NY State Senate Bill 2021-S8749

Senate Bill S8749

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Requires human service providers that contract with the state to pay their employees a minimum wage of twenty-one dollars per hour

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Labor Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Apr 11, 2022	referred to labor

co-Sponsors

2021-S8749 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A9538
Current Committee:: Senate Labor
Law Section:: Labor Law
Laws Affected:: Add §224-e, Lab L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: A1644, A8932

2021-S8749 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires that the rate of pay for all human services contracts between any state or local agency and a nonprofit human services provider stipulate that the provider will pay its employees no less than twenty-one dollars per hour and that the necessary amounts have been appropriated to ensure payment of such minimum wage.

2021-S8749 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8749

SPONSOR: RAMOS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the labor law, in relation to requiring human service
providers that contract with the state to pay their employees a minimum
wage of twenty-one dollars per hour

 
PURPOSE::

This bill requires human services providers who contract with the state
to pay their employees a minimum wage of twenty-one dollars and hour.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS::

The bill adds a new section 224-e to the labor law that defines terms
and establishes a requirement mandating that human services providers
contracting with the state pay their employees a minimum of twenty-one
dollars per hour.

JUSTIFICATION::

Nonprofits provide publicly funded human services under contract with
State agencies but there has never been a requirement or even a well-es-
tablished practice to ensure that contracts keep up with the cost of
providing quality services, resulting in a system that pays only 70
cents on the dollar for direct program expenses. When these contracts
systematically underfund services, they are relying on low-wage workers,
predominantly of color, to fill in those gaps.

Currently, the human services work force is overwhelmingly female (66%),
with more than two-thirds of the full-time staff are workers of color
(68%), and nearly half (46%) are women of color. They are highly
educated and were lauded as heroes during COVID-19 but are paid only 70%
of the salaries given to their government counterparts.  This has
resulted in human services workers being some of the lowest paid workers
in New York's economy. The relatively low pay at the core human services
sector resulted in nearly 25% of all human services workers qualifying
for food stamps in recent years. The poverty-level wages appear to be
built into how New York State currently contracts for human services and
are a direct result of the decade of disinvestment that was included in
the state budgets that were enacted beginning in 2008.

This legislation seeks to address the impact of the chronically low wage
scale upon the human services workers who provide such essential
services.

 
FISCAL IMPACT:

To be determined.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::

New Bill

 
EFFECTIVE DATE::

Immediately

2021-S8749 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8749
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              April 11, 2022
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  RAMOS  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor
 
 AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to  requiring  human  service
   providers  that contract with the state to pay their employees a mini-
   mum wage of twenty-one dollars per hour
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  The labor law is amended by adding a new section 224-e to
 read as follows:
   § 224-E. WAGE REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN HUMAN SERVICES WORKERS. 1.  FOR
 THE PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION:
   (A) "HUMAN SERVICES" SHALL MEAN ANY SERVICE PROVIDED TO INDIVIDUALS OR
 GROUPS  OF  INDIVIDUALS,  FOR THE PURPOSE OF IMPROVING OR ENHANCING SUCH
 INDIVIDUALS'  HEALTH  AND/OR  WELFARE,  BY  ADDRESSING  SOCIAL  PROBLEMS
 INCLUDING  BUT  NOT  LIMITED  TO:  DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, TEENAGE PREGNANCY,
 MIGRANT HEALTH PROBLEMS, CHILD ABUSE, NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES, SUICIDE,
 HUNGER, UNEMPLOYMENT, LACK OF SUITABLE SHELTER, CRIME, DRUG AND  ALCOHOL
 ABUSE AND POVERTY.
   (B)  "HUMAN  SERVICES  PROVIDER" SHALL MEAN ANY: (I) NOT-FOR-PROFIT OR
 CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION, OR (II) LOCAL AGENCY AS  DEFINED  IN  PARAGRAPH
 (C)  OF  THIS  SUBDIVISION,  THAT (1) CONTRACTS WITH ANY STATE AGENCY OR
 OTHER PUBLIC ENTITY, AS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH (E) OF THIS SUBDIVISION  TO
 PROVIDE  HUMAN SERVICES AS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH (A) OF THIS SUBDIVISION,
 OR (2) DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY RECEIVES ANY PUBLIC FUNDS  TO  PROVIDE  OR
 CONTRACT WITH THIRD PERSONS TO PROVIDE HUMAN SERVICES FOR THE BENEFIT OF
 THE GENERAL PUBLIC OR SPECIFIC CLIENT GROUPS.
   (C)  "LOCAL  AGENCY"  SHALL INCLUDE ALL COUNTY, CITY, TOWN AND VILLAGE
 GOVERNING BODIES, ALL OTHER PUBLIC CORPORATIONS, SPECIAL  DISTRICTS  AND
 SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN THE STATE.
   (D)  "STATE  AGENCY"  SHALL  INCLUDE  ANY DEPARTMENT, DIVISION, BOARD,
 BUREAU, COMMISSION, OFFICE, AGENCY, AUTHORITY OR PUBLIC  CORPORATION  OF
 THE STATE.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD14495-01-2
 S. 8749                             2

 
   (E)  "PUBLIC  ENTITY"  SHALL MEAN ANY LOCAL AGENCY AS DEFINED IN PARA-
 GRAPH (C) OF THIS SUBDIVISION AND ANY STATE AGENCY AS DEFINED  IN  PARA-
 GRAPH (D) OF THIS SUBDIVISION.
   2.  EVERY  CONTRACT  FOR  HUMAN SERVICES ENTERED INTO BETWEEN A PUBLIC
 ENTITY AND A HUMAN SERVICES PROVIDER, AND ANY SUCH CONTRACT ENTERED INTO
 BY A THIRD PARTY ACTING IN PLACE OF, ON BEHALF OF AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF
 SUCH PUBLIC ENTITY PURSUANT TO ANY  LEASE,  PERMIT  OR  OTHER  AGREEMENT
 BETWEEN SUCH THIRD PARTY AND THE PUBLIC ENTITY, SHALL STIPULATE THAT:
   (A) THE HUMAN SERVICES PROVIDER SHALL PAY TO EACH OF ITS EMPLOYEES FOR
 EACH HOUR WORKED A WAGE OF NOT LESS THAN TWENTY-ONE DOLLARS; AND
   (B)  ADEQUATE  FUNDING HAS BEEN APPROPRIATED TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE WITH
 THE MINIMUM WAGE REQUIREMENTS SET FORTH IN PARAGRAPH (A) OF THIS  SUBDI-
 VISION.
   §  2.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately  and shall apply to
 contracts and agreements issued, renewed, modified, altered  or  amended
 on or after such date.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S8749

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Jessica Ramos