Amd §203-b, Exec L; amd §2, Chap of 2022 (as proposed in S.8145 & A.843-A)
Requires the commissioner of general services to maintain a list of all state boards; requires each state board to maintain a publicly accessible website; requires each website associated with a state board to include certain information about such state board; changes the effectiveness of chapter 219 to November 1, 2013.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A611
SPONSOR: Paulin TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring the commis-
sioner of general services to maintain a list of all state boards and
requiring each state board to maintain a publicly accessible website;
and to amend a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the executive law
relating to information on state boards, as proposed in legislative
bills numbers S. 8145 and A. 843-A, in relation to the effectiveness
thereof
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to make technical changes to Chapter 773 of
the Laws of 2022, in order to effectuate the intent of the law.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one would make conforming changes to the requirements for state
board or agencies to maintain a website and the information that will be
available on the website.
Section two would amend section two of Chapter 773 of the laws of 2022,
providing for an effective date of April 1, 2023 and only applicable to
contracts entered into after such date.
Section three would establish the effective date of this bill.
JUSTIFICATION:
No complete public inventory of state commissions, boards, councils,
task forces, or similar bodies exists in New York. As a result, it is
difficult, if not impossible, for New Yorkers to have an understanding
of existing boards, their composition, purpose or legal responsibil-
ities. The Committee on Oversight, Analysis & Investigation recently
completed a review of more than one hundred statutorily authorized
boards, task forces, and commissions. The review found that only about
half have information online, only thirty percent listed public meet-
ings, and only forty-five percent had contact information was readily
available.
Forty-three states have some form of centralized compilation or list of
state boards. This legislation would bring New York in line with the
majority of states which already provide this information to their citi-
zens and enable New Yorkers to easily find information about boards.
Overall, this is an important step in improving accountability and
increasing government transparency. This information is critically
important to enable oversight authorities to make recommendations on
merging boards with duplicative duties and purposes or eliminate
nonfunctioning boards. Since being vetoed in 2010, executive action
through the SAGE Commission has helped address some of the issues but
failed to reach the level of transparency that a list of all commissions
would provide. Any costs for creating transparency are far outweighed by
the potential cost saving of consolidation and the positive societal
benefits of transparency.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that section
one of this act shall take effect on the same date and in the same
manner as a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the executive law
relating to information on state boards, as proposed in legislative
bills numbers S. 8145 and A. 843-A, takes effect.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
611
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 10, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring the commis-
sioner of general services to maintain a list of all state boards and
requiring each state board to maintain a publicly accessible website;
and to amend a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the executive law
relating to information on state boards, as proposed in legislative
bills numbers S. 8145 and A. 843-A, in relation to the effectiveness
thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 203-b of the executive law, as added by a chapter
2 of the laws of 2022 amending the executive law relating to information
3 on state boards, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 8145 and A.
4 843-A, is amended to read as follows:
5 § 203-b. Additional duties of the commissioner regarding information
6 on state boards. 1. As used in this section, "commissioner" means the
7 commissioner of [the office of] general services and, "board" means any
8 board, commission, committee, council, task force or any similar state
9 public organization, required to be established pursuant to the state
10 constitution, state statutes or executive order, for the exercise of any
11 function of state government and to which members are appointed or
12 elected. "Board" does not include:
13 a. any informal advisory organization not established [exclusively] by
14 [a state agency to advise the commissioner, secretary, or director of
15 that agency on an informal basis] law;
16 b. any joint standing committee of the legislature or any committee of
17 the assembly and/or senate composed entirely of members of the legisla-
18 ture;
19 c. any court;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03941-01-3
A. 611 2
1 d. the board of trustees of any institution of higher education finan-
2 cially supported in whole or in part by the state;
3 e. any entity of local government;
4 f. any public authority or public benefit corporation, a majority of
5 whose members are appointed by the governor or serve as members by
6 virtue of holding state offices to which they were appointed by the
7 governor, or any combination thereof; and
8 g. any board of elections.
9 2. The commissioner shall maintain a [compilation of the membership
10 and meeting information] list of all state boards, including state
11 boards deemed active and regularly meeting on and after the effective
12 date of this section. The commissioner shall keep such [inventory in a
13 public record available for inspection, and updated annually] list on a
14 website designated by the commissioner for the purpose of public access,
15 and such list shall have a link to the website for each such board
16 established pursuant to subdivision three of this section. [Such compi-
17 lation shall include, but not be limited to:
18 a. statutory language, executive order or other legal basis or author-
19 ization for the establishment of such board;
20 b. public information including departmental affiliation, contact
21 address, phone number, and website;
22 c. a brief description of the purpose of the board and its legally
23 required duties, including required reports or other products;
24 d. the size of board membership, current member names, and any quali-
25 fications;
26 e. whether members of a board are eligible for payment of expenses or
27 other compensation in the performance of their duties as members of that
28 board;
29 f. dates and locations of all meetings held, and to be held within six
30 months, or a location, including but not limited to another website, in
31 which such information can be publicly accessed;
32 g. geographic and other relevant qualifications of all current members
33 of the board, including the county in which the member resides and the
34 background or expertise the member possesses where such background or
35 expertise is required for membership on such board; and
36 h. any other information the commissioner may require. Nothing in
37 this section shall authorize the release or publication of any board
38 member's residential address.
39 2-a. The commissioner shall also, to the extent practicable, maintain
40 and update annually a compilation of all available information of all
41 state boards currently authorized by provisions of the state constitu-
42 tion, state statutes or executive orders that the commissioner deems
43 inactive. For purposes of this section, a board shall be deemed inactive
44 if it has not held a meeting in the year prior to the effective date of
45 this section. A board shall hereafter be treated as inactive for the
46 purposes of this section if it has not met in the preceding calendar
47 year.
48 3. The commissioner shall update on an annual basis beginning April
49 first, two thousand twenty-three on the designated website, all vacan-
50 cies, expired terms, those terms expiring within one year, and the proc-
51 ess for filling such vacancies on such boards] The designated website
52 shall be updated annually.
53 [4.] 3. Each board or the state agency that provides administrative
54 support or is otherwise affiliated with a board shall establish and
55 maintain a website available to the public and provide a link to such
56 website to the commissioner. Each board or the state agency that
A. 611 3
1 provides administrative support or is otherwise affiliated with a board
2 shall annually on or before January first, [submit to the commissioner
3 all information pursuant to this section in a manner specified by the
4 commissioner to facilitate the publication requirements of this section.
5 Each submission shall also include information on compensation and
6 expenses incurred in the prior and current fiscal years, as well as
7 projected costs for the coming fiscal year] update the information on
8 its website.
9 [5. The commissioner shall receive from any department, division,
10 board, bureau, commission or other agency of the state any information
11 and resources as will enable him or her to properly carry out the
12 purposes of this section.]
13 4. The website established by each board or the state agency that
14 provides administrative support or is otherwise affiliated with a board
15 shall include, but not be limited to:
16 a. statutory language, executive order or other legal basis or author-
17 ization for the establishment of such board;
18 b. public information including departmental affiliation, contact
19 address, phone number, and website;
20 c. a brief description of the purpose of the board and its legally
21 required duties, including required reports or other products;
22 d. the size of board membership, current member names, and any quali-
23 fications;
24 e. whether members of a board are eligible for payment of expenses or
25 other compensation in the performance of their duties as members of such
26 board and information on compensation and expenses incurred in the prior
27 and current fiscal years, as well as projected costs for the coming
28 fiscal year;
29 f. meeting minutes and agendas, dates and locations of all meetings
30 held, and to be held within six months, or a location, including but not
31 limited to another website, in which such information can be publicly
32 accessed;
33 g. geographic and other relevant qualifications of all current members
34 of the board, including the county in which the member resides and the
35 background or expertise the member possesses where such background or
36 expertise is required for membership on such board; and
37 h. any other information the commissioner may require. Nothing in this
38 section shall authorize the release or publication of any board member's
39 residential address.
40 5. Each board or the state agency that provides administrative support
41 or is otherwise affiliated with a board shall update on an annual basis
42 beginning November first, two thousand twenty-three on its website, all
43 vacancies, expired terms, terms expiring within one year, and the proc-
44 ess for filling such vacancies on such boards.
45 6. On or before January first, two thousand twenty-four, the commis-
46 sioner shall report to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, the
47 temporary president of the senate, the chair of the assembly oversight,
48 analysis and investigation committee and the chair of the senate inves-
49 tigations and government operations committee on the status of the
50 [inventory] list including but not limited to the number of boards
51 reported and verified[; the aggregate demographic information of
52 appointments made by each appointing authority including but not limited
53 to race, sex, and geographic representation of such appointees provided
54 that no information shall be personally identifiable, and the content
55 and completeness of the information gathered in accordance with the
A. 611 4
1 requirements of this section]. The commissioner shall also report on any
2 impediments to obtaining information.
3 § 2. Section 2 of a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the executive
4 law relating to information on state boards, as proposed in legislative
5 bills numbers S. 8145 and A. 843-A, is amended to read as follows:
6 § 2. This act shall take effect [April] November 1, 2023.
7 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
8 section one of this act shall take effect on the same date and in the
9 same manner as a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the executive law
10 relating to information on state boards, as proposed in legislative
11 bills numbers S. 8145 and A. 843-A, takes effect.
