S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
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9238--A
I N A S S E M B L Y
February 22, 2024
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Introduced by M. of A. WOERNER, CONRAD, TAYLOR, WALSH, THIELE, SAYEGH --
read once and referred to the Committee on Education -- reported and
referred to the Committee on Ways and Means -- reported and referred
to the Committee on Rules -- Rules Committee discharged, bill amended,
ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the education law and the local finance law, in relation
to the period of probable usefulness of zero-emission school buses
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivision 21-a of section 1604 of the education law, as
amended by section 6 of subpart A of part B of chapter 56 of the laws of
2022, is amended to read as follows:
21-a. To lease a motor vehicle or vehicles to be used for the trans-
portation of the children of the district from a school district, board
of cooperative educational services or county vocational education and
extension board or from any other source, under the conditions specified
in this subdivision. No such agreement for the lease of a motor vehicle
or vehicles shall be for a term of more than one school year, provided
that when authorized by a vote of the qualified voters of the district
such lease may have a term of up to five years, or [twelve] EIGHT years
for the lease of zero-emission school buses as defined in section thir-
ty-six hundred thirty-eight of this chapter. Where the trustee or board
of trustees enter into a lease of a motor vehicle or vehicles pursuant
to this subdivision for a term of one school year or less, such trustee
or board shall not be authorized to enter into another lease for the
same or an equivalent replacement vehicle or vehicles, as determined by
the commissioner, without obtaining approval of the qualified voters of
the school district.
§ 2. Paragraph i of subdivision 25 of section 1709 of the education
law, as amended by section 7 of subpart A of part B of chapter 56 of the
laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows:
i. In addition to the authority granted in paragraph e of this subdi-
vision, the board of education shall be authorized to lease a motor
vehicle or vehicles to be used for the transportation of the children of
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14568-02-4
A. 9238--A 2
the district from sources other than a school district, board of cooper-
ative educational services or county vocational education and extension
board under the conditions specified in this paragraph. No such agree-
ment for the lease of a motor vehicle or vehicles shall be for a term of
more than one school year, provided that when authorized by a vote of
the qualified voters of the district such lease may have a term of up to
five years, or [twelve] EIGHT years for the lease of zero-emission
school buses as defined in section thirty-six hundred thirty-eight of
this chapter. Where the board of education enters a lease of a motor
vehicle or vehicles pursuant to this paragraph for a term of one school
year or less, such board shall not be authorized to enter into another
lease of the same or an equivalent replacement vehicle or vehicles, as
determined by the commissioner, without obtaining approval of the
voters.
§ 3. Paragraph e of subdivision 7 of section 3602 of the education
law, as amended by section 3 of subpart A of part B of chapter 56 of the
laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows:
e. In determining approved transportation capital, debt service and
lease expense for aid payable in the two thousand five--two thousand six
school year and thereafter, the commissioner, after applying the
provisions of paragraph c of this subdivision to such expense, shall
establish an assumed amortization pursuant to this paragraph to deter-
mine the approved capital, debt service and lease expense of the school
district that is aidable in the current year, whether or not the school
district issues debt for such expenditures, subject to any deduction
pursuant to paragraph d of this subdivision. Such assumed amortization
shall be for a period of five years, and for the two thousand twenty-
two--two thousand twenty-three school year and thereafter such assumed
amortization for zero-emission school buses as defined in section thir-
ty-six hundred thirty-eight of this article and related costs pursuant
to paragraph f of subdivision two of section thirty-six hundred twenty-
three-a of this article shall be for a period of [twelve] EIGHT years,
and shall commence twelve months after the school district enters into a
purchase contract or lease of the school bus, charging station, hydrogen
fueling station, or equipment, or a general contract for the
construction, reconstruction, lease or purchase of a transportation
storage facility or site in an amount less than ten thousand dollars.
Such assumed amortization shall provide for equal semiannual payments of
principal and interest based on an assumed interest rate established by
the commissioner pursuant to this paragraph. By the first day of Septem-
ber of the current year commencing with the two thousand five--two thou-
sand six school year, each school district shall provide to the commis-
sioner in a format prescribed by the commissioner such information as
the commissioner shall require for all capital debt incurred by such
school district during the preceding school year for expenses allowable
pursuant to subdivision two of section thirty-six hundred twenty-three-a
of this article. Based on such reported amortizations and a methodology
prescribed by the commissioner in regulations, the commissioner shall
compute an assumed interest rate that shall equal the average of the
interest rates applied to all such debt issued during the preceding
school year. The assumed interest rate shall be the interest rate of
each such school district applicable to the current year for the
purposes of this paragraph and shall be expressed as a decimal to five
places rounded to the nearest eighth of one-one hundredth.
A. 9238--A 3
§ 4. Subdivision 29-a of paragraph a of section 11.00 of the local
finance law, as amended by section 8 of subpart A of part B of chapter
56 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows:
29-a. Transit motor vehicles. The purchase of municipally owned omni-
bus or similar surface transit motor vehicles, ten years; and the
purchase of zero-emission school buses owned by a school district
defined pursuant to paragraph two of section 2.00 of this chapter, a
city school district with a population of more than one hundred twenty-
five thousand inhabitants, or board of cooperative educational services,
[twelve] EIGHT years.
§ 5. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
the date on which it shall have become a law.