39-B - Special provisions relating to court facilities.
§ 39-b. Special provisions relating to court facilities. 1. For purposes of this section: (a) the term "court facilities" shall mean facilities for the transaction of business by the state-paid courts and court-related agencies of the unified court system and the judicial and nonjudicial personnel thereof, including rooms and accommodations for the courts and court-related agencies of the unified court system, the judges, justices and the clerical, administrative and other personnel thereof. (b) the term "cleaning of court facilities" shall mean those services and activities that are necessary to insure that the interior of each court facility is and remains a clean and healthful environment in which to transact the business of the unified court system. These services and activities include, but are not limited to: removal of trash and debris; maintenance of appropriate standards of hygiene; painting; pest control; and replacement of consumable items such as light bulbs, soap, toilet paper and paper towelling. They also shall include the making of minor repairs in accordance with rules of the chief judge. (c) the term "political subdivision" shall include each county of the state outside the city of New York and each city of the state. 2. Commencing April first, nineteen hundred ninety-eight, the state shall be responsible for the cleaning of court facilities and, subject to the provisions of paragraphs (b) and (c) of subdivision three of this section, shall pay the cost thereof out of funds appropriated from the court facilities incentive aid fund to the judiciary for that purpose. 3. (a) Notwithstanding any provision herein, the state shall enter into a contract with a political subdivision pursuant to which such political subdivision shall provide for the cleaning of court facilities located therein except that, where any such political subdivision shall fail to comply with the provisions of such contract, the chief administrator may proceed pursuant to an alternative plan for the cleaning of court facilities located in such political subdivision subject to the approval of such alternative plan by the court facilities capital review board in the same manner as the approval of the capital plan of a political subdivision pursuant to section sixteen hundred eighty-c of the public authorities law. (b) Any contract with a political subdivision entered pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision for the cleaning of court facilities in that political subdivision during a fiscal year ending prior to April first, two thousand one shall provide that the political subdivision shall pay the cost of such cleaning in the first instance and that the state shall reimburse the political subdivision from funds appropriated from the court facilities incentive aid fund an amount equaling: (i) twenty-five percent of all expenses the political subdivision actually and necessarily incurred in compliance with this paragraph if the fiscal year commenced April first, nineteen hundred ninety-eight, (ii) fifty percent of all expenses the political subdivision actually and necessarily incurred in compliance with this paragraph if the fiscal year commenced April first, nineteen hundred ninety-nine, and (iii) seventy-five percent of all expenses the political subdivision actually and necessarily incurred in compliance with this paragraph if the fiscal year commenced April first, two thousand. (c) Where a political subdivision shall fail to enter into a contract pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision for the cleaning of court facilities in that political subdivision during a fiscal year ending prior to April first, two thousand one or to comply with provisions of such a contract once entered into, and the chief administrator proceeds pursuant to an alternative plan pursuant to such paragraph, the chief administrator shall certify that fact to the state comptroller, thedirector of the budget, the chair of the senate finance committee and the chair of the assembly ways and means committee, along with the cost of such alternative plan to the state in such fiscal year. In such event, the political subdivision shall be required to reimburse the state for a percentage of such cost as follows: (i) in the fiscal year commencing April first, nineteen hundred ninety-eight, seventy-five percent; (ii) in the fiscal year commencing April first, nineteen hundred ninety-nine, fifty percent; and (iii) in the fiscal year commencing April first, two thousand, twenty-five percent. Effective for each fiscal year in which a political subdivision is required to reimburse the state pursuant to this paragraph, the state comptroller shall: (i) deduct from any moneys payable to such political subdivision from the local assistance fund the amount of such reimbursement, and (ii) transfer the amount of such deduction from the local assistance fund to the court facilities incentive aid fund. 4. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivisions two and three of this section, where, for a state fiscal year commencing on or after April first, nineteen hundred ninety-eight, a political subdivision demonstrates to the chief administrator that its net liability under this section on account of expenses incurred pursuant to this section for its court facilities during that state fiscal year is greater than the difference between: (i) the amount of those expenses and (ii) the amount of state assistance to which the political subdivision would have been entitled, on account of expenses paid during such fiscal year, pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (a) of subdivision two of section fifty-four-j of the state finance law in effect prior to enactment of chapter six hundred eighty-six of the laws of nineteen hundred ninety-six had such provisions remained in effect, then, for that fiscal year, the amount of reimbursement the political subdivision is owed by the state shall be increased or the amount of reimbursement it owes the state shall be decreased, as appropriate, so that the political subdivision's net liability under this section for the fiscal year equals such difference. For purposes of this subdivision, a political subdivision's net liability under this section for a state fiscal year shall equal: (i) the difference between the amount of the expenses for court facilities in such political subdivision incurred by the state pursuant to this section and the amount of reimbursement owed the state therefor by the political subdivision in such fiscal year, if paragraph (c) of subdivision three of this section applies, or (ii) the amount of reimbursement owed by the state to the political subdivision in such fiscal year pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision three of this section, if such paragraph (b) applies.