§ 1680-G — Child care facilities development program; authority financing of eligible child care facilities development projects

§ 1680-g. Child care facilities development program; authority\nfinancing of eligible child care facilities development projects. 1. The\ndormitory authority is hereby authorized to finance eligible child care\nfacilities development projects which are intended to serve the needs of\nlow-income working families or an area with demonstrated child care need\nor to provide care for children through the age of twelve years and\nenrolled in school following the completion of the school day or the\nschool year. Such projects shall be used as licensed or registered\nforms of child care for a period of at least ten years with an average\nof twenty-five percent of its available child care slots set aside for\nfamilies eligible for low-income child care subsidies or for referrals\nof low-income or public assistance families from local social services\ndistricts. Such project shall have a useful life of at least ten years.\n 2. (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to\nthe contrary, and subject to the making of annual appropriations\ntherefor by the legislature, in order to assist the dormitory authority\nin providing for the financing of eligible child care facilities\ndevelopment projects, the director of the budget is authorized in any\nstate fiscal year commencing April first, nineteen hundred ninety-nine\nor any state fiscal year thereafter to enter into one or more service\ncontracts, none of which shall exceed thirty years in duration, with the\ndormitory authority, upon such terms as the director of the budget and\nthe dormitory authority agree.\n (b) Any service contract entered into pursuant to paragraph (a) of\nthis subdivision or any payments made or to be made thereunder may be\nassigned and pledged by the dormitory authority as security for its\nbonds, notes, or other obligations.\n (c) Any such service contracts shall provide that the obligation of\nthe director of the budget or of the state to fund or to pay the amounts\ntherein provided for shall not constitute a debt of the state within the\nmeaning of any constitutional or statutory provision in the event the\ndormitory authority assigns or pledges the service contract payments as\nsecurity for its bonds, notes, or other obligations and shall be deemed\nexecutory only to the extent monies are available and that no liability\nshall be incurred by the state beyond the monies available for the\npurpose, and that such obligation is subject to annual appropriations by\nthe legislature.\n (d) Any service contract or contracts entered into pursuant to this\nsubdivision shall provide for state commitments to provide annually to\nthe dormitory authority a sum or sums, upon such terms and conditions as\nshall be deemed appropriate by the director of the budget, to fund the\nprincipal, interest, or other related payments required for any bonds,\nnotes, or other obligations of the dormitory authority issued pursuant\nto this section.\n 3. The dormitory authority in conjunction with the office of children\nand family services shall develop a request for applications soliciting\npotential applicants seeking assistance for the development of licensed\nchild care center projects. The office of children and family services\nshall receive, initially review, and assess applications to determine\nwhich projects should be referred to the authority and to rank by groups\nthe referred projects according to the capacity of such projects to meet\nidentified needs for child care. In assessing such applications, the\noffice of children and family services shall consider:\n (a) the needs for child care services in the area;\n (b) the potential viability for a child care center to succeed in the\narea;\n (c) the qualifications of the proposed provider to operate the\nproposed child care center;\n (d) the potential for meeting applicable regulatory requirements;\n (e) the appropriateness of the site for licensing as a child care\ncenter; and\n (f) such other matters as the office of children and family services\ndetermines necessary to properly and completely evaluate an application.\n Upon the timely completion of the office of children and family\nservices' initial review and selection of applications meeting criteria,\nthe office shall submit such selected applications and the group\nrankings of such applications to the dormitory authority which shall\nselect grant recipients.\n 4. (a) The dormitory authority shall, from any appropriations made\navailable for this purpose, establish a child care facilities\ndevelopment program that shall offer child care facilities development\ngrants pursuant to paragraphs (d), (e) and (f) of this subdivision.\n (b) Financing for child care facilities development projects\nauthorized pursuant to this section shall only be made upon the\ndetermination by the authority, in consultation with the office of\nchildren and family services, that such a center or school-age program\nwill increase supply and access to child care. Such centers or\nschool-age programs shall demonstrate the potential to obtain from the\noffice of children and family services and other appropriate\ngovernmental agencies, all necessary approvals, licenses, and other\nsupports to operate the center.\n (c) Such financing shall consist of grants for the establishment,\nexpansion, and development of licensed child care centers.\n (d) Grants shall be used for general project development costs,\nincluding but not limited to: (i) the acquisition, design, construction,\nimprovement, or renovation of the site, and (ii) the purchase of\nnecessary equipment.\n (e) For the purposes of this subdivision, grants shall not exceed\nninety percent of the total project costs. Child care facilities\ndevelopment grants shall not be limited to funds appropriated therefor\nand may consist of monies from any source, public or private, made\navailable for such grants.\n (f) Child care facilities development grants awarded pursuant to this\nsection shall be available for not-for-profit child care facilities\ndevelopment projects owned or to be owned by not-for-profit corporations\nfor use as child day care centers that will be duly approved, licensed,\ninspected, supervised, and regulated as may be determined to be\nnecessary and appropriate by the authority.\n 5. (a) To obtain funds for the purposes of this section, the authority\nshall have power from time to time to issue negotiable bonds or notes.\nUnless the context shall clearly indicate otherwise, whenever the words\n"bond" or "bonds" are used in this section, such words shall include a\nnote or notes of the authority.\n (b) The dormitory authority shall not issue any bonds or notes in an\namount in excess of thirty million dollars for the purposes of this\nsection; excluding bonds or notes issued to fund one or more debt\nservice reserve funds, to pay costs of issuance of such bonds, and bonds\nor notes issued to refund or otherwise repay such bonds or notes\npreviously issued. Except for purposes of complying with the internal\nrevenue code, any interest on bond proceeds shall only be used to pay\ndebt service on such bonds.\n (c) In computing for the purposes of paragraph (b) of this\nsubdivision, the aggregate amount of indebtedness evidenced by bonds and\nnotes of the dormitory authority issued pursuant to this title, there\nshall be excluded the amount of such indebtedness represented by such\nbonds or notes issued to refund or otherwise repay bonds or notes,\nprovided that the amount so excluded under this paragraph may exceed the\nprincipal amount of such bonds or notes that were issued to refund or\notherwise repay only if the present value of the aggregate debt service\non the refunding or repayment bonds or notes shall not have at the time\nof their issuance exceeded the present value of the aggregate debt\nservice of the bonds or notes they were issued to refund or repay, such\npresent value in each case being calculated by using the effective\ninterest rate of the refunding or repayment bonds or notes, which shall\nbe that rate arrived at by doubling the semi-annual interest rate\n(compounded semi-annually) necessary to discount the debt service\npayments on the refunding or repayment bonds or notes from the payment\ndate thereof to the date of issue of the refunding or repayment bonds or\nnotes and to the price bid therefor, or to the proceeds received by the\ndormitory authority from the sale thereof, in each case including\nestimated accrued interest.\n (d) The state of New York hereby covenants with the purchasers,\nholders and owners from time to time of the bonds of the authority\nissued pursuant to this section that it will not, subject to the\nprovisions of subparagraph (c) of subdivision two of this section,\nrepeal, revoke, rescind, modify or amend the provisions of this section\nwhich relate to the making of annual service contract payments to the\nauthority with respect to such bonds as to limit, impair or impede the\nrights and remedies granted to bondholders under this title or otherwise\ndiminish the security pledged to such purchasers, holders and owners or\nsignificantly impair the prospect of payment of any such bond.\n