BILL NUMBER:S1972               REVISED MEMO 05/28/2015

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the state administrative procedure
act, in relation to providing information on the prevention of common
regulatory violations in small business regulation guides

PURPOSE:

This bill would enhance the State's business climate by providing
effective oversight and coordination of the process of preparing small
business regulation guides and by highlighting information on how
small businesses can avoid common violations.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Amends § 102-a of the State Administrative Procedure Act to
vest the Division for Small Business (within DED) with responsibility
for overseeing the process of agency issuance of small business
regulation guides -- this duty had been assigned to the now-disbanded
Governor's Office of Regulatory Reform (GORR). The bill provides that
such guides shall "identify any sources of information and assistance
available to facilitate small business regulatory compliance" and
where appropriate, shall also include information on how to avoid the
most common regulatory violations small businesses are cited for by
the agency.

              

The Division for Small Business would activate the inclusion of
information on avoiding common violations by requesting agencies to
provide (i) statistical information on the frequency of violations of
various regulations by small businesses and (2) information and
analysis regarding actions that small publishing and using enforcement
results for management and control of agency resources so long as
enforcement results tabulations are not used as the primary criterion
to evaluate enforcement staff or to impose or suggest enforcement
quotas. Also, agency managers could raise questions with an officer or
employee about the number of cases processed or inspections performed
by the officer or employee, the amount of time the officer or employee
has been spending on individual enforcement activities, or the kind of
results the officer or employee has been obtaining, and may use
similar standards in evaluating the performance of a supervisor of
such officers or employees.

"Enforcement quota" is defined as a quantitative standard for
evaluating or measuring enforcement activities, including but not
limited to (a) a specific number of enforcement cases in Which
citations for violations are made within a specified period of time;
(b) the total number of violations found within a specified period;
(c) the total dollar amount of penalties associated with enforcement
activities within a specified period of time; or (d) any comparison of
the enforcement activities of an officer, employee or supervisors with
other officers, employees or supervisors, with an average or such
activities or with other quantitative standards, when used to penalize
or reward officers, employees or supervisors for attaining or failing
to attain a specific number of citations For violations and/or
penalties within a specified period of time.

Section 2. Effective date.


JUSTIFICATION:

Regulatory programs perform important and necessary functions that
protect public health and safety, preserve our natural environment and
neighborhoods, and ensure an orderly marketplace.  Monetary penalties
are useful as a means of promoting compliance as well as defraying the
cost of regulatory oversight. However, penalties should always be used
as a means to an end - incentivizing compliance - and should never
come to be viewed as a guaranteed source of revenue.

The increasing use of performance metrics in public organizations
brings many benefits, but also the risk of creation of inappropriate
numerical standards by which employee performance can be judged. This
has long been recognized for some types of enforcement. For example,
Labor Law § 215-a was enacted in 1978 to prevent discrimination
against police officers for failing to meet pre-ordained quotas for
the number of traffic tickets issued or arrests or stops made within a
specified time period. More recently, Tax Law § 3012 was enacted as
part of the "Taxpayers' Bill of Rights" to bar imposition of quotas in
tax collection efforts. This bill establishes similar safeguards
against the establishment of regulatory enforcement quotas.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2014: S6258/A5371 - Commerce, Economic Development & Small
Business/Gov't Ops
2012: S6441/A9275 - Commerce, Economic Development & Small
Business/Gov't Ops

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect immediately.