§ 436. Businesses locating in tax-free NY areas. 1. A campus,
university or college that has sponsored a tax-free NY area (including
any strategic state asset affiliated with the campus, university or
college) shall solicit and accept applications from businesses to locate
in such area that are consistent with the plan of such campus,
university or college or strategic state asset that has been approved
pursuant to section four hundred thirty-five of this article. Any
business that wants to locate in a tax-free NY area must submit an
application to the campus, university or college which is sponsoring the
tax-free NY area by December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-five.
Prior to such date, the commissioner shall prepare an evaluation on the
effectiveness of the START-UP NY program and deliver it to the governor
and the legislature to determine continued eligibility for application
submissions.

2. (a) The sponsoring campus, university or college shall provide the
application and all supporting documentation of any business it decides
to accept into its tax-free NY area to the commissioner for review. Such
application shall be in a form prescribed by the commissioner and shall
contain all information the commissioner determines is necessary to
properly evaluate the business's application, including, but not limited
to, the name, address, and employer identification number of the
business; a description of the land or space the business will use, the
terms of the lease agreement, if applicable, between the sponsoring
campus, university or college and the business, and whether or not the
land or space being used by the business is being transferred or sublet
to the business from some other business. The application must include a
certification by the business that it meets the eligibility criteria
specified in section four hundred thirty-three of this article and will
align with or further the academic mission of the sponsoring campus,
college or university, and that the business's participation in the
START-UP NY program will have positive community and economic benefits.
The application must also describe whether or not the business competes
with other businesses in the same community but outside the tax-free NY
area. In addition, the application must include a description of how the
business plans to recruit employees from the local workforce.

(b) The commissioner shall review such application and documentation
within sixty days and may reject such application upon a determination
that the business does not meet the eligibility criteria in section four
hundred thirty-three of this article, has submitted an incomplete
application, has failed to comply with subdivision three of this
section, or has failed to demonstrate that the business's participation
in the START-UP NY program will have positive community and economic
benefits, which shall be evaluated based on factors including but not
limited to whether or not the business competes with other businesses in
the same community but outside the tax-free NY area as prohibited by
section four hundred forty of this article. If the commissioner rejects
such application, it shall provide notice of such rejection to the
sponsoring campus, university or college and business. If the
commissioner does not reject such application within sixty days, such
business is accepted to locate in such tax-free NY area, and the
application of such business shall constitute a contract between such
business and the sponsoring campus, university or college. The
sponsoring campus, university or college must provide accepted
businesses with documentation of their acceptances in such form as
prescribed by the commissioner of taxation and finance which will be
used to demonstrate such business's eligibility for the tax benefits
specified in section thirty-nine of the tax law.

(c) If a state university campus proposes to enter into a lease with a
business for eligible land in a tax-free NY area with a term greater
than forty years, including any options to renew, or for eligible land
in a tax-free NY area of one million or more square feet, the state
university campus, at the same time as the application is provided to
the commissioner, also must submit the lease for review to the START-UP
NY approval board. If the board does not disapprove of the lease terms
within thirty days, the lease is deemed approved. If the board
disapproves the lease terms, the state university campus must submit
modified lease terms to the commissioner for review. The commissioner's
sixty day review period is suspended while the board is reviewing the
lease and during the time it takes for the state university campus to
modify the lease terms.

(d) Except as otherwise provided in this article, proprietary
information or supporting documentation submitted by a business to a
sponsoring campus, university or college shall only be utilized for the
purpose of evaluating such business's application or compliance with the
provisions of this article and shall not be otherwise disclosed. Any
person who willfully discloses such information to a third party for any
other purpose whatsoever shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

3. The business submitting the application, as part of the
application, must:

(a) agree to allow the department of taxation and finance to share its
tax information with the department and the sponsoring campus,
university or college;

(b) agree to allow the department of labor to share its tax and
employer information with the department and the sponsoring campus,
university or college;

(c) allow the department and its agents and the sponsoring campus,
university or college access to any and all books and records the
department or sponsoring campus, university or college may require to
monitor compliance;

(d) include performance benchmarks, including the number of net new
jobs that must be created, the schedule for creating those jobs, and
details on job titles and expected salaries. The application must
specify the consequences for failure to meet such benchmarks, as
determined by the business and the sponsoring campus, university or
college: (i) suspension of such business's participation in the START-UP
NY program for one or more tax years as specified in such application;
(ii) termination of such business's participation in the START-UP NY
program; and/or (iii) proportional recovery of tax benefits awarded
under the START-UP NY program as specified in section thirty-nine of the
tax law;

(e) provide the following information to the department and sponsoring
campus, university or college upon request:

(i) the prior three years of federal and state income or franchise tax
returns, unemployment insurance quarterly returns, real property tax
bills and audited financial statements;

(ii) the employer identification or social security numbers for all
related persons to the business, including those of any members of a
limited liability company or partners in a partnership;

(f) provide a clear and detailed presentation of all related persons
to the business to assure the department that jobs are not being shifted
within the state; and

(g) certify, under penalty of perjury, that it is in substantial
compliance with all environmental, worker protection, and local, state,
and federal tax laws, and that it satisfies all the eligibility
requirements to participate in the START-UP NY program.

4. (a) At the conclusion of the lease term of a lease by the
sponsoring campus, university or college to a business of land or space
in a tax-free NY area owned by the sponsoring campus, university or
college, the leased land or space and any improvements thereon shall
revert to the sponsoring campus, university or college, unless the lease
is renewed.

(b) If, at any time, the sponsoring campus, university or college or
the commissioner determines that a business no longer satisfies any of
the eligibility criteria specified in section four hundred thirty-three
of this article, the sponsoring campus, university or college shall
recommend to the commissioner that the commissioner terminate or the
commissioner on his or her own initiative shall immediately terminate
such business's participation in the START-UP NY program. Such business
shall be notified of such termination by a method which allows for
verification of receipt of such termination notice. A copy of such
termination notice shall be sent to the commissioner of taxation and
finance. Upon such termination, such business shall not be eligible for
the tax benefits specified in section thirty-nine of the tax law for
that or any future taxable year, calendar quarter or sales tax quarter,
although employees of such business may continue to claim the tax
benefit for their wages during the remainder of that taxable year.
Further, such lease or contract between the sponsoring campus,
university or college and such business shall be rescinded, effective on
the thirtieth day after the commissioner mailed such termination notice
to such business and the land or space and any improvements thereon
shall revert to the sponsoring campus, university or college.

5. The commissioner shall promulgate regulations to effectuate the
purposes of this section, including, but not limited to, establishing
the process for the evaluation and possible rejection of applications,
the eligibility criteria that will be applied in evaluating those
applications, and the process for terminations from the START-UP NY
program and administrative appeals of such terminations.