N.Y. State Finance Law § 4: Payments, transfers and deposits

§ 4. Payments, transfers and deposits. 1. Notwithstanding the

provisions of any other section of law to the contrary, no money shall

be paid from any fund under the management of the state, or any agency

or officer thereof except in pursuance of an appropriation by law.

2. If, at any time, the legislature shall fail to make an

appropriation for a payment from a fund where the failure to make such

payment would violate a covenant contained in a statute or resolution

which was in force prior to the effective date of this section, between

the state and holders of any obligations, pursuant to which the state

had agreed that it would not limit or alter the rights vested in the

issuers of such obligations to fulfill any and all agreements with such

holders or that it would not in any way impair the rights and remedies

of such holders, such payment shall nevertheless be made from such fund

to the extent necessary to comply with the rights of the issuer of such

obligations and of the holders thereof.

3. If, at any time, the legislature shall fail to make an

appropriation for the payment of the interest upon and installments of

principal of all debts created on behalf of the state as the same shall

fall due, and for the contribution to all of the sinking funds

heretofore created by law, the comptroller shall set apart from the

first revenues thereafter received, applicable to the general fund of

the state, a sum sufficient to pay such interest, installments of

principal, or contributions to such sinking fund, as the case may be,

and shall so apply the moneys thus set apart.

4. Money which has not been given, granted, or bequeathed to the

state, or any agency thereof conditionally or otherwise, and the

ownership and equitable title of which belongs to an individual or

organization other than the state, but which is being held by any agency

or officer of the state pending transfer of such money to such

individual or organization in accordance with the terms and conditions

pursuant to which it was placed in the custody of such agency or

officer, may be transferred to such individual or organization by such

agency or officer without an appropriation by law provided that such

transfers are made in accordance with such terms and conditions.

5. No money or other financial resources shall be transferred or

temporarily loaned from one fund to another without specific statutory

authorization for such transfer or temporary loan, except that money or

other financial resources of a fund may be temporarily loaned to the

general fund during the state fiscal year provided that such loan shall

be repaid in full no later than (a) four months after it was made or (b)

by the end of the same fiscal year in which it was made, whichever

period is shorter, so that an accurate accounting and reporting of the

balance of financial resources in each fund may be made. The comptroller

is hereby authorized to temporarily loan money from the general fund or

any other fund to the fund/accounts that are authorized to receive a

loan. Such loans shall be limited to the amounts immediately required to

meet disbursements, made in pursuance of an appropriation by law and

authorized by a certificate of approval issued by the director of the

budget with copies thereof filed with the comptroller and the chair of

the senate finance committee and the chair of the assembly ways and

means committee. The director of the budget shall not issue such a

certificate unless he or she shall have determined that the amounts to

be so loaned are receivable on account. When making loans, the

comptroller shall establish appropriate accounts and if the loan is not

repaid by the end of the month, provide on or before the fifteenth day

of the following month to the director of the budget, the chair of the

senate finance committee and the chair of the assembly ways and means

committee, an accurate accounting and report of the financial resources

of each such fund at the end of such month. Within ten days of the

receipt of such accounting and reporting, the director of the budget

shall provide the comptroller and the chair of the senate finance

committee and the chair of the assembly ways and means committee an

expected schedule of repayment by fund and by source for each

outstanding loan. Repayment shall be made by the comptroller from the

first cash receipt of this fund.

* 6. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, at the beginning of the

state fiscal year, the state comptroller is hereby authorized and

directed to receive for deposit to the credit of a fund and/or an

account such monies as are identified by the director of the budget as

having been intended for such deposit to support disbursements from such

fund and/or account made in pursuance of an appropriation by law. As

soon as practicable upon enactment of the budget, the director of the

budget shall, but not less than three days following preliminary

submission to the chairs of the senate finance committee and the

assembly ways and means committee, file with the state comptroller an

identification of specific monies to be so deposited. Any subsequent

change regarding the monies to be so deposited shall be filed by the

director of the budget, as soon as practicable, but not less than three

days following preliminary submission to the chairs of the senate

finance committee and the assembly ways and means committee.

All monies identified by the director of the budget to be deposited to

the credit of a fund and/or account shall be consistent with the intent

of the budget for the then current state fiscal year as enacted by the

legislature.

The provisions of this subdivision shall expire on March thirty-first,

two thousand twenty-seven.

* NB Repealed March 31, 2027

7. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section, the taxes,

interest and penalties collected or received by the commissioner of

taxation and finance under sections four hundred seventy-one and four

hundred seventy-one-a of the tax law, and the revenue (including taxes,

interest and penalties) from the imposition of cigarette taxes by a

local government paid to the comptroller of the state of New York by

such local government, which are required to be deposited to the credit

of the tobacco control and insurance initiatives pool established by

section twenty-eight hundred seven-v of the public health law and moneys

received in the tobacco settlement fund established by section

ninety-two-x of this chapter shall be made pursuant to statute but

without an appropriation.

8. For the purposes of this section, agency shall mean any department,

agency, board, bureau, commission, division, council or office of the

state except as otherwise provided in section eighty-eight of the

workers' compensation law.

9. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section, the moneys

transferred to the universal prekindergarten reserve fund pursuant to

paragraph f of subdivision ten of section thirty-six hundred two-e of

the education law shall be paid pursuant to statute but without an

appropriation.

* 10. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section, the moneys

deposited in the health insurance fund authorized in section one hundred

sixty-seven of the civil service law shall be paid pursuant to statute

but without an appropriation.

* NB Expired March 31, 2006

11. (a) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary and except as

provided by paragraph (b) of this subdivision, no state agency or a

state official or employee acting in their official capacity, may pay

out or otherwise disburse funds obtained as the result of a judgment,

stipulation, decree, agreement to settle, assurance of discontinuance,

or other legal instrument resolving any claim or cause of action,

whether filed or unfiled, actual or potential, and whether arising under

common law, equity, or any provision of law, except pursuant to an

appropriation. Such funds shall not be retained by any state official,

employee, or agency in any fund held in the sole custody of a state

agency for a period of more than thirty days but shall, consistent with

section seven of article seven of the state constitution be deposited in

the state treasury, or fund under its management as may be directed by

statute or as otherwise directed by the comptroller with the concurrence

of the director of the budget.

(b) Paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall not apply to (1) moneys to

be distributed to the federal government, to a local government, or to

any holder of a bond or other debt instrument issued by the state, any

public authority, or any public benefit corporation; (2) moneys to be

distributed solely or exclusively as a payment of damages or restitution

to individuals or entities that were specifically injured or harmed by

the defendant's or settling party's conduct and that are identified in,

or can be identified by the terms of, the relevant judgment, agreement

to settle, assurance of discontinuance, or relevant instrument resolving

the claim or cause of action; (3) moneys recovered or obtained by a

state agency or a state official or employee acting in their official

capacity where application of paragraph (a) of this subdivision is

prohibited by federal law, rule, or regulation, or would result in the

reduction or loss of federal funds or eligibility for federal benefits

pursuant to federal law, rule, or regulation; (4) moneys recovered or

obtained by or on behalf of a public authority, a public benefit

corporation, the department of taxation and finance, the workers'

compensation board, the New York state higher education services

corporation, the tobacco settlement financing corporation, a state or

local retirement system, an employee health benefit program administered

by the New York state department of civil service, the Title IV-D child

support fund, the lottery prize fund, the abandoned property fund, or an

endowment of the state university of New York or any unit thereof or any

state agency, provided that all of the moneys received or recovered are

immediately transferred to the relevant public authority, public benefit

corporation, department, fund, program, or endowment; (5) moneys to be

refunded to an individual or entity as (i) an overpayment of a tax,

fine, penalty, fee, insurance premium, loan payment, charge or

surcharge; (ii) a return of seized assets, or (iii) a payment made in

error; (6) moneys to be used to prevent, abate, restore, mitigate, or

control any identifiable instance of prior or ongoing water, land or air

pollution; and (7) moneys deposited to the opioid settlement fund

established in section ninety-nine-nn of this chapter.

12. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section and any other law

to the contrary, the revenue (including taxes, interest and penalties)

from the metropolitan commuter transportation mobility tax imposed

pursuant to article twenty-three of the tax law which are paid in

accordance with subsection (b) of section eight hundred five of the tax

law into the metropolitan transportation authority finance fund

established by section twelve hundred seventy-h of the public

authorities law shall be made pursuant to statute but without an

appropriation.

13. Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section and any other law

to the contrary, the revenue (including fees, taxes, interest and

penalties) from the metropolitan commuter transportation district

supplemental fees and taxes imposed pursuant to paragraph (b-1) of

subdivision two of section five hundred three of the vehicle and traffic

law, paragraph (c-3) of subdivision two of section five hundred three of

the vehicle and traffic law, article seventeen-C of the vehicle and

traffic law, article twenty-nine-A of the tax law and section eleven

hundred sixty-six-a of the tax law which are paid in accordance with

subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (b-1) of subdivision two of section five

hundred three of the vehicle and traffic law, subparagraph (ii) of

paragraph (c-3) of subdivision two of section five hundred three of the

vehicle and traffic law, section twelve hundred eighty-eight of the tax

law and section eleven hundred sixty-seven of the tax law into the

corporate transportation account of the metropolitan transportation

authority special assistance fund established by section twelve hundred

seventy-a of the public authorities law shall be made pursuant to

statute but without an appropriation.