§ 16-GG — Small business seed funding grant program

* § 16-gg. Small business seed funding grant program. 1. Definitions.\nAs used in this section, the following terms shall have the following\nmeanings:\n (a) "Small business" shall mean a business which is resident in this\nstate, independently owned and operated, not dominant in its field, and\nemploys one hundred or less persons, was started on September 1, 2018 or\nlater and has been operational for a minimum of six months prior to\napplication.\n (b) "Micro-business" shall mean a business which is a resident in this\nstate, independently owned and operated, not dominant in its field, and\nemploys ten or less persons.\n (c) "The program" shall mean the small business seed funding grant\nprogram established pursuant to subdivision two of this section.\n (d) "Applicant" shall mean a micro-business, small business, or\nfor-profit independent arts and cultural organization, including\nindependent arts contractors submitting an application for a grant award\nto the program.\n (e) "For-profit independent arts and cultural organization" shall mean\na small or medium sized private for-profit, independently operated\nlive-performance venue, promoter, production company, or performance\nrelated business, including independent arts contractors, located in New\nYork state negatively impacted by COVID-19 health and safety protocols,\nand having one hundred or less full-time employees, excluding seasonal\nemployees.\n 2. Small business seed funding grant program established. The small\nbusiness seed funding grant program is hereby created to provide\nassistance to early-stage small businesses to succeed in a recovering\nNew York state economy.\n 3. Authorization. The corporation is hereby authorized, using\navailable funds, to issue grants and provide technical assistance and\noutreach to micro-businesses, small businesses, for-profit arts and\ncultural organizations including independent arts contractors and\ntechnical assistance partners for the purpose of aiding the recovery of\nthe New York state economy, and may promulgate guidelines to effectuate\nthe purposes herein.\n 4. Selection criteria and application process. (a) In order to be\neligible for a grant or additional form of support under the program, an\neligible small business shall:\n (i) be incorporated in New York state or licensed or registered to do\nbusiness in New York state and must be resident in the state of New\nYork;\n (ii) be a currently viable micro-business, small business, for-profit\narts and cultural organization including independent arts contractors\nthat started business on September 1, 2018 or later and has been\noperational for at least six months before an application is submitted;\n (iii) have between five thousand and one million dollars in gross\nreceipts or be able to demonstrate five thousand dollars in business\nexpenses;\n (iv) be in substantial compliance with applicable federal, state and\nlocal laws, regulations, codes and requirements; and\n (v) not owe any federal, state or local taxes, or have an approved\nrepayment, deferral plan, or agreement with appropriate federal, state,\nand local taxing authorities.\n (b) (i) Grants awarded from this program shall be available to\neligible micro-businesses, small businesses, and for-profit arts and\ncultural organizations including independent arts contractors that do\nnot qualify for business assistance grant programs under the federal\nAmerican Rescue Plan Act of 2021 or any other available federal COVID-19\neconomic recovery or business assistance grant programs, including loans\nforgiven under the federal Paycheck Protection Program, or are unable to\nobtain sufficient business assistance from such federal programs, with\npriority given to socially and economically disadvantaged business\nowners including, but not limited to, minority and women-owned business\nenterprises, service-disabled veteran-owned businesses, and\nveteran-owned businesses, or businesses located in communities that were\neconomically distressed prior to March 1, 2020, as determined by the\nmost recent census data.\n (ii) Grants awarded from this program shall be available to eligible\nmicro-businesses, small businesses and for-profit arts and cultural\norganizations including independent arts contractors that did not\nqualify for business assistance under the COVID-19 pandemic small\nbusiness recovery grant program as provided for in section sixteen-ff of\nthis act.\n 5. Eligible costs. (a) Eligible costs considered for micro-businesses\nand small businesses under this program must have been incurred between\nSeptember 1, 2018 and January 1, 2022.\n (b) (i) The following costs incurred by a micro-business, small\nbusiness, and for-profit arts and cultural organization including\nindependent arts contractors shall be considered eligible under the\nprogram at a minimum: payroll costs; costs of rent or mortgage as\nprovided for in subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph; costs of repayment\nof local property or school taxes associated with such small business's\nlocation as provided for in subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph;\ninsurance costs; utility costs; costs of personal protection equipment\n(PPE) necessary to protect worker and consumer health and safety;\nheating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) costs, or other\nmachinery or equipment costs, or supplies and materials necessary for\ncompliance with COVID-19 health and safety protocols, and other\ndocumented COVID-19 costs as approved by the corporation.\n (ii) Mortgage payments or commercial rent shall be considered eligible\ncosts.\n (iii) Payment of local property taxes and school taxes shall be\nconsidered eligible costs.\n (c) Grants awarded under the program shall not be used to re-pay or\npay down any portion of a loan obtained through a federal coronavirus\nrelief package for business assistance or any New York state business\nassistance programs.\n 6. Application and approval process. (a) An eligible micro-business,\nsmall business, or for-profit arts and cultural organization including\nindependent arts contractors shall submit a complete application in a\nform and manner prescribed by the corporation.\n (b) The corporation shall establish the procedures and time period for\nmicro-businesses, small businesses, or for-profit arts and cultural\norganizations including independent arts contractors to submit\napplications to the program. As part of the application each\nmicro-business, small business, or for-profit arts and cultural\norganization including independent arts contractors shall provide\nsufficient documentation in a manner prescribed by the corporation to\ndemonstrate hardship, and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse.\n 7. Technical assistance and outreach. The corporation may offer or\nmake available to all applicants, regardless of approval status, direct\nor indirect access to financial and business planning, legal\nconsultation, language assistance services, mentoring services for\npost-pandemic planning, reopening planning assistance and other\nassistance and support as determined by the corporation. Assistance,\nsupport, outreach and other services may be provided by or through\npartner organizations, including but not limited to chambers of\ncommerce, local business development corporations, trade associations\nand other community organizations that have expertise and background in\nproviding technical assistance, at the discretion of the corporation.\n 8. Reporting. The corporation, on a quarterly basis beginning\nSeptember 30, 2022, and ending when all program funds are expended,\nshall submit a separate and distinct report to the governor, the\ntemporary president of the senate, and the speaker of the assembly\nsetting forth the activities undertaken by the program. Such quarterly\nreport shall include, but need not be limited to: the number of\napplicants and their county locations; the number of applicants approved\nby the program and their county location; the total amount of grants\nawarded, and the average amount of such grants awarded; and such other\ninformation as the corporation determines necessary and appropriate.\nSuch report shall be included on the corporation's website and any other\npublicly accessible state database that list economic development\nprograms, as determined by the commissioner. Such reporting may be\nincorporated as part of any reporting required under section sixteen-ff\nof this act.\n * NB There are 2 § 16-gg's\n