BILL NUMBER:S4950

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the state finance law, in relation to
enacting the "digital home act" to assist municipalities with
paperwork reduction initiatives

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:  This bill provides incentives via
grant rewards to reduce paperwork at the municipal and local levels of
government and implement digital alternatives.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

§ 2. Subparagraphs (vi), (vii), (viii) and (ix) of paragraph o of
subdivision 10 of section 54 of the state finance law are renumbered
subparagraphs (vii), (viii), (ix) and (x) and a new subparagraph (vi)
is added to read as follows:

(vi) Paperwork reduction project grants. (1) Within the annual amounts
appropriated therefore, the secretary of state may award competitive
Grants to municipalities to cover costs associated with reducing
paperwork usage and implementing digital alternatives to paper.

(2) The maximum paperwork reduction project grant shall not exceed ten
thousand dollars per municipality.

(3) Local matching funds equal to ten percent of the total cost of
              

Activities under the grant work plan approved by the department of
state shall be required.

(4) Grants awarded to municipalities pursuant to this subparagraph may
be included in calculations to demonstrate three year cost savings and
efficiencies for government efficiency plans submitted to the director
of the budget pursuant to subdivisions three and four of section
three-d of the general municipal law.

JUSTIFICATION:  For years in the New York State Legislature, thousands
of bills were introduced with every single measure getting printed
multiple times prompting a referendum on the New York State election
ballot in the year 2014.

The elimination of excessive bill printing at all levels of government
would save money and provide greater protections to our environment.

While the voters of our state overwhelmingly passed Proposition 2 in
November of 2014 for the State Legislature, we can also do our part to
extend those very same benefits to our municipalities and towns.  The
Department of State, through its Local Government Assistance Program
(NYSDOS Division of Local Government Services), provides assistance
and awards grants to local governments and school districts for the
development of projects designed to achieve savings at the municipal
level. A movement to a digital model as an alternative to excessive
bill-printing at the local levels of government certainly accomplishes
this goal.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:  New Bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:  To be determined.


EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after
it shall have become a law.