S 2469: Establishes the office of ethnic and community media; provides duties of the executive director; requires each state agency to seek to direct at least fifty percent of its total spending on advertising to ethnic and community media outlets.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2469 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE January 21, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to establishing the office of ethnic and community media The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 170-i 2 to read as follows: 3 § 170-i. Office of ethnic and community media. 1. For the purposes of 4 this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings: 5 (a) "ethnic and community media outlet" means any media outlet that: 6 (i) serves particular communities of people based on native language, 7 race, color, gender, national origin, ethnicity, religion, sexual orien- 8 tation, disability or immigrant status; 9 (ii) targets a discrete neighborhood, geographic region or population 10 within the state rather than the state as a whole; or 11 (iii) falls within a specifically tailored subject matter, as deter- 12 mined by the executive director; 13 (b) "executive director" means the executive director of ethnic and 14 community media; 15 (c) "media outlet" means a publication that provides news or other 16 media content through print or digital means, and any television or 17 radio outlet; and 18 (d) "state agency" means: 19 (i) any agency the head of which is appointed by the governor; and 20 (ii) any agency headed by a board, commission or other multi-member 21 body, the majority of the membership of which is appointed by the gover- 22 nor. 23 2. (a) There shall be an office of ethnic and community media. Such 24 office shall be headed by an executive director of ethnic and community 25 media who shall be appointed by the governor. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03383-01-5 
 S. 2469 2 1 (b) The executive director shall have the power and duty to perform 2 the following functions related to ethnic and community media: 3 (i) advise and assist the governor in coordinating the communication 4 of government-related information to the public; 5 (ii) facilitate communication between state agencies to assist such 6 agencies in delivering consistent information via community and ethnic 7 media outlets to the public; 8 (iii) monitor state agencies' distribution of advertising resources in 9 accordance with this section; 10 (iv) develop and maintain a list of ethnic and community media outlets 11 for state agencies to use at their discretion. The executive director 12 shall publish guidelines setting forth a process for the development of 13 such list; 14 (v) create forms for requests for waivers pursuant to this section; 15 (vi) during the calendar year beginning January first, two thousand 16 twenty-six and at least once each year thereafter, prepare and submit to 17 the governor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of 18 the assembly a report on the annual advertising for the preceding fiscal 19 year of each state agency, and with respect to each such entity, such 20 report shall include, but need not be limited to, the total amount paid 21 by each entity to media outlets for advertising and the total amount 22 each entity paid to ethnic and community media outlets for advertising. 23 With respect to state agencies, such report shall include any waivers 24 issued pursuant to this section. State agencies shall provide appropri- 25 ate data to the office of ethnic and community media to complete such 26 report; 27 (vii) hold at least one annual training for state officers and employ- 28 ees responsible for purchasing advertising; and 29 (viii) delegate these powers and duties to any individuals designated 30 in writing as deputies of the executive director. 31 (c) The executive director may appoint deputies and staff within 32 available appropriations. 33 3. (a) Each state agency shall seek to direct at least fifty percent 34 of its total spending on advertising to ethnic and community media 35 outlets, provided that a state agency may apply to the executive direc- 36 tor for an annual waiver of this goal. Any such application shall 37 provide a particularized explanation regarding the public purpose that 38 would be served by the issuance of a waiver. If a waiver is granted by 39 the executive director, it shall be posted on a website managed or oper- 40 ated by such state agency together with the explanation for the waiver. 41 (b) To the extent paragraph (a) of this subdivision conflicts with a 42 state agency's obligation to issue notices required by law to be posted 43 or distributed in media outlets, the terms of paragraph (a) of this 44 subdivision shall not apply. In implementing the requirements of para- 45 graph (a) of this subdivision, a state agency shall omit the publication 46 cost of such legally required notices from its total advertising budget 47 before calculating its required ethnic and community media outlet spend- 48 ing pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision. 49 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 50 have become a law.