Государственные корпорации и долг штата Нью-Йорк: история и проблемы регулирования.

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New York state public benefit corporations and authorities operate like quasi private corporations, with boards of directors appointed by elected officials, overseeing both publicly operated and privately operated systems. Public benefit nonprofit corporations share characteristics with government agencies, but they are exempt from many state and local regulations. Of particular importance, they can issue their own debt, allowing them to bypass limits on state debt contained in the New York State Constitution. This allows public authorities to make potentially risky capital and infrastructure investments without directly putting the credit of New York State or its municipalities on the line. As a result, public authorities have become widely used for financing public works, and they are now responsible for more than 90% of the state's debt. The growing influence of public authorities over state and local financing, coupled with their ability to avoid regulations applicable to government agencies, has led to calls for reform. Some reforms were passed in the Public Authorities Accountability Act of 2005. The New York State Authorities Budget Office, in their 2018 annual report, noted that there were 47 state authorities and 531 local authorities, including 109 IDAs and 292 not for profit corporations created locally, that they provided oversight for in New York State. According to this same ABO report, the operating expenses in 2017 for the 47 state authorities was $34.82 billion. Additionally, the 47 state authorities carried a total of $160.4 billion in outstanding debt.

Public benefit corporations in New York State have origins in mercantile capitalism. A shared tradition of English common law and Dutch law may explain their origins. The New York Court of Appeals provided a thorough history of state laws regarding public authorities in the 1994 case Schulz v. State, 84 N. Y.2d 231. The court held that the state had a moral obligation to repay the debts if canal revenues proved insufficient, and thus the certificates were deemed "an evasion if not a direct violation of the constitution". In 1921, the legislature chartered the first state public authority, the Port of New York Authority, as a new vehicle for financing public projects while insulating the state from long term debt obligations. In 1926, the Court of Appeals held in Williamsburgh Savings Bank v. State, 243 N. Y. 231, that the state could disclaim any moral obligation for public authority debts. However, amendments to the 1938 Constitution overruled this case and completely disclaimed the state's responsibility for any public authority debt. The widespread use of public authorities in New York State was pioneered by Robert Moses in the 1930s and 40s. Much of Moses' power base resulted from his tight control of the Triborough Bridge Authority, which allowed him to earmark revenues from tolls on the bridge for other projects in New York City and around the state. He also served as president of the Jones Beach Parkway Authority (1933–1963), president of the Bethpage State Park Authority (1933–1963), and chairman of the New York Power Authority (1954–1962). Moses, through his control of these authorities, was able to build some of New York's most important public works projects, including the Cross Bronx Expressway, the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, and various bridges and parkways. The public authority model allowed Moses to bypass many of the legal restrictions placed on state agencies, allowing him to expedite development but also allowing him to hide project financing, contracting and operational information from public scrutiny. Because of this, he has been criticized for wasteful spending, patronage, and refusing to consider public opposition to his projects. The 1938 constitutional amendments attempted to limit the proliferation of public authorities by specifying that they could be created only by special act of the state legislature. By 1956, 53 public authorities had been created. In 1990, the Commission on Government Integrity concluded that "At present, so far as Commission staff has been able to determine, no one has even an approximate count of how many of these organizations exist, where they are, much less an accounting of what they do." By 2004, the Office of the State Comptroller had identified at least 640 state and local authorities. The current count stands at 1,098. Some of the most well known major public benefit corporations in New York State include the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (actually a bi state authority created by interstate compact), the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Empire State Development Corporation. New York has hundreds of lesser known public benefit corporations, including industrial development agencies and local development corporations. The Public Authorities Accountability Act of 2005 created the Authority Budget Office in order "to provide the governor and the legislator with conclusions and opinions concerning the performance of public authorities and to study, review and report on the operations, practices and finances of public authorities " ESDC still encompasses many subsidiary organizations.

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". 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".

Public benefit corporations and public authorities are controlled by boards of directors made up of political appointees. Board members have fixed terms and are, at least in theory, considered to be more independent of political influence than elected politicians and appointed agency heads. Board members and employees of public authorities usually are not considered to be state employees, but are rather employees of the authority. Ciulla v. State, 77 N. Y. S.2d 545 (N. Y. Ct. Cl. 1948). However, public authority employees are covered by the ethics regulations included in section 74 of the Public Officers Law, and the Public Authorities Accountability Act of 2005 imposed additional ethics requirements on board members of some public authorities. Importantly, authority board members are now required to attend training sessions on ethics and governance issues.

The Overcoat Development Corporation was founded in the 1980s in an attempt to convince a men's outerwear company to relocate to New York from Indiana by offering a favourable lease on a building in Amsterdam, New York. This company folded, but the Overcoat Development Corporation continues to exist to service the long term lease it signed.

The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation's responsibility is to develop Roosevelt Island, a small strip of land in the East River, part of the borough of Manhattan.

Some of the public benefit corporations outside of New York City's metropolitan area, or serving the entire state, are listed below.

The Agriculture and New York State Horse Breeding Development Fund serves equine interests in New York State and provides education concerning certain agricultural development. A 2004 audit of the fund found problems with its management.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) provides construction, financing, and allied services that serve the public good, to benefit specifically universities, health care facilities, and court facilities.

The Empire State Development, also known as the Urban Development Corporation, maintains various programs and subsidiaries to encourage economic development in New York State.

The Natural Heritage Trust supports natural resource conservation and historic preservation within New York State through the reception and administration of donations and grants. It partners with several state agencies, including the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the New York State Department of State; partners also include other public and private entities. The trust was established in 1968. In 2017, it had operating expenses of $1.54 million and a staff of 76 people. Its staffing compensation exceeded its operating expenses in 2017 by almost $1.5 million in the 2018 New York State Authorities Budget Office report.

The New York State Thruway Authority maintains the New York State Thruway, a system of limited access highways within New York State.

The New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) provides low cost capital, grants, and expert technical assistance for environmental projects in New York State. The EFC has issued more than $13 billion in both tax exempt and taxable revenue bonds. In 2017, the EFC had operating expenses of $442.35 million, an outstanding debt of $5.917 billion, and 115 employees. The EFC's 2009 2010 budget was in excess of $500 million. The statutory basis for substantially all EFC activity stems from Title 12 of Article 5 of the NYS Public Authorities Law (also called the "EFC Act") in 1970.

The New York State Bridge Authority owns and operates five bridges on the Hudson River.

The Olympic Regional Development Authority was designed to administer and manage the Whiteface Mountain Ski Center and the other Winter Olympic venues used during the Lake Placid 1980 Winter Olympics.

The New York Power Authority provides electricity throughout New York State.

The New York State Canal Corporation is a subsidiary of the New York Power Authority (it was a subsidiary of the Thruway Authority before 2017). It is responsible for the oversight, administration and maintenance of the New York State Canal System, which consists of the Erie Canal, Cayuga Seneca Canal, Oswego Canal and Champlain Canal. It is also involved with the development and maintenance of the New York State Canalway Trail and with the general development and promotion of the Erie Canal Corridor as both a tourist attraction and a working waterway.

The Roswell Park Cancer Institute Corporation operates Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York.

The United Nations Development Corporation was designed to assist the United Nations with its real estate and development needs.

There are public benefit corporations that oversee the operations of Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo (Erie County Medical Center Corporation), Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow (Nassau Health Care Corporation), and Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla (Westchester County Health Care Corporation).

Class C public authorities have local jurisdiction and very few are of significance outside of economic development within towns, villages, and small cities.

The New York City School Construction Authority's mission is to design and construct public schools for children throughout New York City.