NY State Senate Bill 2023-S8496

Senate Bill S8496

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Requires certain companies and corporations to report certain data regarding the gender, race and ethnicity of their employees

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance 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
Feb 13, 2024	reported and committed to finance
Feb 06, 2024	referred to corporations, authorities and commissions

Votes

- Feb 13, 2024 - Corporations, Authorities And Commissions Committee Vote
  S8496
  
  5
  
  Aye
  
  2
  
  Nay
  
  0
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Corporations, Authorities And Commissions Committee Vote: Feb 13, 2024
      
      aye (5)
      
      Comrie
      
      Hoylman-Sigal
      
      Mayer
      
      Ramos
      
      Skoufis
      
      nay (2)
      
      Mattera
      
      Weber

2023-S8496 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A8555
Current Committee:: Senate Finance
Law Section:: Business Corporation Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §408, BC L; amd §301, Lim Lil L
Versions Introduced in 2021-2022 Legislative Session:: S8435, A8449

2023-S8496 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires certain companies and corporations to report certain data regarding the gender, race and ethnicity of their employees.

2023-S8496 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8496

SPONSOR: COMRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the business corporation law and the limited liability
company law, in relation to requiring certain companies and corporations
to report certain data regarding the gender, race and ethnicity of their
employees

 
PURPOSE:

To provide data to the public about the gender, ethnicity, and race of
companies' employees.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one adds a new paragraph (e) to the business corporation law to
require corporations which are required to file an Employer Information
report EEO-1 with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission(EEOC)to file a copy of that form with the Secretary of State.
The Secretary of State shall publish the data on its official website

within 90 days of receipt or as soon thereafter as practicable.

Section two amends paragraph 1 of subdivision (e) of section 301 of the
limited liability company law to require limited liability companies
which are required to file an Employer Information report EEO-1 with the
federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to file a copy of
that form with the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State shall
publish the data on its official website within 90 days of receipt or as
soon thereafter as practicable.

Section three provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In recent years, consumers have become more interested in supporting
companies that share their values. Investors are also increasingly
concerned with companies' environmental, social, and governance (ESG)
standards.when they make investment decisions. In response, companies
often tout their commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI),
environmental goals, or other causes, but there is little data available
to the public to verify these claims.

In addition, current and prospective employees have an interest in eval-
uating the DEI practices of employers, but do not have access to the
company-wide employee demographic data needed to make such an assess-
ment.

This bill would require those companies which are required to file an
Employer Information report EEO-1 with the federal Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to file a copy of that form with the
Secretary of State. The EEO-1 form is required for all private sector
employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or
more employees, and contains demographic workforce data, including data
by race/ethnicity, sex, and job categories. The Secretary of State would
post this information on its website, making it easily available to the
public. Having this data publicly available will help create an environ-
ment where we-hold our companies accountable, provide consumers and
employees with the data to make good decisions, and provide investors
with the information to deploy capital in a manner in keeping with their
values.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S636A/ A5981A- vetoed memo 127

A.8449/ 5.8435 of 2022, veto no. 40.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2023-S8496 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8496
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 6, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Corporations,  Authorities
   and Commissions
 
 AN  ACT  to amend the business corporation law and the limited liability
   company law, in relation to requiring  certain  companies  and  corpo-
   rations to report certain data regarding the gender, race and ethnici-
   ty of their employees

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Paragraph 1 of section 408 of the business corporation  law
 is amended by adding a new subparagraph (e) to read as follows:
   (E)  FOR  THOSE  CORPORATIONS REQUIRED TO FILE AN EMPLOYER INFORMATION
 REPORT EEO-1 WITH THE  EQUAL  EMPLOYMENT  OPPORTUNITY  COMMISSION,  SUCH
 CORPORATIONS SHALL FILE A COPY OF SUCH EMPLOYER INFORMATION REPORT EEO-1
 WITH  THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  FOR EACH CORPORATION THAT SUBMITS DATA
 PURSUANT TO THIS PARAGRAPH, THE SECRETARY OF  STATE  SHALL  PUBLISH  THE
 DATA  ON THE GENDER, RACE, AND ETHNICITY OF EACH CORPORATION'S EMPLOYEES
 ON THE SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE.  THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE
 SHALL  PUBLISH SUCH INFORMATION WITHIN NINETY DAYS OF RECEIPT OF A PROP-
 ERLY FILED STATEMENT OR AS SOON THEREAFTER AS PRACTICABLE.
   § 2. Paragraph 1 of subdivision (e) of  section  301  of  the  limited
 liability  company  law, as amended by section 5 of part S of chapter 59
 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:
   (1) Except as otherwise provided in this  subdivision,  every  limited
 liability company to which this chapter applies, shall biennially in the
 calendar  month during which its articles of organization or application
 for authority were filed, or effective date thereof if stated,  file  on
 forms  prescribed  by  the secretary of state, a statement setting forth
 the post office address within or without this state to which the secre-
 tary of state shall mail a copy  of  any  process  accepted  against  it
 served  upon  him  or  her.  Such  address  shall supersede any previous
 address on file with the department of state  for  this  purpose.  ADDI-
 TIONALLY,  FOR  THOSE  LIMITED  LIABILITY  COMPANIES REQUIRED TO FILE AN
 EMPLOYER INFORMATION REPORT EEO-1 WITH THE EQUAL EMPLOYMENT  OPPORTUNITY
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD03247-04-4
 S. 8496                             2
 
 COMMISSION,  SUCH  LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANIES SHALL FILE A COPY OF SUCH
 EMPLOYER INFORMATION REPORT EEO-1 WITH THE SECRETARY OF STATE. FOR  EACH
 LIMITED  LIABILITY  COMPANY  THAT SUBMITS DATA PURSUANT TO THIS SUBDIVI-
 SION, THE SECRETARY OF STATE SHALL PUBLISH THE DATA ON THE GENDER, RACE,
 AND  ETHNICITY  OF  EACH COMPANY'S EMPLOYEES ON THE SECRETARY OF STATE'S
 OFFICIAL WEBSITE. THE SECRETARY OF STATE SHALL PUBLISH SUCH  INFORMATION
 WITHIN  NINETY  DAYS OF RECEIPT OF A PROPERLY FILED STATEMENT OR AS SOON
 THEREAFTER AS PRACTICABLE.
   § 3. This act shall take effect two years after it shall have become a
 law.

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.