Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official source posted by the New York State Senate, fetched 2026-08-11. Nothing is edited or removed. Where this bill amends existing law, language marked for deletion in the official source appears here in brackets. The official bill page.
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
2496
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
January 17, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. McDONALD, BURDICK, SIMON, HEVESI, GLICK, WOERNER,
DeSTEFANO, DAVILA, REYES, BENDETT, HYNDMAN -- read once and referred
to the Committee on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in relation to preferred source
status for entities that provide employment and services to certain
persons
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 162 of the state finance law, as
added by chapter 83 of the laws of 1995, is amended to read as follows:
1. Purpose. To advance special social and economic goals, selected
providers shall have preferred source status for the purposes of
procurement in accordance with the provisions of this section. Procure-
ment from these providers shall be exempted from the competitive
procurement provisions of section one hundred sixty-three of this arti-
cle and other competitive procurement statutes. Such exemption shall
apply to commodities produced, manufactured or assembled, including
those repackaged, ASSEMBLED OR FULFILLED to meet the form, function and
utility required by state agencies, in New York state and, where so
designated, services provided by those sources in accordance with this
section.
§ 2. Paragraph d of subdivision 2 of section 162 of the state finance
law, as amended by chapter 565 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read
as follows:
d. Commodities and services produced by any qualified charitable non-
profit-making agency for other disabled persons AND/OR FORMERLY INCAR-
CERATED PERSONS approved for such purposes by the commissioner of educa-
tion, or incorporated under the laws of this state and approved for such
purposes by the commissioner of education;
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02990-01-5
A. 2496 2
§ 2-a. Paragraph d of subdivision 2 of section 162 of the state
finance law, as amended by chapter 501 of the laws of 2002, is amended
to read as follows:
d. Commodities and services produced by any qualified charitable non-
profit-making agency for other severely disabled persons AND/OR FORMERLY
INCARCERATED PERSONS approved for such purposes by the commissioner of
education, or incorporated under the laws of this state and approved for
such purposes by the commissioner of education;
§ 3. Subparagraph (iii) of paragraph a of subdivision 4 of section 162
of the state finance law, as amended by chapter 565 of the laws of 2022,
is amended to read as follows:
(iii) When commodities are available, in the form, function and utili-
ty required by, a state agency or political subdivision or public bene-
fit corporation having their own purchasing agency, and such commodities
are not available pursuant to subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of this para-
graph, said commodities shall then be purchased from a qualified non-
profit-making agency for other disabled persons AND/OR FORMERLY INCAR-
CERATED PERSONS, a qualified special employment program for mentally ill
persons, or a qualified veterans' entity; provided, however, the
preferred source shall perform fifty percent or more of the work;
§ 3-a. Subparagraph (iii) of paragraph a of subdivision 4 of section
162 of the state finance law, as added by chapter 83 of the laws of
1995, is amended to read as follows:
(iii) When commodities are available, in the form, function and utili-
ty required by, a state agency or political subdivision or public bene-
fit corporation having their own purchasing agency, and such commodities
are not available pursuant to subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of this para-
graph, said commodities shall then be purchased from a qualified non-
profit-making agency for other severely disabled persons AND/OR FORMERLY
INCARCERATED PERSONS, a qualified special employment program for mental-
ly ill persons, or a qualified veterans' workshop;
§ 4. The opening paragraph of paragraph b of subdivision 4 of section
162 of the state finance law, as amended by chapter 565 of the laws of
2022, is amended to read as follows:
When services are available, in the form, function and utility
required by, a state agency or political subdivision or public benefit
corporation having their own purchasing agency, equal priority shall be
accorded the services rendered and offered for sale by qualified non-
profit-making agencies for the blind and those for [the] other disabled
PERSONS AND/OR FORMERLY INCARCERATED PERSONS, by qualified special
employment programs for mentally ill persons and by qualified veterans'
entities; provided, however, the preferred source shall perform fifty
percent or more of the work. In the case of services:
§ 4-a. The opening paragraph of paragraph b of subdivision 4 of
section 162 of the state finance law, as added by chapter 83 of the laws
of 1995, is amended to read as follows:
When services are available, in the form, function and utility
required by, a state agency or political subdivision or public benefit
corporation having their own purchasing agency, equal priority shall be
accorded the services rendered and offered for sale by qualified non-
profit-making agencies for the blind and those for [the] other severely
disabled PERSONS AND/OR FORMERLY INCARCERATED PERSONS, by qualified
special employment programs for mentally ill persons and by qualified
veterans' workshops. In the case of services:
§ 5. Subdivision 6 of section 162 of the state finance law, as amended
by chapter 565 of the laws of 2022, is amended to read as follows:
A. 2496 3
6. Prices charged by agencies for the blind, other disabled PERSONS
AND/OR FORMERLY INCARCERATED PERSONS and veterans' entity.
a. Except with respect to the correctional industries program of the
department of corrections and community supervision, it shall be the
duty of the commissioner to determine, and from time to time review, the
prices of all commodities and to approve the price of all services
provided by preferred sources as specified in this section offered to
state agencies, political subdivisions or public benefit corporations
having their own purchasing office. The commissioner's price review and
approval shall not be required for any purchases below one hundred thou-
sand dollars.
b. In determining and revising the prices of such commodities or
services, consideration shall be given to the reasonable costs of labor,
materials and overhead necessarily incurred by such preferred sources
under efficient methods of procurement, production, performance and
administration; however, the prices of such products and services shall
be as close to prevailing market price as practicable, but in no event
greater than fifteen percent above the prevailing market prices for the
same or equivalent commodities or services.
c. Such qualified charitable non-profit-making agencies for the blind
and other disabled PERSONS AND/OR FORMERLY INCARCERATED PERSONS may make
purchases of materials, equipment or supplies, except printed material,
from centralized contracts for commodities in accordance with the condi-
tions set by the office of general services; provided that the qualified
charitable non-profit-making agency for the blind or other disabled
PERSONS AND/OR FORMERLY INCARCERATED PERSONS shall accept sole responsi-
bility for any payment due the vendor.
d. Such qualified charitable non-profit-making agencies for the blind
and other disabled PERSONS AND/OR FORMERLY INCARCERATED PERSONS may make
purchases of materials, equipment and supplies directly from the correc-
tional industries program administered by the commissioner of
corrections and community supervision, subject to such rules as may be
established from time to time pursuant to the correction law; provided
that the qualified charitable non-profit-making agency for the blind or
other disabled PERSONS AND/OR FORMERLY INCARCERATED PERSONS shall accept
sole responsibility for any payment due the department of corrections
and community supervision.
e. The commissioner of the office of children and family services
shall appoint the New York state commission for the blind, or other
non-profit-making agency, other than the agency representing [the] other
disabled PERSONS AND/OR FORMERLY INCARCERATED PERSONS, to facilitate the
distribution of orders among qualified non-profit-making charitable
agencies for the blind. The state commissioner of education shall
appoint a non-profit-making agency, other than the agency representing
the blind, to facilitate the distribution of orders among qualified
non-profit-making charitable agencies for [the] other disabled PERSONS
AND/OR FORMERLY INCARCERATED PERSONS and the veterans' entities. The
state commissioner of mental health shall facilitate the distribution of
orders among qualified special employment programs operated or approved
by the office of mental health serving mentally ill persons.
f. The commissioner may request the state comptroller to conduct
audits and examinations to be made of all records, books and data of any
agency for the blind or [the] other disabled PERSONS AND/OR FORMERLY
INCARCERATED PERSONS, any special employment program for mentally ill
persons or any veterans' entity qualified under this section to deter-
mine the costs of manufacture or the rendering of services and the
A. 2496 4
manner and efficiency of production and administration of such agency or
special employment program or veterans' entity with relation to any
product or services purchased by a state agency or political subdivision
or public benefit corporation and to furnish the results of such audit
and examination to the commissioner for such action as [he or she] THE
COMMISSIONER may deem appropriate under this section.
§ 6. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that:
(a) the amendment to paragraph d of subdivision 2 of section 162 of
the state finance law made by section two of this act shall be subject
to the expiration and reversion of such paragraph pursuant to section 4
of chapter 565 of the laws of 2022, as amended, when upon such date the
provisions of section two-a of this act shall take effect;
(b) the amendment to subparagraph (iii) of paragraph a of subdivision
4 of section 162 of the state finance law made by section three of this
act shall be subject to the expiration and reversion of such subpara-
graph pursuant to section 4 of chapter 565 of the laws of 2022, as
amended, when upon such date the provisions of section three-a of this
act shall take effect; and
(c) the amendments to the opening paragraph of paragraph b of subdivi-
sion 4 of section 162 of the state finance law made by section four of
this act shall be subject to the expiration and reversion of such para-
graph pursuant to section 4 of chapter 565 of the laws of 2022, as
amended, when upon such date the provisions of section four-a of this
act shall take effect.Every fact on this page links to its source, starting with the official bill record.