earmarks, taxpay-
ers have a right to be able to follow the money and know who ordered the
pork.
This legislation is a response to the numerous public corruption scan-
dals that have rocked the state Capitol to its core over recent months
and years. While the vast majority of legislators serve their constitu-
ents with honor and integrity, there is a large minority oòf members who
have betrayed their oaths of office and traded official actions for quid
pro quos. Public corruption is not a partisan issue and the solution
must be bi-partisan in nature. That's why we need the enhanced transpar-
ency of a Truth in Spending law because the legislature has shown an
inability to police itself. As recent as November of 2015, a former
Assembly Speaker was convicted of 7 felony counts of, federal corruption
charges in a kick-back scheme where he gave $500,000 in state lump sum
tax dollars to a physician who would refer patients to the Speaker's law
firm where he would get referral fees. In December 2015, the Senate
Majority Leader was convicted on 8 felonies related to public
corruption.
Exemplary to the widespread nature of this problem, 28 New York State
legislators have left office due to ethical issues since the year 2000.
The federal prosecutor has inferred that the largest asset the previous
Speaker of the Assembly and Senate Majority Leader had to game the
system and fail their oath of office and involve themselves in
corruption was unbridled power and a lack of oversight, transparency,
and a policing of their actions. Rank and file members have ceded too
much power in the hands of a few leaders for far too long. This legis-
lation will help take some of that power back.
This measure will inform the public, lawmakers, interested parties, and
the media in greater detail as to how tax dollars are being spent, and
enable constituents to hold their elected officials accountable for such
allocations.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
01/10/17: S.1679 REFERRED TO FINANCE
01/03/18: S.1679 REFERRED TO FINANCE
02/01/18: S.1679 AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO FINANCE
02/01/18: S.1679 PRINT NUMBER 1679A
01/09/19: S.190 REFERRED TO FINANCE
01/08/20: S.190 REFERRED TO FINANCE
01/06/21: S.176 REFERRED TO FINANCE
01/05/22: S.176 REFERRED TO FINANCE
01/04/23: S.106 REFERRED TO FINANCE
01/03/24: S.106 REFERRED TO FINANCE
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S472: 40 state finance law, 24 state finance law, 24(2) state finance law