IN 2013, ELFA began participating in discussions that led to a task force of the National Conference of State Legislatures issuing an alert urging state legislators to be cautious of proposals put forward that require sales taxes be remitted by a party other than the lessor/retailer or its designee. In 2017, Massachusetts became the latest state to look at the feasibility of real-time sales tax collection and reject it. This latest attempt led the NCSL State and Local Tax Task Force (SALT) to again examine the persistence of state and local tax jurisdictions examining these proposals.
These proposals all call for real-time (transaction-by-transaction or daily) sales tax collection by processors such as credit card companies designated by state or local tax departments. The thought is that it would accelerate tax remittance to revenue hungry jurisdictions though only as a one-time, one-month benefit that does not generate additional revenue.
At the latest meeting of the SALT in November, ELFA once again detailed to the task force ELFA’s opposition to real-time sales tax collection and again the SALT Task Force rejected the idea without comment or questions. Since 2013, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Puerto Rico all have considered real-time sales tax collection and rejected it. The SALT has considered it and rejected it twice.
New York Data Security Legislation Passes the Assembly
New York Assembly Bill 2856 stipulates that if “data storage device” equipment is acquired:
pursuant to a lease agreement or rental contract, the owner or lessor of the copier…shall, as soon as practicable after the termination or cancellation of the lease agreement or rental contract, or upon assuming physical custody or control…ensure that any personal information which is stored on the data storage device…is destroyed through the use of a physical or technological method that has been adopted by an established standards setting body, including, without limitation…the National Institute of standards and Technology….
“Data Storage Device” is defined as “any device that stores information or data from any electronic or optical medium, including, without limitation, a computer, cellular telephone, magnetic tape, electronic computer drive and optical computer drive and the medium itself.”
The sponsor of the legislation intends for responsibility to fall on the owner/lessor regardless of provisions in the contract placing liability for removal of data on the lessee. It would not apply to equipment that is used or configured in such a way as to prevent the storage of data or images that may contain personal information. The bill has passed the Assembly and moved to the New York State Senate. Comments can be sent to Scott Riehl, ELFA Vice President, State Government Relations, at [email protected].
New York State Assembly member Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes (D-Buffalo) has filed this bill every legislative session since 2011 in response to a CBS Evening News Investigative Report that focused on copiers and intentionally drafted it to move beyond copiers to all leased equipment with data storage. The CBS report is particularly relevant to her constituents in Buffalo because it in part focuses on an off-lease digital copier from the Buffalo Police Department that contained a list of wanted sex offenders, domestic violence complaints and targets of a major drug raid. Peoples-Stokes has met with Buffalo law enforcement about that disclosure of police records and repeatedly introduced this legislation to address the issue. ELFA has met with the sponsor to discuss contract law and other relevant concerns relating to responsibilities of lessees under commercial lease agreements. The sponsor continues to push this legislation, and ELFA will continue to work with industry partners to defeat it.
