NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9281
SPONSOR: Bronson TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the state finance law, in relation to establishing the
New York state worker protection and labor law enforcement fund
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To provide dedicated funding and annual reporting requirement for the
NYS Department of Labor to enforce the state's wage and labor laws and
regulations.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Adds a new section 99-RR to the state finance law relating to
establishing the NYS Worker Protection and Labor Law Enforcement Fund.
Section 2: Establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
State support for state staffing has diminished over time. The NYS
Department of Labor is down approximately 897 staff from 2013 or roughly
21%. As the state has moved to reduce its staff, important new laws have
been enacted to protect workers against intimidation in the workplace,
to enhance workplace health and safety, to protect workers against wage
theft and violence and protections against discrimination and retali-
ation.
It has become abundantly clear that the Department of Labor does not
have appropriate number of staff to investigate many serious accusation
against employers for potential labor law violations. This inability to
enforce the state's labor laws leaves workers vulnerable and calls into
question the state's commitment to enforcing its own labor laws.
This legislation seeks to remedy this situation by providing a dedi-
cated, recurring revenue stream strictly for enforcement purposes
utilizing the resources the agency recovers from penalties imposed on
employers found in violation of the state's labor laws. This legislation
establishes the "NYS Worker Protection and Labor Law Enforcement Fund"
which will provide dedicated funding to the Department to support its
investigatory staffing and labor law enforcement needs.
Additionally, in order to ensure complete transparency, this legislation
also requires the Department to submit a report detailing its expenses
from this fund, the number of staff funded with these resources, the
number of enforcement proceedings initiated and the amount collected
from substantiated violations, if any.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Uses resources secured through penalties imposed on employers from
substantiated violations to establish a dedicated fund to support labor
law enforcement.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Effective April 1, 2024.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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9281
IN ASSEMBLY
February 23, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BRONSON -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in relation to establishing the
New York state worker protection and labor law enforcement fund
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section
2 99-rr to read as follows:
3 § 99-rr. New York state worker protection and labor law enforcement
4 fund. 1. There is hereby established in the joint custody of the state
5 comptroller and the commissioner of taxation and finance a special fund
6 to be known as the New York state worker protection and labor law
7 enforcement fund.
8 2. Such fund shall consist of all monetary damages and penalties
9 recovered by the department of labor for employer violations, unless
10 otherwise designated, of articles two, five, six, eight, nine, nineteen,
11 nineteen-B, twenty-C, twenty-five-A, twenty-five-B, and twenty-five-C of
12 the labor law or with any regulations related thereto and all other
13 moneys appropriated thereto from any other fund or source pursuant to
14 law; provided, however that no monies due and owing to any other party
15 shall be dedicated to the fund. Nothing contained in this section shall
16 prevent the state from receiving grants, gifts or bequests for the
17 purposes of the fund as defined in this section and depositing them into
18 the fund according to law.
19 3. The monies in the fund, after appropriation by the legislature,
20 shall be available to the commissioner of labor for the sole purpose of
21 supplementing the department's labor law enforcement duties; provided,
22 however, that such funding shall be appropriated in addition to any
23 other monies appropriated to the department for the state fiscal year in
24 effect on the effective date of this section.
25 4. On or before January first of each year, the department of labor
26 shall provide a written report detailing how the monies of the fund were
27 utilized during the preceding fiscal year. Such report shall be provided
28 to the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13665-02-3
A. 9281 2
1 the chair of the senate finance committee, the chair of the assembly
2 ways and means committee, the chair of the senate committee on labor,
3 the chair of the assembly labor committee, and the state comptroller.
4 Such report shall be posted on the department's website and shall
5 include:
6 (a) the number of enforcement proceedings initiated for employer
7 violations of articles two, five, six, eight, nine, nineteen, nine-
8 teen-B, twenty-C, twenty-five-A, twenty-five-B, and twenty-five-C of the
9 labor law or any regulations related thereto, the name of the entity
10 against which such proceeding was initiated and the amount collected for
11 each such proceeding, if any;
12 (b) the amount of money available and dispersed from the fund over the
13 previous twelve months;
14 (c) a description on how such monies were used, including the number
15 of enforcement personnel hired or supported by such monies; and
16 (d) a summary financial plan for such monies which shall include esti-
17 mates of all receipts and all disbursements for the next fiscal year.
18 § 2. This act shall take effect April 1, 2024.
