A BUDGET BILL submitted by the Governor
in accordance with Article VII of the Constitution
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the calculation and payment of state aid to school districts and boards of cooperative educational services, in relation to the actions of the board of regents, in relation to increased flexibility of state university and city university in administrative and fiscal functions respecting the establishment of tuition rates for graduate programs, in relation to the closure of school buildings, in relation to membership in a board of cooperative educational services, in relation to set-asides for higher learning standards; to amend chapter 405 of the laws of 1999, amending the real property tax laws and other laws relating to enacting major components necessary to implement the 1999-2000 state fiscal plan, in relation to making technical corrections thereto; to amend chapter 221 of the laws of 1998, relating to adjusting certain state aid payments to the Syracuse city school district, the Utica city school district and the Gloversville enlarged city school district regarding employment preparation aid, in relation to making technical corrections thereto; to amend chapter 82 of the laws of 1995 amending the education law and certain other laws relating to state aid to school districts and the appropriation of funds for the support of government, in relation to special education class size; to amend chapter 169 of the laws of 1994, relating to certain provisions related to the 1994-95 state operations, aid to localities, capital projects and debt services budgets, in relation to certain expiration and repeal dates contained therein; and to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to certain signage required on school buses; repealing certain provisions of the tax law relating to the calculations and payment of state aid to school districts and boards of cooperative educational services; providing for the repeal of certain provisions upon expiration thereof (A); to amend the education law, the state finance law, the real property tax law, and the tax law, in relation to school district spending and the school tax relief (STAR) program (B); to repeal certain provisions of the education law, relating to established documentary heritage grants and aid; relating to establishing the state library and state museum within the education department and providing for the administration of the state museum; relating to establishing grants for public television and radio; relating to establishing the powers and duties of the state library; relating to establishing state aid for library systems and libraries; and relating to establishing state aid for school library systems and state aid for cooperation with correctional facilities; and to amend the arts and cultural affairs law, the state finance law, the executive law and the not-for-profit corporation law, in relation to establishing the office of cultural resources and providing for the orderly transfer of all functions, powers, duties, obligations and assets of the office of cultural education located in the state education department to the office of cultural resources (C)
This bill contains various provisions needed to implement the Education, Labor and Family Assistance portion of the 2000-01 Executive Budget.
Part A. Education reforms; new Reading for Results program; flexibility for SUNY and CUNY Trustees in setting graduate tuition rates. This bill enacts education reforms implementing recommendations of the 2000-01 Executive Budget that would: encourage efficiency in the provision of shared services; improve special education programs; restructure tax aid formulas; enhance cost effectiveness in school construction; improve school bus safety; and deter the promulgation of costly mandates upon school districts. This bill would also create a new Reading for Results program to improve student reading performance in the early grades. Finally, this bill provides increased flexibility for the Trustees of the State University of New York (SUNY) and the City University of New York (CUNY) in establishing tuition rates for graduate programs.
Summary of Provisions:
Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES)
Effective July 1, 2000, this bill amends the Education Law to:
Special Education
Effective July 1, 2000, this bill amends the Education Law to:
School Facilities/Building Aid
Effective July 1, 2000, this bill amends the Education Law to establish additional incentives and mechanisms to address school facility needs and improve the effectiveness of school construction projects. Specific provisions would:
Tax Effort Aid/Tax Equalization Aid
Effective July 1, 2000, this bill amends the Education Law to reform tax equalization aid and tax effort aid. Specific provisions would:
Operating Aid Set-Aside Requirement
This bill replaces existing operating aid set-aside requirements included in paragraphs f, g, and h of subdivision 12 of section 3602 of the Education Law with a new set-aside that measures school district performance in meeting the State’s higher learning standards. Those school districts with low student performance on the English Language Arts Assessment will be required to dedicate from one to ten percent of their major operating aid funding to providing academic intervention services. This set-aside requirement would phase-out as school district performance improves.
Reading for Results Program
Effective with the 2001-02 school year, this bill creates a new Reading for Results program to improve reading performance in the early grades. Specific program activities eligible for 80 percent State funding include:
School Bus Safety
Effective July 1, 2000, this bill amends the Education Law to promote school bus safety by requiring additional school district reporting of incidents of neglect by school bus drivers and by amending the Vehicle and Traffic Law to require school bus drivers before exiting a school bus to ensure that no passengers remain on board.
Regents Mandates
Effective July 1, 2000, this bill amends the Education Law to require the Board of Regents to obtain the review and evaluation of the State Director of Regulatory Reform for proposed regulations that would result in significant costs for the State, local governments or educational institutions. In the absence of specific enabling legislation, such rule or regulation would not be mandatory.
Higher Education
This bill amends the Education Law by adding language to limit to undergraduate programs the mandate that students enrolled in programs leading to like degrees be charged uniform rates of tuition at SUNY and CUNY State-operated institutions.
Existing law:
BOCES
Section 1950 of the Education Law provides that shared services purchased by school districts from BOCES are eligible for a separate BOCES aid. The current aid formula rewards school districts with additional aid based on expenditures and includes a minimum State aid share of 36 percent.
Special Education
Section 3602 (19) of the Education law provides for the payment of excess cost aid to school districts for special education services. The current formula relies in large part on the type of special education setting to determine the school district’s payment level for special education.
Section 4410 of the Education Law governs the provision of preschool special education services to children, including the preschool committee composition and the evaluations of children seeking such services. Under current law, school districts are permitted, but not required, to perform evaluations. Decision-making authority regarding evaluations is given to the parents of children.
Tax Aids
Section 3602 (16) provides for the payment of tax effort and tax equalization aid. The existing formulas reward school district spending increases with additional State aid.
Regents Mandates
Section 207 of the Education Law gives the Board of Regents broad powers to adopt rules and regulations for matters related to education without legislative or executive approval, notwithstanding the fact that such rules or regulations may have significant fiscal impact upon State government, local governments or educational institutions. In addition, such regulations have been interpreted to have the full force and effect of statute.
School Bus Safety
Section 3650-C of the Education Law requires the Commissioner of Education to collect data on school bus accidents but does not require reporting on incidents of neglect by bus drivers and traffic infractions.
Higher Education
Sections 355 and 6206 of the Education law mandate that all students enrolled in programs leading to like degrees at SUNY’s and CUNY’s State-operated institutions be charged a uniform rate of tuition except for differential tuition rates based on State residency and differential tuition charged at SUNY colleges of agriculture and technology (which can only be lower than tuition charged for like programs at other SUNY institutions).
Prior Legislative History:
This is a new proposal.
Statement in Support:
BOCES
The existing BOCES funding formula gives BOCES a monopoly over the provision of shared services and encourages school districts to use BOCES without regard to cost effectiveness. This formula supports nearly 65 percent of approved expenses, artificially reducing the local cost of BOCES shared services even though the total cost is often higher than alternative service arrangements.
The reforms advanced in this bill will provide school districts with greater flexibility to achieve cost efficiency through sharing services with other school districts or other groups. If BOCES are capable of providing cost effective services in the absence of aid incentives, school districts will still opt to purchase such services from BOCES. If not, schools will have the option of purchasing services elsewhere or providing them directly.
Special Education
Statutory changes were enacted in 1999-00 to create greater incentives for school districts to serve disabled children in less restrictive regular classroom settings. This bill builds upon these changes by advancing more fundamental reforms to rectify the existing system of fiscal disincentives that keeps New York’s special education referral rate well above the national average. By providing school districts with a new performance based funding mechanism, this bill will encourage declassification of children who no longer require special education services while helping to avoid inappropriate referral of children into special education programs.
Provisions of this bill related to preschool special education are intended to better meet the needs of over 60,000 disabled preschool children by encouraging all school districts to regularly evaluate every child’s need for continuing services. Available data indicate that the declassification rate varies widely among school districts, with many districts declassifying only a small number of preschool children each year.
School Facilities/Building Aid
School districts are currently able to access the 10 percent building aid enrichment enacted in 1998-99 to support a wide range of eligible projects including swimming pools, lighted athletic facilities and school bus garages. In order to target State resources to high priority projects, this bill would limit the 10 percent building aid enrichment to instruction-related projects as defined by the Commissioner of Education.
The creation of a multi-year cost allowance will eliminate the current incentive for school districts to defer maintenance in favor of more costly capital construction which, due to high building aid ratios, can drive lower local costs than routine maintenance.
Because of the increasing age of school facilities throughout the State and the tendency for school districts to defer necessary maintenance, it is increasingly important that the Commissioner have sufficient authority to close schools that endanger the health and safety of students.
Tax Aids
Tax effort and tax equalization aid are theoretically intended to target State aid to school districts with high tax burdens. The current formulas, however, contain flaws that actually reward local spending increases and divert State funds that would otherwise be provided through the regular operating aid formula. This bill reforms the two formulas by limiting aid under the tax equalization formula to 1999-00 levels and by restructuring the tax effort formula to more accurately measure local tax burden. In particular, tax effort aid is improved by reflecting STAR benefits provided by the State in measuring residential tax levies.
Set-aside Requirement
By creating a higher learning standards set-aside, this bill would encourage improved school district performance in achieving the new State standards. Currently, 189 school districts are subject to set-aside requirements that restrict the use of $270 million for purposes that include remediation, attendance improvement/dropout prevention and early grade intervention. These set-aside requirements do not consistently recognize improvements in school district performance and are not linked to the State’s new higher learning standards.
Reading for Results Program
Far too many children in New York State progress beyond the early grades without acquiring the basic literacy skills that are essential to their future educational success. While avoiding expensive new local mandates, the authorization of the new Reading for Results program will give school districts significant new tools to address this critical issue.
Regents Mandates
Although State statute provides the Regents with sweeping powers and responsibilities in matters of educational policy, these provisions were never intended to empower the Regents to unilaterally impose mandates with significant fiscal implications for State government, local governments or educational institutions. Such matters of fiscal policy are the constitutional responsibilities of elected officials in the legislative and executive branches of State government.
School Bus Safety
Consistent with Governor Pataki’s Schools 2000 proposal for the 2000-01 school year, this bill would promote school bus safety by requiring additional local reporting of incidents of neglect by school bus drivers and would require drivers to check buses before exiting to ensure that no students remain on board.
Higher Education
The prohibitions against differential tuition at the graduate levels of study prevent the SUNY and CUNY Trustees from establishing tuition rates which recognize the legitimate distinctions that exist among the diverse types of institutions and programs comprising the State and City Universities and inhibit the generation of revenues in a manner sensitive to the needs of each campus.
Part B. Improvements to the School Tax Relief program. This bill will improve the equity, consistency and administration of the School Tax Relief (STAR) Program and protect STAR taxpayer savings by providing for limitations on school budget increases, additional budgetary and tax information to school voters and payment of STAR benefits directly to most homeowners.
Summary of Provisions:
Protecting STAR Benefits
Additional Information for School Voters
Effective immediately for school years beginning with 2000-2001, this bill amends subdivision 2-a of section 2022 of the Education Law to require that school district notices mailed to residents prior to school budget votes disclose to voters:
Limitations on School Budget Increases
Effective immediately for school years beginning with 2000-2001, this bill adds a new subdivision 6 to section 2022 of the Education Law to require that a school district’s total annual spending increase could not exceed 4 percent or 120 percent of the increase in the Consumer Price Index for the prior year, whichever is less, without a two-thirds majority vote. Spending increases attributable to enrollment growth, voter-approved capital projects, court orders, and certain other purposes allowed for contingency budgets would be excluded from the increase limitations. When less than two-thirds of the voters approve the budget, the school district may present a proposition to override the cap on one additional occasion.
The requirements for providing additional information to voters and limiting spending increases would not apply in the fiscally dependent school districts of the “Big Five” cities, which have their own constitutional tax limits and in which residents do not vote directly on school budgets.
Provide STAR Benefits Directly to Most Homeowners through Rebate Checks
To ensure that STAR savings are not eroded by excessive tax increases and that school districts are held accountable, this bill amends section 1306-a and adds a new section 1306-b of the Real Property Tax Law to provide that homeowners receive the Basic STAR benefits as a State rebate check after paying their school tax bills. Income-eligible seniors receiving Enhanced STAR exemptions will continue to receive their STAR savings through a reduction in their school tax bills.
Effective immediately for taxes levied on or after the thirtieth day following such effective date, the bill would:
This bill amends the Tax Law by adding a new section 179 to provide that:
School Tax Relief (STAR) Administrative Improvements and Clarifications
To improve the administration of STAR on a statewide basis, the bill amends Section 425 of the Real Property Tax Law to clarify general eligibility requirements and standardize income years for eligibility for the enhanced exemption for seniors, to be effective with STAR administration for 2001-02. An option to verify senior income eligibility through the Department of Taxation and Finance would be provided, effective with STAR administration for 2002-03.
Senior Exemption Eligibility Issues
Income requirements: To receive the enhanced STAR exemption, an applicant must qualify based on his or her income for the “income tax year immediately preceding the date of making application,” which creates problems in jurisdictions which have taxable status dates earlier than April 15 (as most do), and which also leads to unwarranted differentiation among applicants (e.g., some will submit their 1998 income tax returns with their applications for the 2000-2001 school year, and others will file their 1999 returns). The bill would establish clear and uniform standards by specifying that for the 2002-2003 school year, all applicants would have to qualify based upon their 2000 incomes. It would further provide that in each succeeding school year, these standards would be advanced by one year.
Income verification: To ease the burden upon seniors and assessors relative to verifying income eligibility, and to ensure even greater confidentiality of income-related information, the bill would add a new Section 171-k to the Tax Law to permit the State Board of Real Property Services and the Department of Taxation and Finance to enter into an agreement, under which the Department would attempt to verify, to the best of its ability, whether applicants for the enhanced STAR exemption satisfy the applicable income requirements. The implementation of such an agreement may make it unnecessary for most seniors to submit copies of their income tax returns with their STAR applications if they choose to exercise this option. Under current law, such an agreement would not be permissible (see, e.g., Tax Law, § 202).
Non-senior siblings: The 1999 amendment that expanded the Enhanced Exemption to property owned by siblings when only one is 65 or older (Chapter 405, Part A, L.1999) did not specifically require the senior owner to be a resident of the premises in question. Thus, for example, if a senior owns property jointly with his or her non-senior sibling, the Enhanced STAR age requirement is satisfied, even if the senior primarily resides — and is receiving the Enhanced STAR exemption — elsewhere. (The residency requirement is the same for the Basic as the Enhanced exemption, which means that the property need only be the primary residence of at least one of the owners. The requirement would be satisfied if the property is the primary residence of the non-senior sibling.) This proposal would close that loophole by providing that the property must be the primary residence of the senior sibling in order to receive Enhanced STAR.
General Eligibility Issues
Property Use: The bill would open the STAR program to property which is not predominantly residential property if the property includes the owner’s primary residence. In such cases, the exemption would only apply to the portion used by the owner as his or her primary residence. A similar provision already applies to the senior citizens exemption (RPTL, §467(3)(c)).
Married couples with two homes: At present, if a husband and wife own two homes, they could seek two separate STAR exemptions by claiming that one home is the husband’s primary residence and the other is the wife’s. To close this loophole, the bill would provide that a husband and wife may receive no more than one STAR exemption, unless they are legally separated.
Parcels with two homes: The bill would provide that when a parcel contains more than one owner-occupied home, each home may receive a STAR exemption, although the land could only receive one STAR exemption. Currently, such a parcel may receive only one exemption.
Residences split by municipal boundaries: The bill would provide that when a residential structure is located in more than one municipal corporation, the exemption must be apportioned between them in the same manner as the full value of the structure was apportioned. The law is currently silent on this point, although Counsel to the State Board has issued an informal opinion saying that apportionments should be done in such cases.
Mixed-use property in Approved Assessing Units: The bill would clarify that the STAR exemption may apply only to the homestead portion of mixed-use property in an approved assessing unit.
Farm Dwellings: The bill makes eligible for STAR exemptions primary residences on farms that are not owned by individuals but held in corporate or partner ownership, provided other eligibility requirements are met as to use as a primary residence by the corporation’s stock holders or the partners and as to income, in the case of eligibility for the enhanced exemption.
Procedural and Technical Issues
School district notices: The bill would require school districts to notify residents annually about the STAR exemption. The current notice requirement appears to apply only to the first year of the exemption.
Alternative STAR forms: The bill would authorize assessing units to prescribe their own STAR application forms, subject to the approval of the State Office of Real Property Services (ORPS). There currently is no statutory authorization for the use of forms other than those prescribed by ORPS.
Certiorari orders: The bill would clarify that when a certiorari order is issued which reduces the assessment of property below the STAR exemption which it had received, the exemption shall be reduced accordingly. For example, if property has been assessed at a total assessed value of $52,000 with a $50,000 STAR exemption, and its assessment is reduced to $48,000 as the result of a certiorari proceeding, the STAR exemption would be reduced to $48,000 as well. Current law is silent on this point. It would also clarify that in such cases, the State Board may deduct the excess STAR aid payment from the next school district aid payment. Currently, such adjustments must generally be made within one year from the initial aid payment.
Order of application of exemptions: The bill would relocate the language which states that STAR is to be applied to eligible property after the exemptions authorized by sections 459-c and 467 of the RPTL have been applied. The language will be moved from STAR and inserted into those exemption statutes.
Additional time to revise estimates of New York City Personal Income Tax revenues foregone: Effective immediately, this proposal would amend section 54-f(3)(c) of the State Finance Law to extend from two years to three years following the initial estimate, the determination period for revising the estimate of the annual amount due to be paid to New York City for tax receipts foregone as a result of Chapter 389 of the Laws of 1997, which reduced City personal income tax rates and created the State School Tax Reduction Credit, with the estimate determined in this third revision to be considered final.
Existing Law:
Existing law relating to STAR eligibility and administrative issues appears in Section 425 of the Real Property Tax Law. Specific provisions to be amended are described under “Summary of Provisions” above.
Section 1306-a of the Real Property Tax Law determines the effects of STAR exemptions on tax levies and tax bills and provides for reimbursement to school districts for all tax revenues foregone due to all STAR exemptions.
Subdivision 7 of section 1608 and subdivision 7 of section 1716 of the Education Law require school districts to publish locally, and furnish to the Commissioner of Education for statewide publication, prior to the statewide uniform voting day, a Property Tax Report Card containing information on estimated changes in school spending, tax levies and enrollment from the current year to the year for which a budget is proposed.
Subdivision 2-a of section 2022 of the Education Law requires that school districts mail notices to voters prior to school budget votes providing information on the percentage increases or decreases in total spending proposed and in the Consumer Price Index for the prior year.
Under sections 2022 and 2023 of the Education Law, school boards must adopt a contingency budget if voters fail to approve a school budget after the second submission. A school district’s contingency budget may not result in a percentage increase over the prior year that exceeds 120 percent of the increase in the Consumer Price Index for the prior year, or 4 percent, whichever is less. Certain types of expenditures such as emergency expenditures and enrollment-driven cost increases are excluded from the contingency budget limit.
Prior Legislative History:
The 1999-00 Executive Budget included similar proposals for STAR administrative reforms and to require school districts to disclose to voters how a proposed budget compares to a maximum allowable contingency budget. (S.1603-A/A.6434)
The proposals to limit school district spending increases, disclose the effects on STAR savings of school budget proposals, provide rebate checks, clarify tax bills, make eligible certain farm dwellings and extend the time for revising New York City personal income tax receipt estimates, are new.
Statement in Support:
This bill would increase the equity and consistency of the administration of the School Tax Relief (STAR) Program, provide additional budgetary and tax information to school voters, and protect taxpayer STAR savings from erosion due to excessive school tax increases.
The Governor’s STAR program was enacted to provide homeowners with relief from the heavy and growing burdens of ever-increasing school taxes. School property taxes in New York State were more than 60% higher than the national average and had been increasing at more than twice the rate of inflation over the previous decade. STAR has successfully provided senior citizens throughout the State with dramatic reductions in their school tax bills and non-seniors are now realizing significant savings as well. This bill will ensure that the benefits intended by STAR are not diminished by excessive increases in local school spending and taxes and that these benefits actually reach their intended recipients.
Some schools have used the STAR savings to mask tax increases. This bill will ensure that taxpayers are fully informed of spending and tax increases proposed by their local school districts, and their effects on STAR savings, in advance of school budget votes.
By capping school budget increases without a two-thirds majority vote, this bill will ensure that the intended benefits of STAR are not diminished without careful consideration by voters.
As the basic STAR exemption for non-seniors is phased in over three years, it is the annual increase in STAR savings that could allow schools to continue to mask tax increases. Delivering STAR benefits directly to the homeowners will protect and simplify STAR savings by cutting out the middlemen, the school districts, that are currently tempted to take a share before passing the savings on to taxpayers. Issuing rebate checks for the basic STAR exemption will ensure that school districts are held accountable and clearly show the full effects of their tax actions on tax bills.
As expected in any major new program, the need for various improvements and clarifications became apparent within the first few years of experience administering the program.
The modifications to eligibility requirements included in the bill would make the administration of the STAR program more consistent on a statewide basis. The amendments would reduce confusion, provide better guidance to local officials and ensure like treatment of similar situations in the nearly one thousand different local assessing units responsible for administering the STAR exemption application process.
Verification of income eligibility through the Department of Taxation and Finance would simplify the senior application process, reduce local processing costs and further protect the confidentiality of income tax returns.
Adding another year to the period for revising estimates of New York City income tax receipts foregone due to STAR would allow the State Commissioner of Taxation and Finance to determine a more accurate estimate for the amount due to be paid to New York City. Currently, after the initial determination is made, the Commissioner is allowed two revisions in the two years following the initial estimate. A third such revision would provide the time necessary to receive more final tax collection data for the year, thereby producing a more accurate calculation of the tax receipts foregone as a result of the STAR program.
Part C. Establishment of the Office of Cultural Resources. This bill will increase the recognition and visibility of New York’s cultural resources by establishing a new Office of Cultural Resources (OCR) within the Executive Department which will assume responsibility for the State Museum, the State Library and the State Archives.
Summary of Provisions:
Effective April 1, 2000 this bill will:
The responsibility for chartering museums and libraries, and licensure of public television and radio stations would remain with the Board of Regents.
Existing Law:
The Education Law assigns to SED the responsibility to administer the State Museum (§§ 232, 233-a, 234 – 235 -b), the State Library (§§ 232 and 245 – 252), Library Aid (§§ 271 – 285), Public Broadcasting Aid (§§ 236) and grants for historic documents and records (§§ 140).
The Arts and Cultural Affairs Law assigns SED the responsibility to administer the State Archives (§ 57.05) and the Local Government Records Management program (§§ 57.07-57.11).
Prior Legislative History:
This is a new proposal.
Statement in Support:
The establishment of a separate agency (OCR), whose sole focus would be to develop and promote cultural resources, would increase recognition and visibility of the leading cultural institutions in New York and protect the State’s investment in cultural development. The new Office would:
This bill will allow the Regents to focus on their critical role as framers and administrators of educational policy. The burden of administering ancillary functions (e.g., State Museum, the State Library, and the State Archives) assigned to SED over the years represents a distraction that has impaired the ability of the Regents to perform their constitutionally assigned responsibilities for education.
BUDGET IMPLICATIONS:
Part A is necessary to implement the 2000-01 Executive Budget and will have the following 2000-01 financial impact:
The flexibility provided to SUNY and CUNY is intended to allow the State’s public universities to develop innovative approaches to meeting the graduate educational needs of the State’s citizens. Differential tuition for graduate programs provides campuses with a tool to generate additional revenues that can be used to strengthen programs.
Part B is necessary to implement the 2000-2001 Executive budget because provision of STAR benefits directly to most homeowners is dependent upon its enactment and funding for both local and State administration of STAR is predicated on enacting procedural and eligibility modifications to STAR that will affect workload for the 2000-20001 fiscal year.
Providing voters with additional information about school budgets prior to voting, and capping property tax increase in high spending school districts, should tend to moderate the rate of increase in school taxes, thus also moderating the rate of increase in future State costs for STAR exemption reimbursements.
Extending the STAR exemption to some currently ineligible properties (i.e., properties which are not predominantly residential, but which contain the owner’s primary residence) could increase the future cost of the STAR program to a very limited degree, but any additional costs are not expected to be significant as most such properties are already included in the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimates of owner occupancy used to formulate STAR cost estimates.
Verification of income eligibility through the Department of Taxation and Finance will reduce local administrative costs, and thus the need for State assistance.
Part C is necessary to implement the 2000-2001 Executive budget recommendations for the transfer of $9.4 million from SED to OCR and for additional transfers consistent with the provisions of this bill.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill is effective immediately, with specific provisions taking effect as described above under each Part. Key provisions of Part A are effective on July 1, 2000. Key provisions of Part B to protect STAR savings are effective for 2000-01 and provisions affecting eligibility for STAR are effective for 2001-02. The option to verify income eligibility for the enhanced STAR exemption through the Department of Taxation and Finance would be effective for 2002-03. Part C will take effect on April 1, 2000.