§ 53. Special emergency appropriations. 1. If, for any fiscal year, the legislature enacts a special emergency appropriation, no money shall be paid pursuant to any such appropriation unless an amount of such appropriation which is equal to the amount to be paid shall have been transferred as authorized by the governor who may authorize the transfer of all or a portion of such a special emergency appropriation only in accordance with the procedures and subject to the conditions and limitations set forth in this section.

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2. The governor may authorize the transfer of all or a portion of such a special emergency appropriation to the general fund or to a fund classified as a special revenue or capital projects fund as defined in section two of this chapter for a specific program or purpose, subject to the conditions and procedures described in subdivisions five, six and seven of this section and the following:

a. Transfers to the general fund or the capital projects fund established under section ninety-three of this chapter shall be only for the purpose and to the extent required to meet emergency and unanticipated expenditures of the state which shall mean:

(1) expenditures deemed necessary or essential to the proper and efficient functioning of the government of the state or the rendering of governmental services by the state, in order to meet emergencies and unanticipated requirements arising from or which threaten to interfere with the lawful exercise of one or more of the powers of government by the state;

(2) expenditures deemed necessary or essential to protect fully the New York state housing finance agency, the state university construction fund, the state university, or the facilities development corporation from general public liability arising from their ownership or interest in state university facilities or mental hygiene facilities financed by the New York state housing finance agency, as the case may be, or to repair, restore, rebuild or replace such a facility upon damage, loss or destruction thereof, or to pay the annual rentals for such a facility in the event of the damage, loss or destruction thereof and of the availability and possession thereof by the state university construction fund and the occupancy thereof by the state university, or the availability and possession thereof by the state university, or the availability and possession thereof by the facilities development corporation and the occupancy thereof by the department of mental hygiene; and

(3) expenditures deemed necessary or essential for payment of the state's liability, pursuant to a contract with a county containing a city having a population of seventy-five thousand or more inhabitants or a city having a population of seventy-five thousand or more inhabitants, providing for the financing and the construction and leasing of state office buildings and other public improvements in such county or city, to hold such county or city and its officers, agents or employees harmless against liability, loss, cost, damage, claims, judgments or expense based on personal injury, death or damage to property, real, personal or mixed, which because of the uncertainty of events are not clearly foreseeable or predictable at the time of passage of the budget and other appropriation measures during the regular session of the legislature next preceding the occurrence or development thereof, and for which other appropriations are not available or are insufficient.

Transfers made pursuant to subparagraphs two and three of this paragraph are expressly for the purpose of applying self-insurer principles to the facilities therein described, consistent with the system of self-insurance followed by the state for real property under its jurisdiction and control.

b. Transfers to a special revenue fund or capital projects fund other than the capital projects fund established under section ninety-three of this chapter shall be made only if the amount of moneys credited to such fund for such program or purpose during the then current state fiscal year is in excess of such amount anticipated to be available at the time the annual budget for such fiscal year was submitted to the legislature, in which case, any such transfer shall be limited to the amount of such excess.

3. The governor may authorize the transfer of all or a portion of such a special emergency appropriation to a fund classified as a proprietary fund as defined in section two of this chapter subject to the conditions and procedures described in subdivisions five, six and seven of this section only if the revenues actually accrued to such fund during the then current state fiscal year are in excess of such revenues anticipated at the time the annual budget for such fiscal year was submitted to the legislature, in which case, any such transfer shall be limited to the amount of such excess.

4. The governor may authorize the transfer of all or a portion of such a special emergency appropriation to a fund classified as a fiduciary fund as defined in section two of this chapter subject to the conditions and procedures described in subdivisions five and seven of this section only if the moneys necessary to fund such transfer are available for disbursement within such fund and only when the disbursements required to be made during the then current fiscal year for liabilities which are not subject to statutory limitation are in excess of the amount of such required disbursements anticipated at the time the annual budget for such fiscal year was submitted to the legislature, in which case, any such transfer shall be limited to the amount of such excess.

5. Any transfer shall lapse, except with regard to obligations already incurred, on the day on which the governor submits an appropriation bill to the next succeeding regular session of the legislature unless such bill shall include a separate request for an appropriation, from the fund to which all or a portion of a special emergency appropriation was transferred, for the transferred amount. Upon such request, such transfer shall continue in effect until final action by the legislature on such bill, after which time such transfer shall lapse and no additional expenditures shall be made against such transferred appropriation. The same provisions of law as are applicable to the segregation and expenditure of appropriations generally shall also be applicable to the segregation and expenditure of appropriations transferred pursuant to this section.

6. The governor shall not have the authority to authorize, and the comptroller shall so deny, an appropriations transfer and any expenditures therefrom for any purpose concerning which the legislature has declared its intent that such program, project or activity shall not be performed. For the purpose of determining such legislative intent, the governor and the comptroller shall consider legislative action on the executive budget and the various appropriation bills for the support of government in addition to any specific act of the legislature making such a declaration.

7. The governor shall not authorize the transfer of all or a portion of a special emergency appropriation unless and until the following procedure has been followed:

a. The chief executive officer of a state agency or state affiliated corporation, immediately upon determining the necessity for a special emergency appropriation transfer, shall notify the director of the budget, the chairman of the senate finance committee and the chairman of the assembly ways and means committee on forms and in a manner to be prescribed by the director of the budget which shall include the following:

(1) a statement of the amount of the requested special emergency appropriation transfer and a schedule of the timing of the disbursements and expenditures proposed to be made pursuant to the transferred appropriation;

(2) a description of the purposes to be served, and the specific activities and positions to be funded, if any, by the proposed expenditures;

(3) a statement as to whether such expenditures shall or could be utilized to offset obligations of the general fund, the time period during which the moneys necessary for the proposed disbursements shall be available to such fund, and a description and explanation of the effects the proposed expenditures may have on the state's obligation to make similar expenditures in the future.

b. The director of the budget shall review such requests, taking into consideration any recommendations of the chairman of the senate finance committee and the chairman of the assembly ways and means committee, and after making any modifications, shall formally recommend to the governor approval of such requests as he shall deem appropriate. He shall at the same time notify the chairman of the senate finance committee and the chairman of the assembly ways and means committee of his recommendations on such requests, and shall submit to such chairmen any modification of such requests and such further information and justification as he shall deem appropriate or that such chairmen may require in furtherance of their review.

c. The governor shall then issue such transfer authorization pursuant to this section as deemed appropriate based upon his review of such recommendations, provided however, that when the request consists solely of moneys available for costs and damages resulting from natural disasters or civil disobedience, the governor may act in accordance with the immediacy of the situation.

* 8. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, in addition to the restrictions set forth therein, the governor may authorize a transfer to the general fund, to a capital projects fund, or to a fund established to account for revenues from the federal government only after the approval of:

(1) the temporary president of the senate or the chair of the senate finance committee (the "senate"); and

(2) the speaker of the assembly or the chair of the assembly ways and means committee (the "assembly").

Provided however, if either the senate or the assembly fails to affirmatively deny or approve such transfer within ten days from the date on which the governor provides notification of such transfer, then the transfer shall be deemed approved by both the senate and the assembly.

* NB Effective until March 31, 2028

*8. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, in addition to the restrictions set forth therein, the governor may authorize a transfer to the general fund, to a capital projects fund, or to a fund established to account for revenues from the federal government only after the approval of:

(1) the temporary president of the senate or the chairman of the senate finance committee; and

(2) the speaker of the assembly or the chairman of the assembly ways and means committee.

* NB Effective March 31, 2028

9. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section or any other law to the contrary, the governor may generally authorize the director of the budget to act on his behalf in authorizing transfers of appropriations pursuant to this section.