Bill Text: NY A10593 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Establishes an electronic open auction public bond sale pilot program for certain municipalities, to be administered by the municipality's chief fiscal officer and calls for an evaluation of the program annually.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-06-05 - referred to local governments [A10593 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A10593-Introduced.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          10593

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      June 5, 2020
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Hawley) --
          read once and referred to the Committee on Local Governments

        AN ACT to amend the local finance law, in relation to the  establishment
          of  an  electronic  open auction public bond sale pilot program solely
          for certain municipalities; and  providing  for  the  repeal  of  such
          provisions upon the expiration thereof

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The local finance law is amended by adding  a  new  section
     2  58.11 to read as follows:
     3    §  58.11 Electronic open auction public bond sale pilot program. a. As
     4  used in this section:
     5    1. "Municipality" means  a  county  with  a  population  greater  than
     6  fifty-seven  thousand, and less than sixty-one thousand, that has issued
     7  at least three million five hundred thousand dollars in bonds within  at
     8  least one of the preceding three years.
     9    2. "Nationally recognized electronic securities bidding service" means
    10  a  bidding  service  that  is approved by the superintendent pursuant to
    11  subdivision b of this section.
    12    3. "Open auction" means a bond sale procedure that allows a bidder  to
    13  receive information with respect to the ranking of its bids prior to the
    14  conclusion  of  the bidding period in accordance with the municipality's
    15  notice of such  bond  sale  circulated  in  accordance  with  applicable
    16  requirements of this chapter.
    17    4.  "Program" means the electronic open auction public bond sale pilot
    18  program established pursuant to this section.
    19    5. "Superintendent" means the superintendent of financial services.
    20    b. 1. There is hereby established an electronic open auction bond sale
    21  pilot program authorizing municipalities to conduct open auction  public
    22  bond  sales  through  any  nationally  recognized  electronic securities
    23  bidding service approved by the superintendent.   Nationally  recognized
    24  electronic securities bidding services desiring to operate an electronic
    25  open  auction  shall apply to the superintendent for authorization to do
    26  so by filing an application with the superintendent. The  superintendent

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD16600-01-0

        A. 10593                            2

     1  shall  make  available an application form that provides the superinten-
     2  dent with information regarding the technology  and  security  practices
     3  maintained  by  the  nationally recognized electronic securities bidding
     4  service,  the requirements to be established for bidding by bidders, the
     5  methods by which auction sales are  conducted,  the  experience  of  the
     6  nationally  recognized electronic securities bidding service in conduct-
     7  ing electronic open auctions of bonds, and other information the  super-
     8  intendent may deem relevant.
     9    2.  If  the superintendent determines that the requirements and condi-
    10  tions of the open auction are in accordance with the provisions of  this
    11  chapter  and the bidding service provides a secure, open and competitive
    12  opportunity for qualified bidders to submit proposals,  the  application
    13  shall be deemed approved.
    14    3.  The superintendent shall post information regarding the nationally
    15  recognized  electronic  securities  bidding  services  that  have   been
    16  approved  for  use  by  municipalities  on  the  department of financial
    17  services website.
    18    c. If the chief fiscal officer of the municipality has authorized  the
    19  receipt  of  bids  in an electronic open auction format, such electronic
    20  bids may be submitted in the form of open auctions conducted  through  a
    21  nationally recognized electronic securities bidding service which entity
    22  shall  be  deemed  to  be  the  designated  receiving device pursuant to
    23  section 58.00 of this title. Notice of any bond sale shall  provide  for
    24  the manner in which the bidding period may be extended and the basis for
    25  determination of the winning bidder.
    26    d.  Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision one of section three
    27  hundred five of the state technology law, if the notice of sale for  the
    28  open  auction  public  bond  contains a provision that bids will only be
    29  accepted electronically in the manner provided in such notice  of  sale,
    30  the  municipality shall not be required to accept non-electronic bids in
    31  any form.
    32    e. The  municipality's  chief  fiscal  officer  shall  administer  the
    33  program  and  shall publish its policies and procedures for the procure-
    34  ment of nationally recognized electronic securities bidding services  on
    35  the municipality's internet website.  Such policies and procedures shall
    36  include  policies  to prevent fraud. Except as modified by this section,
    37  the municipal program shall comply  with  this  chapter  and  all  other
    38  applicable laws, rules and regulations related to the sale of bonds.
    39    f. The municipality's chief fiscal officer shall review the electronic
    40  open  auction bidding process to ensure that the bond sale was completed
    41  in a timely fashion; the sale was  completed  without  errors;  and  the
    42  process  was  favorable  as compared to the method currently used by the
    43  municipality.
    44    g. The municipality shall conduct evaluations of the program  annually
    45  with  a summary evaluation at the end of the two year program. The muni-
    46  cipality shall submit the evaluations to the superintendent, the  tempo-
    47  rary  president  of  the  senate  and  the speaker of the assembly. Such
    48  report shall include, but not be limited to, any  demonstrated  evidence
    49  that  sale  of public bonds using electronic open auctions is comparable
    50  to the cost of issuing public bonds through the current sealed bid proc-
    51  ess, the fees associated with nationally recognized  electronic  securi-
    52  ties  bidding  services,  whether  the  use  of electronic open auctions
    53  resulted in an increased number of bidders and whether the  process  was
    54  favorable as compared to the method currently used by the municipality.

        A. 10593                            3

     1    §  2.  This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire January
     2  1, 2023 when upon such date the provisions of this act shall  be  deemed
     3  repealed.
feedback