New York Assembly bills A1920 and S962 would create a state employee ownership center to be housed at a university to provide outreach, education, and training on employee ownership, including ESOPs, worker cooperatives, and businesses that otherwise have a majority of their voting stock owned by employees. No specific funding is stipulated in the bill. It also provides that companies considering a transition to employee ownership can apply for loan assistance from the New York State business development loans. The loans could be funded through a public authority trust fund that could allocate up to $100 million in initial funding for this purpose. The bill does not contain a specific appropriation for this process, however. New York already authorizes public authority trusts funds for other purposes.
The bill also exempts any sale to a qualifying employee-owned business from capital gains taxes. New York taxes capital gains as income, currently at 8.82%
Both bills are sponsored by Democrats only.