S 3221: Requires certain business recipients of state aid to perform an annual assessment of the business' social and environmental impact as assessed against a third party standard.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3221 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE January 24, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. KAVANAGH -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions AN ACT to amend the New York state urban development corporation act and the economic development law, in relation to requiring certain busi- ness recipients of state aid to perform an annual assessment of the business' social and environmental impact as assessed against a third party standard The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 3 of section 1 of chapter 174 of the laws of 1968, 2 constituting the New York state urban development corporation act is 3 amended by adding a new subdivision 31 to read as follows: 4 (31) "Third party standard". A recognized standard for defining, 5 reporting, and assessing business' social and environmental performance 6 that: 7 (a) assesses the effects of the business and its operations upon the 8 following: 9 (i) the employees and work force of the business, its subsidiaries, 10 and its suppliers; 11 (ii) the interests of customers as beneficiaries of the business; 12 (iii) community and societal factors, including those of each communi- 13 ty in which offices or facilities of the business, its subsidiaries, or 14 its suppliers are located; and 15 (iv) the local and global environment; and 16 (b) is developed by an entity other than: 17 (i) the state; or 18 (ii) the business whose social and environmental impact is being 19 assessed against the third party standard; and 20 (iii) such entity shall: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06950-01-5 
 S. 3221 2 1 (A) have access to necessary expertise to assess overall business' 2 social and environmental performance; and 3 (B) use a balanced multi-stakeholder approach to develop the standard, 4 including a reasonable public comment period; and 5 (c) makes the following information publicly available: 6 (i) the criteria considered when measuring the overall social and 7 environmental performance of a business; 8 (ii) the relative weightings, if any, of those criteria; 9 (iii) the identity of the directors, officers, material owners, and 10 the governing body of the entity that developed and controls revisions 11 to the standard; 12 (iv) the process by which revisions to the standard and changes to the 13 membership of the governing body are made; and 14 (v) an accounting of the revenue and sources of financial support for 15 the entity, with sufficient detail to disclose any relationships that 16 could reasonably be considered to present a potential conflict of inter- 17 est. 18 § 2. Section 30 of section 1 of chapter 174 of the laws of 1968, 19 constituting the New York state urban development corporation act is 20 amended by adding a new subdivision (d) to read as follows: 21 (d) Report. In addition to any other requirements imposed by the act 22 or otherwise regarding evaluations of programs administered by the 23 corporation, the corporation shall report on an annual basis beginning 24 October first, two thousand twenty-five, and on each October first ther- 25 eafter, to the governor, the chairpersons of the senate committees on 26 finance, commerce, economic development and small business, and corpo- 27 rations, authorities and commissions, the chairpersons of the assembly 28 committees on ways and means, economic development, corporations, 29 authorities and commissions, and small business on the social and envi- 30 ronmental impact of entities required to report under subdivision (j) of 31 section thirty-a of this act. Such report shall include an analysis of 32 the aggregate third party standard assessment results including aggre- 33 gate assessment results by funding level. 34 § 3. Section 30-a of section 1 of chapter 174 of the laws of 1968, 35 constituting the New York state urban development corporation act is 36 amended by adding a new subdivision (j) to read as follows: 37 (j) The corporation shall, upon approval of an application or formal 38 request for funding, in an amount of one hundred thousand dollars or 39 more, or tax benefit assistance for any entity or project, require such 40 recipient to perform an annual assessment of their social and environ- 41 mental impact as assessed against a third party standard, as defined in 42 subdivision thirty-one of section three of this act. Such assessment 43 shall be submitted to the corporation by the entity receiving funding or 44 tax benefit assistance approved by the corporation ninety days after the 45 first year from the date of approval and annually thereafter. The corpo- 46 ration shall select an independent third party standard as defined in 47 subdivision thirty-one of section three of this act. Such standard shall 48 be chosen within one hundred eighty days after the effective date of 49 this subdivision. The corporation may use any funds necessary to admin- 50 ister and implement this section. 51 § 4. The economic development law is amended by adding a new article 52 23 to read as follows: 53 ARTICLE 23 54 FUNDING RECIPIENT ASSESSMENT 55 Section 450. Definition. 56 451. Report. 
 S. 3221 3 1 452. Annual assessment. 2 § 450. Definition. "Third party standard" means a recognized standard 3 for defining, reporting, and assessing business' social and environ- 4 mental performance that: 5 (a) assesses the effects of the business and its operations upon the 6 following: 7 (i) the employees and work force of the business, its subsidiaries, 8 and its suppliers; 9 (ii) the interests of customers as beneficiaries of the business; 10 (iii) community and societal factors, including those of each communi- 11 ty in which offices or facilities of the business, its subsidiaries, or 12 its suppliers are located; and 13 (iv) the local and global environment; and 14 (b) is developed by an entity other than: 15 (i) the state; or 16 (ii) the business whose social and environmental impact is being 17 assessed against the third party standard; and 18 (iii) such entity shall: 19 (A) have access to necessary expertise to assess overall business' 20 social and environmental performance; and 21 (B) use a balanced multi-stakeholder approach to develop the standard, 22 including a reasonable public comment period; and 23 (c) makes the following information publicly available: 24 (i) the criteria considered when measuring the overall social and 25 environmental performance of a business; 26 (ii) the relative weightings, if any, of those criteria; 27 (iii) the identity of the directors, officers, material owners, and 28 the governing body of the entity that developed and controls revisions 29 to the standard; 30 (iv) the process by which revisions to the standard and changes to the 31 membership of the governing body are made; and 32 (v) an accounting of the revenue and sources of financial support for 33 the entity, with sufficient detail to disclose any relationships that 34 could reasonably be considered to present a potential conflict of inter- 35 est. 36 § 451. Report. In addition to any other requirements imposed by the 37 act or otherwise regarding evaluations of programs administered by the 38 department, the commissioner and the department shall report on an annu- 39 al basis beginning October first, two thousand twenty-five, and on each 40 October first thereafter, to the governor, the chairpersons of the 41 senate committees on finance, commerce, economic development and small 42 business, and corporations, authorities and commissions, the chair- 43 persons of the assembly committees on ways and means, economic develop- 44 ment, corporations, authorities and commissions, and small business on 45 the social and environmental impact of entities required to report under 46 section four hundred fifty-two of this article. Such report shall 47 include an analysis of the aggregate third party standard assessment 48 results including aggregate assessment results by funding level. 49 § 452. Annual assessment. The commissioner and the department shall, 50 upon approval of an application or formal request for funding, in an 51 amount of one hundred thousand dollars or more, or tax benefit assist- 52 ance for any entity or project, require such recipient to perform an 53 annual assessment of their social and environmental impact as assessed 54 against a third party standard, as defined in section four hundred fifty 55 of this article. Such assessment shall be submitted to the department by 56 the entity receiving funding or tax benefit assistance approved by the 
 S. 3221 4 1 department ninety days after the first year from the date of approval 2 and annually thereafter. The department shall select an independent 3 third party standard as defined in section four hundred fifty of this 4 article. Such standard shall be chosen within one hundred eighty days 5 after the effective date of this section. The department may use any 6 funds necessary to administer and implement this section. 7 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.