New York State Public-benefit Corporations - Public Authority Financing

Public Authority Financing

The 1938 Constitution "expressly empowered public authorities to contract debt independently of the State". Because of this, the Court of Appeals has repeatedly affirmed that public authorities are distinct from the state and that the state carries no moral obligation to repay their debts. Although the Constitution prohibits the state from lending its credit to public authorities, it does allow the state to make gifts of money to authorities. As a practical result, this has resulted in some authorities receiving annual funding from the state on a consistent basis. Despite the fairly obvious moral obligation that the state carries to continue funding these authorities, which provide incredibly important public services such as road maintenance and transit operations, the Court of Appeals has continued to approve the fiction created by the Constitution's ban on moral obligation debt. As the Court of Appeals stated in Schulz v. State, 84 N.Y.2d 231 (1994), if "modern ingenuity, even gimmickry, have in fact stretched the words of the Constitution beyond the point of prudence, that plea for reform in State borrowing practices and policy is appropriately directed to the public arena". See also Wein v. State, 39 N.Y.2d 136 (1976); Wein v. Levitt, 42 N.Y.2d 300 (1977).

Financing public projects through public authorities is also attractive because their independent corporate structure theoretically makes them more flexible and efficient than state agencies. Many restrictions placed on state agencies do not apply to public authorities, including, for example, general public bidding requirements (some public bidding requirements do apply under the Public Authorities Law). See Plumbing, Heating, Piping & Air Conditioning Contr. Ass'n v. N.Y.S. Thruway Auth., 5 N.Y.2d 420 (1959). Most public authorities may also make contracts, and because of public authorities' corporate status, there is generally, no remedy against the state for the breach of such contracts. John Grace & Co. v. State University Constr. Fund, 44 N.Y.2d 84 (1978). Many public authorities, such as Industrial Development Agencies and the Empire State Development Corporation, can also condemn property.

The New York State Public Authorities Control Board was created in 1976 to provide oversight for some of the state's most powerful authorities. Sections 50 and 51 of the Public Authorities Law currently require 11 authorities to receive approval from the PACB prior to entering into contracts for project-related financing. There are five members on the PACB board, all of whom are appointed by the governor and serve year-long terms.

Public authorities are currently responsible for more than 90% of the state's debt and 80% of the state's infrastructure, leading some to refer to them as the "shadow government."