N.Y. Public Authorities Law § 1894: Competitive grants for outreach, enrollment and related services

§ 1894. Competitive grants for outreach, enrollment and related

services. 1. The authority shall issue one or more program opportunity

notices or requests for proposals to solicit applications from

partnerships or consortia comprised of constituency-based organizations

which can connect community members to the program, including

facilitating awareness of the program and enrollment, and (a)

distribution utilities, (b) contractors that have signed enforceable

agreements to meet standards set by the authority, including standards

for local hiring and pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship and other

labor-management training program participation, (c) workforce

development organizations that will recruit unemployed individuals, and

provide training and job placement in conjunction with contractors

pursuant to section eighteen hundred ninety-seven of this title; and/or

(d) organized trades and their certification or apprenticeship programs.

The authority shall specifically solicit applications that propose to

demonstrate the feasibility of innovative financing mechanisms,

including but not limited to applications undertaken in partnership with

distribution utilities that propose to demonstrate the feasibility of

on-bill financing. The public service commission and other appropriate

agencies are authorized to coordinate with the authority and applicants

in developing and implementing proposed demonstrations of innovative

financing mechanisms.

2. In awarding grants, the authority shall:

(a) target communities in areas where energy costs are particularly

high in relation to a measure of median household income as determined

by the authority; or which have been designated as a nonattainment area

for one or more pollutants pursuant to section 107 of the federal Clean

Air Act (42 U.S.C. section 4207);

(b) give preference in awards to applicants that include significant

participation by minority and women owned business enterprises and/or to

applications to serve economically distressed communities;

(c) ensure that the awards as a whole reflect the geographic diversity

of the state; and

(d) award a sufficient number of grants to make it possible to fully

commit the resources allocated during the initial phase of the program.

3. (a) The authority is authorized to consult with the department of

public service, the division of housing and community renewal, the

department of labor and the department of environmental conservation, as

appropriate, in making any determinations contemplated by this section.

(b) The authority shall consult with representatives of businesses who

provide home heating oil, propane and other petroleum-based heating

products to develop innovative financing mechanisms for energy

efficiency retrofits.

(c) The authority shall consult with the division of housing and

community renewal and the council established pursuant to section

eighteen hundred ninety-eight of this title to develop strategies to

mitigate any adverse economic impact of the program on tenants,

including but not limited to residents of in rent-regulated housing or

recipients of housing subsidies.

4. Any organization using funding provided under the program for

marketing or other outreach activities shall not commingle such

marketing or outreach activities with any other advocacy or policy

promotion efforts.