STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          7539
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                       May 9, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by M. of A. SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Ways and Means
        AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to providing taxpayer gifts for
          gun violence research; and to amend the state finance law, in relation
          to establishing the gun violence research fund
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  The  tax  law is amended by adding a new section 630-g to
     2  read as follows:
     3    § 630-g. Gift for the gun violence research fund.  Effective  for  any
     4  tax  year commencing on or after January first, two thousand nineteen, a
     5  taxpayer in any taxable year may elect to contribute to the gun violence
     6  research fund established pursuant to section eighty-six  of  the  state
     7  finance  law.  Such contribution shall be in any whole dollar amount and
     8  shall not reduce the amount of state tax owed by  such  taxpayer.    The
     9  commissioner  shall  include  space on the personal income tax return to
    10  enable a taxpayer to make such contribution. Notwithstanding  any  other
    11  provision  of law, all revenues collected pursuant to this section shall
    12  be credited to the gun violence research fund and used  only  for  those
    13  purposes enumerated in section eighty-six of the state finance law.
    14    §  2.  The  state finance law is amended by adding a new section 86 to
    15  read as follows:
    16    § 86. Gun violence research fund. 1.  There is hereby  established  in
    17  the joint custody of the state comptroller and the commissioner of taxa-
    18  tion  and  finance  a  special  fund  to  be  known as the "gun violence
    19  research fund".
    20    2. Such fund shall consist of all revenues received by the  department
    21  of  taxation  and  finance,  pursuant  to  the provisions of section six
    22  hundred thirty-g of the tax law and all other monies appropriated, cred-
    23  ited, or transferred thereto from any other fund or source  pursuant  to
    24  law.    Nothing  contained herein shall prevent the state from receiving
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11510-01-9

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     1  grants, gifts or bequests for the purposes of the  fund  as  defined  in
     2  this section  and depositing them into the fund according to law.
     3    3.  (a)  Monies  of  the  fund  shall be expended to the department of
     4  health and the state university of New York for gun  violence  research.
     5  The  department  of  health  and  the state university of New York shall
     6  provide grants for the purpose of advancing and financing  gun  violence
     7  research.
     8    (b)  Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of section one hundred
     9  sixty-three of this chapter, the commissioner of health and the chancel-
    10  lor of the state university of New York are authorized to enter  into  a
    11  contract  or contracts under paragraph (a) of this subdivision without a
    12  competitive bid or request  for  proposal  process,  provided,  however,
    13  that:
    14    (i)  The  department  of  health  and the state university of New York
    15  shall post on their websites, for a period of no less than thirty days:
    16    (1) a description of the proposed services to be provided pursuant  to
    17  the contract or contracts;
    18    (2) the criteria for selection of a contractor or contractors;
    19    (3)  the period of time during which a prospective contractor may seek
    20  selection, which shall be no less than thirty days after  such  informa-
    21  tion is first posted on the websites; and
    22    (4)  the  manner  by  which  a  prospective  contractor  may seek such
    23  selection, which may include submission by electronic means.
    24    (ii) All reasonable and responsive submissions that are received  from
    25  prospective  contractors  in  a  timely fashion shall be reviewed by the
    26  commissioner of health and the chancellor of the state university of New
    27  York; and
    28    (iii) The commissioner of health  and  the  chancellor  of  the  state
    29  university of New York shall select such contractor or contractors that,
    30  in  their  discretion,  are  best  suited  to serve the purposes of this
    31  section.
    32    4. (a) On or before the first day of February  each  year,  the  comp-
    33  troller  shall  certify  to  the  governor,  temporary  president of the
    34  senate, speaker of the assembly, chair of the senate  finance  committee
    35  and  chair of the assembly ways and means committee, the amount of money
    36  deposited by each source in the New York  state  gun  violence  research
    37  fund during the preceding calendar year as the result of revenue derived
    38  pursuant  to  section  six  hundred thirty-g of the tax law and from all
    39  other sources.
    40    (b) On or before the first day of February each year, the commissioner
    41  of health in coordination with the chancellor of the state university of
    42  New York shall provide a written report to the  temporary  president  of
    43  the senate, speaker of the assembly, chair of the senate finance commit-
    44  tee, chair of the assembly ways and means committee, chair of the senate
    45  committee  on  health, chair of the assembly health committee, the state
    46  comptroller and the public. Such report shall include how monies of  the
    47  fund were utilized during the preceding calendar year and shall include:
    48    (i)  the amount of money disbursed from the fund and the award process
    49  used for such disbursements;
    50    (ii) recipients of awards from the fund;
    51    (iii) the amount awarded to each;
    52    (iv) the purposes for which such awards were granted; and
    53    (v) a summary financial plan for such monies which shall include esti-
    54  mates of all receipts and all disbursements for the current and succeed-
    55  ing fiscal years, along with the actual results from  the  prior  fiscal
    56  year.

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     1    5.  Monies  shall be payable from the fund on the audit and warrant of
     2  the comptroller on vouchers approved by the comptroller.
     3    6.  Contractors  awarded grants from funds disbursed from this section
     4  for the purpose of gun violence research shall, when their research  has
     5  concluded,  provide  a written report of their findings to the temporary
     6  president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the chair  of  the
     7  senate  finance  committee,  the  chair  of  the assembly ways and means
     8  committee, the chair of the senate committee on health, the chair of the
     9  assembly health committee, the state comptroller and the public.
    10    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all tax
    11  years commencing on and after January 1, 2019.