BILL NUMBER: S9355
SPONSOR: BASKIN
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public authorities law, in relation to authorizing
the dormitory authority to provide financing to D'Youville Housing Asso-
ciation LLC for the construction of facilities
 
PURPOSE:
To allow D'Youville Housing Association LLC to be eligible for Dormitory
Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) financing and construction
services through the Dormitory Authority Act.
 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
§ 1: Amends paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of Section 1676 of the Public
Authorities Law by adding a new undesignated paragraph to read as
follows: D'Youville Housing Association LLC for the purpose of financing
or refinancing the acquisition, design, construction, reconstruction,
rehabilitation, improvement, furnishing and equipping of, or otherwise
providing for residential housing located on the campus of D'Youville
University.
§ 2: Amends subdivision 1 of Section 1680 of the Public Authorities Law
by adding a new undesignated paragraph to read as follows: D'Youville
Housing Association LLC for the purpose of financing or refinancing the
acquisition, design, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation,
improvement, furnishing and equipping of, or otherwise providing for
residential housing located on the campus of D'Youville University.
§ 3: Effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
D'Youville University is developing a critical 218-unit student housing
facility ($56 million) on its West Buffalo campus, located adjacent to
the Hub site. This project directly responds to increased housing demand
driven by the University's new DO Medical School and growing enrollment.
The facility will consist primarily of one-bedroom with select two-bed-
room apartments and will be owned and operated by D'Youville University
Housing LLC, a 501(c)(3) organization established specifically for this
purpose.
DASNY, a public benefit corporation authorized to issue bonds on behalf
of the state, was first established in 1944 for the financing and
construction of dormitories at eleven state teachers colleges. The
legislature later expanded the scope of the corporation's work to also
include hospitals with nursing schools, court facilities, private
universities, nonprofit healthcare facilities, government agencies,
school districts, and other public-serving institutions. One of the
largest financiers of social infrastructure in the country, DASNY is
able to issue bonds which accrue interest on which the bondholders do
not have to pay taxes, thus allowing DASNY to offer lower interest rates
to its clients compared to those in the commercial loan market. In
exchange, the state-backed nature of DASNY's debt guarantees its bond-
holders a steady stream of income payments while boosting DASNY's credit
ratings. Beyond purely public works, the flexible and low-cost nature of
DASNY's financing and construction services has rendered it an attrac-
tive option for a great many other cultural and educational institutions
over the years, all of whom have been expressly granted the authority to
contract with DASNY under Title 4 of the Public Authorities Law.
While DASNY (Dormitory Authority of the State of New York) routinely
serves as conduit issuer for higher education facilities, current legis-
lation only allows DASNY to issue bonds for direct institutional enti-
ties or those explicitly named in the DASNY enabling act. Because DYU
Housing Authority is a separate 501(c)(3) rather than the university
itself, legislation is required to add the entity to the DASNY Act.
This legislation seeks to also extend this eligibility to D'Youville
Housing Association LLC. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S9355: 1676 public authorities law, 1676(2) public authorities law, 1680 public authorities law, 1680(1) public authorities law