2023 New York Laws › EXC - Executive › Article 7 - Miscellaneous Provisions › 164-B - State Aid to Rural Areas: Agency Reports.

§ 164-b. State  aid  to  rural areas: agency reports.   1. Legislative
intent. The legislature hereby finds, declares and determines that:
(a) enhanced access to financial and  technical  assistance  available
from state agencies is of great significance to rural communities;
(b)  grants  and other forms of state assistance are not always easily
attainable by rural areas with the greatest need;
(c) rural areas across the state continue to suffer from  high  levels
of  unemployment  and  poverty,  limited access to health care and other
human services, individual isolation, shortfalls in  family  income  and
educational   attainment,   as   well  as  the  inability  to  undertake
infrastructure investment and business development;
(d) rural communities often lack sufficient  expertise  and  staff  to
prepare  and  process  applications  for  aid,  as  well  as address the
requirements associated  with  administration  of  any  proceeds.  This,
coupled  with  disproportionate  competition with large metropolitan and
suburban communities for a diminishing number of grants often  places  a
rural  community  at  a  disadvantage  when  attempting  to  advance the
betterment of its citizens;
(e) improved awareness of the ways state  agencies  provide  financial
and  technical assistance would enhance opportunities for rural areas to
make use of such resources, strengthening their ability  to  respond  to
modern challenges.
2.  Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms
shall have the following meanings:
(a) "Rural area" shall mean those portions of the state so defined  by
subdivision seven of section four hundred eighty-one of this chapter;
(b)  "State  agency"  shall  mean the following: office for the aging,
department  of  agriculture  and  markets,  office  of  alcoholism   and
substance abuse services, department of economic development, department
of  education,  department  of environmental conservation, environmental
facilities corporation, department of health, division  of  housing  and
community  renewal,  job development authority, office of mental health,
office of parks, recreation and  historic  preservation,  department  of
social  services,  department  of  state,  department of transportation,
urban development corporation, and the division for youth;
(c) "Set-aside" shall mean a direct  commitment  of  financial  and/or
technical  assistance  by state agencies specifically for rural areas as
herein defined;
(d) "Rural program development" means the systematic identification of
special service  needs  of  rural  areas  by  a  state  agency  and  the
utilization  of  said  agency's financial, technical and other available
resources to help meet such need;
(e) "Rural advisory committee" means a committee created  pursuant  to
statute  or  through  administrative  action  by  a state agency for the
purposes of assisting such agency to develop and implement programs  for
rural areas;
(f)  "Regulatory flexibility" means the conscious consideration of the
ability of affected individuals and/or groups in rural areas to  respond
to  state agency rules and regulations and the state agency's attempt to
mitigate any negative impacts which may result from such requirements on
said individuals and/or groups.
3. Annual reports of state agencies.
(a) In addition to any existing requirements of state agencies for the
submission of annual reports, such agencies shall also annually provide:
(i) a listing and description of any set-asides for rural areas in New
York state. Such  reports  shall  include  the  number  of  applications
submitted,  the  number  of applications approved, and the proportionate

share of dollars and/or technical assistance rendered to  public  and/or
private sector interests within rural areas of the state;
(ii)  a listing and description of the activities and participation of
any rural advisory committees which directly serve such  agency,  or  of
which the agency is a member;
(iii)  a  listing and description of existing and/or new rural program
development efforts within the agency, or of which the agency is a part;
(iv) a description of existing and/or new  rule-making  or  regulatory
flexibility afforded to rural areas of the state; and
(v) recommendations for any statutory change, as well as financial and
other resources to improve state agency assistance and responsiveness to
rural areas of the state.
(b)  In  a  form  prescribed  by  the governor, all state agencies, as
defined in this section, shall report the annual information required in
paragraph (a) of this subdivision to the  governor,  with  a  copy  also
submitted to the speaker of the assembly, the temporary president of the
senate,  the minority leader of the assembly, the minority leader of the
senate, and the  chairman  and  vice-chairman  of  the  New  York  state
legislative commission on the development of rural resources established
pursuant  to  chapter  four hundred twenty-eight of the laws of nineteen
hundred eighty-two. The first such  report  shall  be  submitted  on  or
before January first, nineteen hundred ninety-six.