STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4278 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE February 3, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. PARKER, COMRIE, SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Corpo- rations, Authorities and Commissions AN ACT to amend the New York state urban development corporation act, in relation to enacting the HIRE NY act The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "hire individuals in the real economy New York (HIRE NY) act". 3 § 2. Section 1 of chapter 174 of the laws of 1968, constituting the 4 New York state urban development corporation act, is amended by adding a 5 new section 16-bb to read as follows: 6 § 16-bb. The HIRE New York program. 1. Legislative intent. The legis- 7 lature hereby finds that micro-businesses are the engines of our economy 8 and are vital to the revitalization of communities and neighborhoods 9 throughout the state. The legislature further finds that current law 10 fails to motivate people to start or expand businesses. The legislature 11 finds that it is important to spur start-up micro-businesses that have 12 the potential to become the job engines for tomorrow's economy. The 13 legislature further finds investments in economic development fail to 14 provide any funding to micro-businesses. The legislature further finds 15 that small micro-businesses with the proper incentives are poised to 16 provide significant local job creation across the state. The legislature 17 further finds that tax credits are not an effective job creation incen- 18 tive for micro-businesses because many of these businesses lack the 19 income that makes a tax credit meaningful. The legislature further finds 20 that creation of a statewide hire New York fund will provide the needed 21 capital for the businesses of tomorrow to grow and employ more New York- 22 ers. 23 2. Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall 24 have the meanings indicated: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD08025-01-5
S. 4278 2 1 (a) "Fund" means the hire New York fund as established by subdivision 2 three of this section. 3 (b) "Local job" means a job filled by an employee that resides within 4 the same or an adjacent county as the applicant's place of business. 5 For the purposes of this paragraph, for the city of New York, the adja- 6 cent counties shall be deemed to be Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland and West- 7 chester. 8 (c) "Micro-business" means a business with fewer than five employees. 9 A business that is owned in any portion by another business entity shall 10 not qualify as a "micro-business." 11 (d) "Micro-business qualifying new hire" means either a new full-time 12 wage-paying local job or the equivalent of a full-time wage-paying local 13 job requiring at least thirty-five hours per week and is filled for one 14 year. A micro-business qualifying new hire shall not be: 15 (i) an employee who has been transferred from employment with another 16 business located in this state, through an acquisition, merger, consol- 17 idation or other reorganization of businesses or the acquisition of 18 assets of another business, or 19 (ii) an employee who has been transferred from employment with a 20 related person or business entity, or 21 (iii) an employee who is hired to fill a currently existing position 22 that results from a termination or departure of a previous employee, or 23 (iv) a temporary or part-time employee. 24 3. Establishment and purposes. The corporation shall establish a fund 25 to be known as the "hire New York fund" and shall pay into such fund any 26 monies made available to the corporation for such fund from any source. 27 The fund shall consist of such amounts as may be appropriated, any 28 repayment of the principal amount of any loan made from the fund, and 29 any interest earned by the corporation from the investment of moneys of 30 the fund. The corporation is authorized to accept, as agent of the 31 state, any gift, grant, devise or bequest, whether conditional or uncon- 32 ditional, including but not limited to federal grants, and to use monies 33 made available for the program from any public or private source, for 34 the purpose of implementing the program. The corporation shall be enti- 35 tled to recover from the monies made available for the program its own 36 necessary and documented costs incurred in administering the program and 37 evaluating the effectiveness of the program; provided, however, the sum 38 that may be recovered for the corporation's administrative costs shall 39 not exceed five percent of the monies made available for the program, 40 and the sum that may be recovered for the corporation's evaluation costs 41 shall not exceed three percent of the monies made available for the 42 program. The monies held in or credited to the fund shall be expended 43 solely for the purposes set forth in this section. The corporation shall 44 not commingle the monies of such fund with any other monies of the 45 corporation or any monies held in trust by the corporation. The corpo- 46 ration is authorized, within available appropriations and loan repay- 47 ments to provide zero interest loans to micro-businesses to hire new 48 employees. 49 4. Applications for loan. An application for a loan shall be submitted 50 in such form and in accordance with such procedures as the corporation 51 shall establish. Applications submitted to the fund may include but 52 shall not be limited to: 53 (a) a business plan; 54 (b) a job description and required employee qualifications; 55 (c) a guarantor;
S. 4278 3 1 (d) the guarantor's name and address, audited financial statements or 2 tax records for the previous three years, and other financial documenta- 3 tion the corporation shall deem appropriate; 4 (e) a description of how the applicant anticipates the business will 5 grow as a result of the additional workforce; 6 (f) a list of current employees and job description for each employee; 7 and 8 (g) any additional information that the corporation shall require. 9 All information collected by the corporation shall be confidential and 10 shall be used exclusively for purposes of this section. 11 5. Application fee. Each application must be accompanied by a minimum 12 one hundred-dollar application fee. This application fee is to be 13 applied to the corporation's administrative expenses. Application fees 14 are to be refunded to all successful applicants within thirty days of 15 receipt of the final payment of principal. The purpose of this applica- 16 tion fee is to ensure that applications are made in good faith and to 17 avoid wasted administrative fees that occur from bad faith applications. 18 The corporation may refund all application fees, even if application is 19 denied when it believed that the applicant in good faith believed it was 20 entitled to receive a loan under this section. 21 6. Loan terms. (a) The corporation shall provide funds for each of the 22 first three years of the micro-business qualifying new hire's employ- 23 ment. 24 (b) In each of those years the corporation will provide no more than 25 twenty percent of the micro-business qualifying new hire's annual sala- 26 ry. 27 (c) In each year the corporation will provide no more than twenty 28 thousand dollars per micro-business qualifying new hire. 29 (d) Loan payments to the corporation from the business are deferred 30 until three years from micro-business qualifying new hire's start date. 31 (e) Principal is to be paid to the corporation in monthly install- 32 ments. 33 (f) No interest shall be charged on any loan provided pursuant to this 34 section. 35 (g) The loan will be paid by the corporation in three installments as 36 follows: 37 (i) The first installment will be provided by the corporation no later 38 than ten days after receipt of the micro-business qualifying new hire's 39 W-2 and proof of residence; and 40 (ii) The payments for each additional installment shall be made within 41 ten days of the date of the micro-business qualifying new hire's anni- 42 versary of employment. 43 (h) No fees or penalties shall be charged or collected for prepayment 44 of any such loan. 45 7. Loan approval. In awarding the loan, the corporation shall select 46 from eligible business applicants based on the following criteria: 47 (a) The likelihood of success of the applicant in meeting the goals of 48 its strategic plan; 49 (b) The extent of need for loans and development services within the 50 investment areas or targeted populations; 51 (c) The credit score of the applicant; 52 (d) The credit score of the guarantor; 53 (e) Good standing on other loan obligations; and 54 (f) Other factors deemed to be appropriate by the corporation. 55 8. Application criteria. The corporation shall develop and use a stan- 56 dard application form. In addition to such other criteria as the corpo-
S. 4278 4 1 ration may adopt in rules and regulations for the consideration of 2 applications for loans or loan guarantees pursuant to this section, the 3 corporation shall: 4 (a) determine that the company is unable to obtain sufficient funding 5 on reasonable terms from other public or private sources to permit the 6 company's planned hiring; 7 (b) consider whether the loan or loan guarantee will result in a 8 reasonable likelihood of success in meeting the purposes for which it 9 was sought by the applicant company; and 10 (c) assess the demonstrated need for such assistance, established by a 11 showing of a short-term lack of liquidity of an existing solvent busi- 12 ness. 13 9. Use of loan. A micro-business may utilize funds only for salary of 14 a micro-business qualifying new hire. 15 10. Advisory committee. The corporation may create an advisory commit- 16 tee, consisting of at least five members, to advise the corporation in 17 the promotion, implementation and administration of the hire New York 18 program. 19 11. Reporting requirements. The corporation shall submit a report to 20 the governor, the speaker of the assembly and the temporary president of 21 the senate on or before the first of October, and annually thereafter, 22 describing the financial and technical assistance provided pursuant to 23 this section, including: the number of loan applications filed and 24 accepted; the amount and type of assistance provided; a description of 25 businesses assisted by fund monies; the number of local jobs created 26 through the loans of fund monies; and such other information as the 27 corporation may deem appropriate. 28 12. Rules and regulations. The corporation is hereby authorized to 29 promulgate rules and regulations in accordance with the state adminis- 30 trative procedure act that are necessary to fulfill the purposes of this 31 section. Such rules and regulations must be completed within one hundred 32 eighty days after the effective date of this section. 33 § 3. The provisions of this act shall be eligible to be funded from 34 any state agency, public authority, public benefit corporation or any 35 other entity for which this act is consistent with the mission of the 36 state agency, public authority, public benefit corporation or any other 37 entity. 38 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.