2020 Finance Committee Annual Report Revised
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2020 ANNUAL REPORT NEW YORK STATE SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE SENATOR LIZ KRUEGER CHAIR 1 2 December 30, 2020 The Honorable Andrea Stewart-Cousins Temporary President and Majority Leader New York State Senate Albany, NY 12247 Dear Senator Stewart-Cousins: I am pleased to transmit the Annual Report of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Finance for the 2020 Legislative Session. As Chair, I am proud to continue to lead our efforts to address important matters under my committee’s jurisdiction. During the 2020 session, the Finance Committee met 16 times in session, reported 1075 Resolu- tions, 153 Bills and 66 Nominations. The Committee also held 14 hearings this past year. -13 Joint Legislative Budget Hearings -2020 Economic and Revenue Consensus Forecasting Conference I thank my colleagues who served on the Committee for their efforts and support of the work that they have done in the committee this year. I thank you for the continued support from the Majority Conference in the committee’s operations. Sincerely, Liz Krueger 28th Senate District 1 2020 LEGISLATIVE SESSION REPORT NEW YORK STATE SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE Senator Liz Krueger, Chairperson COMMITTEE MEMBERS Senator Jamaal T. Bailey Senator Diane J. Savino Senator James L. Seward Senator James Skoufis Senator Brian A. Benjamin Senator Toby Ann Stavisky Senator Neil D. Breslin Senator Kevin Thomas Senator Leroy Comrie Senator Kenneth P. LaValle Senator Brad Hoylman Senator Betty O.C. Little Senator Timothy M. Kennedy Senator Joseph E. Robach Senator John C. Liu Senator Andrew J. Lanza Senator Velmanette Montgomery Senator Michael Ranzenhofer Senator Kevin S. Parker Senator Patty Ritchie Senator Gustavo Rivera Senator Patrick M. Gallivn COMMITTEE STAFF Todd Scheuermann Robert Plattner Jennifer Figliozzi Annette Highley Overa Best Zacharie St. Hurbert Allison Bradley Alex Pollinger Jessica Fowler Cydney Miazga Donavan Borington Michael Swanson Mandy Sheridan Meeti Purani David Frazier Michela Paniccia Jason Clark Michael Szydlo Alex Araujo Kevin Ressler Christopher Friend Shantal Plass Jacqueline Donaldson Rhett Maiorana Lucinda Ballard Monica Saladi Charles Goodwin 2 COMMITTEE JURISDICTION AND OVERVIEW The New York State Senate Standing Committee on Finance has legislative oversight responsibilities for issues concerning Budget, Fiscal Review, Resolutions and Nominations. During the 2020 Legislative Session, 589 bills were referred or dual referent to the Committee for its review. Of these bills, 167 were reported from the Committee, 125 were passed by the Senate, and 76 passed in both houses. This work was conducted through a series of 16 committee meetings. A list of all bills that was reported from the committee is provided at the end of this report. In addition to its regular meetings, the Committee held 14 hearings and/or roundtable meetings. Topics of these hearings and/or roundtables included: - 13 Joint Legislative Budget Hearings - 2020 Economic and Revenue Consensus Forecasting Conference 3 COMMITTEE HIGHLIGHTS The following key bills were acted on by the committee in 2020: Bill No. Sponsor Summary Action S.1079 Persaud This bill would require the Department of Chapter 297 Labor to produce a report on Summer Youth of 2020 Employment Programs. S.1558A Serrano Authorizes the office of parks, recreation and historic Passed Senate preservation to establish a resident curator program for the rehabilitation of state park buildings. S.2649C Krueger Requires the annual tax expenditure report to include an Passed Senate enumeration of all fossil fuel related tax expenditures and requires such expenditures to expire in five years. S.3392 May Relates to the uniform treatment of waste Chapter 133 from the exploration, development, extraction, of 2020 or production of crude oil or natural gas S.359-C Parker Establishes the Law Enforcement Misconduct Chapter 104 Investigative Office of 2020 S.5312A Harckham Directs the State Board of Real Property Tax Services Passed Senate to conduct a study on real property tax saturation (the impact of high percentages of tax-exempt real property in municipalities). S.5612A Harckham This bill adds class C waterways to the definition of Veto 60 streams subject to Protection of Waters of 2020 permit requirements. S.6502A Serrano Prohibits the use of glyphosate on state property. On the Governor’s Desk S.6533 Montgomery This bill requires the video recording of interrogations Chapter 299 of juveniles in juvenile delinquency proceedings in of 2020 family court. S.6662 Benjamin This bill requires the Department of Health to conduct On the a study on the effects of racial and ethnic disparities on Governor’s Desk infant mortality and submit a report to the governor and the legislature on the study’s findings, and recommendations 4 on how to improve health outcomes. S.6707 Benjamin This bill requires the Department of Health to conduct Chapter 308 a study on how racial and ethnic disparities affect rates of 2020 of breastfeeding. This bill also requires the Department of Health to prepare and submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature of the findings of the study and recommendations. S.6773 Metzger This proposal increases the value of the Farm Workforce Passed Senate Retention Credit from $600 to $800 for tax year 2021 and would extend the credit to tax year 2022 and beyond, setting the value of the credit to $1,200 per farm employee for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2022. S.7664 Breslin Defines “substantial completion” as when the work Chapter 341 required by the contractor with the public owner is of 2020 sufficiently completed so that the public owner may occupy or utilize the work for its intended use. Provides that no later than 45 business days after the date when the project has reached substantial completion, the public owner must submit to the contractor a written list describing all remaining items to be completed by the contractor. The contractor, in turn, must provide within seven calendar days a written list of items still awaiting completion to all subcontractors from whom the contract or is withholding retainage. S.7765 Serrano Relates to the development and posting of a senior trail Passed Senate guide that identifies walking and hiking opportunities for active seniors within the state park system and along public non-motorized multi-use trails within the state. S.7787 Mayer This bill allows the Commissioner of the Department of Chapter 327 Health to control expenditures from the state Amyotrophic of 2020 Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) research and education fund. Currently, the Office of the State Comptroller controls these expenditures. S.8245A Parker This bill requires the Department of Health to conduct a Chapter 99 study on the health impacts of COVID-19 on racial and of 2020 ethnic minority populations in New York State. DOH must prepare the report and deliver the report that contains the rates of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, recovery and mortality and any racial and ethnic disparities in these rates and any recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature within one year of the effective date of the legislation. 5 S.8400 Benjamin Authorizes the City of New York to establish a revenue Chapter 118 stabilization fund, or Rainy Day Fund, and to utilize said of 2020 fund during times of economic crisis without violating municipal accounting standards set forth in the Financial Emergency Act (FEA) for the City of New York. S.8417 Krueger This bill provides local governments and school districts Chapter 157 of with an array of options to address financial challenges 2020; Amended caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill extends by Chapter 126 the bond anticipation note (BAN) renewal period from of 2020 five to seven years for BANs issued from 2015 to 2021. The bill also provides flexibility by permitting local governments and school districts to transfer monies from reserve funds and temporarily make inter-fund advances to pay for costs attributable to the pandemic. S.8419 Kavanagh This bill enacts the Emergency Rent Relief Act of 2020, Chapter 125 providing $100 million in appropriation to be provided of 2020 to residential renters who are rent burdened and have experienced a significant loss of income due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shutdowns and business closures S.8493 Parker Establishes a body-worn camera program within the Chapter 105 Division of State Police, which would require all State of 2020 Police officers to wear cameras while on duty. S.8617B Gounardes This bill requires public employers to adopt a plan Chapter 168 of operations in the event of a communicable disease of 2020 emergency that has been declared public health emergency S.8791 Brooks This bill lowers the prerequisite of 15 years of Chapter 345 maintenance and operation funds to 10 years to expedite of 2020 and encourage the establishment of a state run veteran’s cemetery. 6 TWO HOUSE BILLS In 2020, 76 of the 589 bills referred to the Standing Committee on Finance passed both houses of the Legislature. Of these bills, the Governor has signed 55 and vetoed 11. In addition, there are 9 bills on the Governor’s desk and 1 bill awaiting delivery. Bill No. Sponsor Summary Action A.8349 Ryan This bill adds class C waterways to the definition Veto 60 of streams subject to Protection of Waters permit of 2020 requirements. A.9089 Paulin Requires consent prior to the merger of On the cemetery corporations Governor’s Desk S.222C Benjamin Relates to reporting of youth placed in foster Chapter 321 care