NY State Fin L § 53 (2021)
2021 New York Laws STF - State Finance Article 4 - Appropriations 53 - Special Emergency Appropriations.

§  53.  Special  emergency appropriations. 1. If, for any fiscal year, the legislature enacts a special emergency appropriation, no money shall be paid pursuant to any such appropriation  unless  an  amount  of  such appropriation  which  is  equal to the amount to be paid shall have been transferred as authorized by the governor who may authorize the transfer of all or a portion of such a special emergency  appropriation  only  in accordance  with  the  procedures  and  subject  to  the  conditions and limitations set forth in this section.   2. The governor may authorize the transfer of all or a portion of such a special emergency appropriation to the  general  fund  or  to  a  fund classified  as  a special revenue or capital projects fund as defined in section two of this chapter for a specific program or  purpose,  subject to the conditions and procedures described in subdivisions five, six and seven of this section and the following:   a.  Transfers  to  the  general  fund  or  the  capital  projects fund established under section ninety-three of this chapter shall be only for the  purpose  and  to  the  extent  required  to  meet   emergency   and unanticipated expenditures of the state which shall mean:  (1)  expenditures  deemed  necessary  or  essential  to the proper and efficient functioning of the government of the state or the rendering of governmental services by the state, in order  to  meet  emergencies  and unanticipated  requirements  arising from or which threaten to interfere with the lawful exercise of one or more of the powers of  government  by the state;  (2)  expenditures  deemed  necessary or essential to protect fully the New York state housing finance agency, the state university construction fund, the state university, or the  facilities  development  corporation from  general  public liability arising from their ownership or interest in state university facilities or mental hygiene facilities financed  by the  New  York  state  housing finance agency, as the case may be, or to repair, restore, rebuild or replace such a facility upon damage, loss or destruction thereof, or to pay the annual rentals for such a facility in the event of  the  damage,  loss  or  destruction  thereof  and  of  the availability and possession thereof by the state university construction fund  and  the  occupancy  thereof  by  the  state  university,  or  the availability and possession thereof by  the  state  university,  or  the availability  and  possession  thereof  by  the  facilities  development corporation and the  occupancy  thereof  by  the  department  of  mental hygiene; and  (3)  expenditures  deemed  necessary  or  essential for payment of the state's liability, pursuant to a contract with  a  county  containing  a city having a population of seventy-five thousand or more inhabitants or a city having a population of seventy-five thousand or more inhabitants, providing  for  the  financing and the construction and leasing of state office buildings and other public improvements in such county  or  city, to  hold  such  county  or  city  and  its officers, agents or employees harmless against liability, loss, cost,  damage,  claims,  judgments  or expense  based  on  personal  injury, death or damage to property, real, personal or mixed, which because of the uncertainty of  events  are  not clearly  foreseeable or predictable at the time of passage of the budget and other appropriation measures  during  the  regular  session  of  the legislature  next  preceding  the occurrence or development thereof, and for which other appropriations are not available or are insufficient.   Transfers made  pursuant  to  subparagraphs  two  and  three  of  this paragraph  are  expressly  for  the  purpose  of  applying  self-insurer principles to the facilities  therein  described,  consistent  with  the system  of  self-insurance followed by the state for real property under its jurisdiction and control.    b. Transfers to a special revenue fund or capital projects fund  other than the capital projects fund established under section ninety-three of this chapter shall be made only if the amount of moneys credited to such fund  for  such  program or purpose during the then current state fiscal year is in excess of such amount anticipated to be available at the time the annual budget for such fiscal year was submitted to the legislature, in  which case, any such transfer shall be limited to the amount of such excess.   3. The governor may authorize the transfer of all or a portion of such a special emergency appropriation to a fund classified as a  proprietary fund as defined in section two of this chapter subject to the conditions and  procedures  described  in  subdivisions five, six and seven of this section only if the revenues actually accrued to such  fund  during  the then   current  state  fiscal  year  are  in  excess  of  such  revenues anticipated at the time the annual  budget  for  such  fiscal  year  was submitted  to the legislature, in which case, any such transfer shall be limited to the amount of such excess.   4. The governor may authorize the transfer of all or a portion of such a special emergency appropriation to a fund classified  as  a  fiduciary fund as defined in section two of this chapter subject to the conditions and  procedures described in subdivisions five and seven of this section only if the moneys necessary to fund such  transfer  are  available  for disbursement  within  such fund and only when the disbursements required to be made during the then current fiscal year for liabilities which are not subject to statutory limitation are in excess of the amount of  such required  disbursements  anticipated  at  the time the annual budget for such fiscal year was submitted to the legislature, in  which  case,  any such transfer shall be limited to the amount of such excess.   5. Any transfer shall lapse, except with regard to obligations already incurred, on the day on which the governor submits an appropriation bill to  the  next  succeeding regular session of the legislature unless such bill shall include a separate request for  an  appropriation,  from  the fund  to which all or a portion of a special emergency appropriation was transferred,  for  the  transferred  amount.  Upon  such  request,  such transfer  shall continue in effect until final action by the legislature on such bill,  after  which  time  such  transfer  shall  lapse  and  no additional   expenditures   shall   be  made  against  such  transferred appropriation. The same provisions of  law  as  are  applicable  to  the segregation  and  expenditure  of appropriations generally shall also be applicable  to  the  segregation  and  expenditure   of   appropriations transferred pursuant to this section.   6.  The  governor  shall  not have the authority to authorize, and the comptroller  shall  so  deny,  an  appropriations   transfer   and   any expenditures  therefrom for any purpose concerning which the legislature has declared its intent that such program, project or activity shall not be performed. For the purpose of determining  such  legislative  intent, the  governor  and  the comptroller shall consider legislative action on the executive budget and the various appropriation bills for the support of government in addition to any specific act of the legislature  making such a declaration.   7.  The  governor shall not authorize the transfer of all or a portion of a special emergency appropriation  unless  and  until  the  following procedure has been followed:   a.  The  chief executive officer of a state agency or state affiliated corporation, immediately upon determining the necessity  for  a  special emergency  appropriation  transfer,  shall  notify  the  director of the budget, the chairman of the senate finance committee and the chairman of the assembly ways and means committee on forms and in  a  manner  to  be  prescribed  by  the  director  of  the  budget  which  shall include the following:  (1)  a  statement  of  the  amount  of the requested special emergency appropriation transfer and a schedule of the timing of the disbursements and expenditures  proposed  to  be  made  pursuant  to  the  transferred appropriation;  (2)  a  description  of  the  purposes  to be served, and the specific activities  and  positions  to  be  funded,  if  any,  by  the  proposed expenditures;  (3)  a  statement  as  to  whether such expenditures shall or could be utilized to offset obligations of the  general  fund,  the  time  period during  which  the moneys necessary for the proposed disbursements shall be available to such fund, and a  description  and  explanation  of  the effects  the proposed expenditures may have on the state's obligation to make similar expenditures in the future.   b. The director of the budget shall review such requests, taking  into consideration  any recommendations of the chairman of the senate finance committee and the chairman of the assembly ways and means committee, and after making any modifications, shall formally recommend to the governor approval of such requests as he shall deem appropriate. He shall at  the same  time  notify  the chairman of the senate finance committee and the chairman of the assembly ways and means committee of his recommendations on such requests, and shall submit to such chairmen any modification  of such requests and such further information and justification as he shall deem  appropriate  or  that  such chairmen may require in furtherance of their review.   c. The governor shall then issue such transfer authorization  pursuant to  this  section  as  deemed  appropriate based upon his review of such recommendations, provided however, that when the request consists solely of moneys  available  for  costs  and  damages  resulting  from  natural disasters or civil disobedience, the governor may act in accordance with the immediacy of the situation.   * 8.  Notwithstanding  the  foregoing  provisions  of this section, in addition to  the  restrictions  set  forth  therein,  the  governor  may authorize a transfer to the general fund, to a capital projects fund, or to  a  fund  established  to  account  for  revenues  from  the  federal government only after the approval of:  (1) the temporary president of the  senate  or  the  chairman  of  the senate finance committee (the "senate"); and  (2)  the  speaker of the assembly or the chairman of the assembly ways and means committee (the "assembly").   Provided however, if either  the  senate  or  the  assembly  fails  to affirmatively  deny  or  approve  such transfer within ten days from the date on which the governor provides notification of such transfer,  then the  transfer  shall  be  deemed  approved  by  both  the senate and the assembly.   * NB Effective until March 31, 2022   *8. Notwithstanding the  foregoing  provisions  of  this  section,  in addition  to  the  restrictions  set  forth  therein,  the  governor may authorize a transfer to the general fund, to a capital projects fund, or to  a  fund  established  to  account  for  revenues  from  the  federal government only after the approval of:  (1)  the  temporary  president  of  the  senate or the chairman of the senate finance committee; and  (2) the speaker of the assembly or the chairman of the  assembly  ways and means committee.   * NB Effective March 31, 2022    9.  Notwithstanding  the  foregoing  provisions of this section or any other law to the contrary, the  governor  may  generally  authorize  the director  of the budget to act on his behalf in authorizing transfers of appropriations pursuant to this section.