(a) "administer" shall mean an action carried out in a prescribed manner not allowing for substantial personal discretion for the purpose of processing taxicab driver permits and taxicab registrations and licenses, consisting of: (i) making city, town or village taxicab driver permit and taxicab vehicle registration and license applications available to applicants; (ii) referring taxicab driver applicants to medical and/or drug and alcohol testing personnel for any exam or testing as may be required to submit a taxicab driver application; (iii) acting as the designated entity for the submission of such applications including forms for any required medical exams and/or drug and alcohol testing; (iv) processing criminal background and/or department of motor vehicles license checks as may be required by law for a taxicab driver application and as the authority is otherwise authorized by law to process such checks; (v) forwarding applications, any required medical and/or drug and alcohol test forms and any required criminal background or department of motor vehicles license checks to the applicable city, town or village; (vi) and, providing taxicab driver permits and taxicab vehicle registrations and licenses upon receiving notification from such city, town or village that such municipality has approved such applications and issued such permit, registration or license. Such term shall also include the collection and forwarding of taxicab complaints to the relevant municipality;
(b) "taxicab vehicle registration and license" shall mean the authority granted by the relevant municipality, in the form of a taxicab medallion, for an applicant to own a vehicle designated as a taxicab and for such taxicab to be used as such within such municipality's jurisdiction;
(c) "taxicab driver permit" shall mean the authority granted by the relevant municipality for an applicant to drive a vehicle with a taxicab medallion within such municipality's jurisdiction; and
(d) "identical ordinance" shall mean ordinances of the several cities, towns and villages that are located in the Capital District transportation district that regulate the registration and licensing of taxicab vehicles and regulate taxicab driver permits pursuant to section one hundred eighty-one of the general municipal law and are identical with the exception of rates for taxicab service and application, permit, registration and license fees. 2. (a) The authority is authorized to enter into an agreement with any city, town or village located within the transportation district that has adopted an identical ordinance regulating the registration and licensing of taxicab vehicles, and the permitting of taxicab drivers, pursuant to the provisions of section one hundred eighty-one of the general municipal law, to administer taxicab driver permits and taxicab vehicle registrations and licenses on behalf of such city, town or village. Entry into such agreement shall be authorized only by resolution of the authority approved by not less than a majority of the whole number of members of the authority then in office.
(b) Nothing contained in this act, or in any state or local law, order, ordinance, rule, regulation or administrative code, shall be deemed to authorize the authority to approve or deny initial or renewal of taxicab vehicle registration and license applications or taxicab driver permit applications, or to cancel, suspend, revoke or take other action against a taxicab vehicle registration and license or taxicab driver permit or the holder thereof, or to impose any penalties for violations.
(c) Pursuant to an agreement as described in paragraph (a) of this subdivision, the authority is authorized to perform medical or drug and alcohol testing for applicants to the extent the authority is currently authorized and performing such testing for the authority's bus drivers, and process such criminal background checks and department of motor vehicle license checks on each applicant for a taxicab driver permit to the extent otherwise authorized by state and federal law.
(d) Nothing in this section or section two of the chapter of the laws of two thousand sixteen which added this section shall be construed to prevent a city, town or village at any time to withdraw from or terminate an agreement to have the authority administer the issuance of taxicab driver permits and taxicab vehicle registrations and licenses on behalf of such city, town or village. 3. (a) The total cost to the authority of administering the agreement authorized pursuant to this section shall be borne entirely by the city, town or village within the district which is a party to such agreement. On or before June first of each year, the authority shall determine and certify to each city, town or village with which it has entered into an agreement pursuant to this section the total cost to the authority for the twelve-month period ending the preceding March thirty-first, of administering such agreement within each city, town or village, respectively. On or before the following September first of each year, each such city, town or village shall pay to the authority such cost so certified to it on or before the preceding June first. Not later than twenty days after each such payment is submitted or is due, whichever occurs first, the authority shall submit to the director of the budget and the chairpersons of the fiscal committees of the legislature a report for each such city, town and village showing the amount of costs so certified and the amount of payments so received or due. If a city, town or village fails to make the payment required to the authority by the twentieth day after the date such payment was due, such city, town or village shall no longer be deemed a signatory to the agreement authorized by this section on such twentieth day and the authority shall: (i) notify the director of the budget and the chairpersons of the fiscal committees of the legislature of such occurrence within twenty-four hours of such day; and (ii) be prohibited from administering the issuance of taxicab driver permits and taxicab registrations and licenses on behalf of such city, town or village.
(b) If the authority should fail to submit any report required by paragraph (a) of this subdivision, the agreement between the authority and each city, town or village shall be deemed void on the ninetieth day after the date such report was due, unless the authority shall have submitted such report prior to such ninetieth day; provided, however, that any taxicab driver permit and any taxicab vehicle registration and license issued pursuant to such agreement shall not be voided and shall continue in full force and effect until its date of expiration and subject to the applicable local ordinance. 4. The performance by the authority of the provisions of this section shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be a further purpose of the authority; provided, however, that the authority shall be prohibited from increasing omnibus fares, decreasing omnibus service, or in any way changing, modifying, or altering services related to its primary purpose to continue, develop and improve transportation and other services related thereto within the Capital District transportation district by railroad, omnibus, marine and air as set forth in section thirteen hundred four of this title due to its performance of any act authorized or required by the provisions of this section. * NB Repealed July 1, 2021