Relates to the computation and allocation of the commissions of trustees of charitable trusts.
Summary
This bill amends provisions of the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act governing trustee commissions for charitable trusts and related trust arrangements. It revises how annual commissions are computed and from what assets they are paid, including clarifying that commissions are generally payable from trust income and principal according to existing statutory rates, but with special treatment for trusts governed by EPTL section 11-2.4 and for charitable remainder annuity trusts and charitable remainder unitrusts. In those cases, commissions are to be paid from corpus after the annuity or unitrust amounts are satisfied, and not from the annuity or unitrust payments themselves.
The bill also changes the commission rules for trusts created solely for public, religious, charitable, scientific, literary, educational, or fraternal purposes. It reduces the amount trustees may retain to 80 percent of the otherwise applicable statutory rates, and for any portion of such a trust exceeding $20 million in principal value, limits commissions to 50 percent of the rate specified in the statute. It further eliminates trustee commissions from principal for these charitable-purpose trusts and repeals a related provision in section 2308. The bill applies similar changes to corporate trustees under section 2312 and includes a delayed effective date with an election allowing existing trusts to continue under prior law through the end of the calendar year in which the act takes effect.
Impact
The bill would amend multiple sections of the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act, primarily sections 2308, 2309, and 2312, to alter the calculation, source, and amount of trustee commissions for charitable trusts and certain trust structures. It would reduce commissions for charitable-purpose trusts, cap commissions on very large trusts, bar commissions from principal in specified circumstances, and clarify treatment of annuity and unitrust payments. The measure would affect trustees, corporate fiduciaries, charitable organizations, and beneficiaries of charitable and split-interest trusts, while also creating a transition rule for trusts already in existence when the law takes effect.
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests the bill was received favorably and without recorded opposition in committee. It passed the Assembly Ways and Means Committee unanimously and was then favorably reported by the Assembly Rules Committee, also unanimously. No committee transcript is available, but the unanimous votes indicate broad support and no visible controversy at the committee stage.
Contention
The main policy issue is the reduction and restructuring of trustee compensation for charitable trusts, especially the new lower commission rates and the additional cap for trust assets above $20 million. Trustees and fiduciaries may view the bill as limiting compensation and changing established payment practices, while charitable interests and policymakers may support it as a way to preserve more trust assets for charitable purposes. Another point of potential concern is the bill’s application to existing trusts, though the election to continue prior-law commissions through year-end appears designed to soften that transition.
Adds members to the board of trustees of the state university of New York who represent the interests of community colleges as full voting members of the board of trustees; provides that the local legislative body or board of the county in which a community college is located may appoint a trustee in the event that the governor fails to appoint such trustee within 180 days of a vacancy on a board of trustees of a community college.
Adds members to the board of trustees of the state university of New York who represent the interests of community colleges as full voting members of the board of trustees; provides that the local legislative body or board of the county in which a community college is located may appoint a trustee in the event that the governor fails to appoint such trustee within 180 days of a vacancy on a board of trustees of a community college.
Payment rates established for certain substance use disorder treatment services, and vendor eligibility recodified for payments from the behavioral health fund.
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