Relates to gender balance on boards of state and local public authorities; provides that all appointive state and local authorities heretofore or hereafter established by law or resolution shall have recommendations for appointments, or reappointments that are gender balanced.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A5212A
SPONSOR: Wallace
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public authorities law, in relation to gender
balance in state and local public authorities; and providing for the
repeal of such provisions upon the expiration thereof
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To establish a program, to create a preference for women to be appointed
to state and local authority boards.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one adds a new section 2829 to public authorities law to estab-
lish a program promoting women to state and local authority boards.
Section two is the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
In an effort to address the leadership gap in New York, this bill would
establish a program promoting women to state and local authority boards.
Under the program, preference would be given by an appointing authority
to women candidates in the appointment or reappointment process,
provided that the weight of the preference is based on the number of
women currently on the board and such preference shall not be disposi-
tive. The program would function to realize gender diversity on public
authority boards and, by doing so, promote the benefits that accompany
such diversity.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023:A5212 (Wallace) - Passed Assembly
2022:A477A (Rozic) - Passed Assembly
2021:A477A (Rozic) - Passed Assembly
2020:A587 (Rozic) - Passed Assembly
2019:A587 (Rozic) - Third Reading
2018:A9027 (Rozic) - Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect August 1, 2024 and shall expire and be deemed
repealed August 1, 2034.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5212--A
Cal. No. 143
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 6, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WALLACE, AUBRY, JEAN-PIERRE, SEAWRIGHT, EPSTEIN,
TAYLOR, CRUZ, SIMON, DICKENS, COOK, OTIS, REYES, COLTON, LEE, LEVEN-
BERG -- read once and referred to the Committee on Corporations,
Authorities and Commissions -- ordered to a third reading, amended and
ordered reprinted, retaining its place on the order of third reading
AN ACT to amend the public authorities law, in relation to gender
balance in state and local public authorities; and providing for the
repeal of such provisions upon the expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public authorities law is amended by adding a new
2 section 2829 to read as follows:
3 § 2829. Program promoting women to state and local authority boards.
4 1. The legislature finds that there is a need to promote women for
5 recommendation and appointment to state and local authority boards in an
6 effort to reverse a long history of discrimination against women on
7 boards of public authorities. The program proposed by this section would
8 provide for the use of gender as a factor when making recommendations
9 and appointments to state and local authority boards. This section
10 serves to achieve the benefits that come with the important governmental
11 objective of attaining gender diversity on state and local authority
12 boards.
13 2. For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have
14 the following meanings, unless the context otherwise requires:
15 (a) "Gender balance" means providing women candidates with a prefer-
16 ence when appointing individuals to boards;
17 (b) "Appointing power" means an individual or government or legisla-
18 tive body charged with the responsibility to recommend for appointment
19 or to appoint or reappoint a person or persons to the board of a state
20 or local authority;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03891-02-3
A. 5212--A 2
1 (c) "Board" means the governing board or governing body or other such
2 governing entity of local and state authorities;
3 (d) "Preference" means the act of favoring one person over another
4 that is inversely proportional, provided however, such favoring shall
5 not be dispositive;
6 (e) "Inversely proportional" means the greater the percentage of women
7 on the board the lower the weight of the preference and the lower the
8 percentage of women on the board the greater the weight of the prefer-
9 ence.
10 3. (a) All appointive state and local authorities heretofore or here-
11 after established by law or resolution shall have recommendations for
12 appointments, or reappointments that are gender balanced as provided by
13 this section.
14 (b) Persons shall be recommended for appointment, appointed or reap-
15 pointed to any state or local authority only if that recommendation,
16 appointment or reappointment is gender balanced as provided by this
17 section.
18 4. An appointing power shall make recommendations, appointments and
19 reappointments to state and local authorities created prior to, on or
20 after August first, two thousand twenty-four, in a manner which will
21 ensure a gender balanced appointment or reappointment for each public
22 authority.
23 5. The appointing power shall undertake all efforts necessary to
24 obtain lists of names of qualified candidates to be recommended for
25 appointment to state and local authorities, in furtherance of the
26 advancement of the policy of this section to achieve gender balanced
27 appointments and reappointments to state and local authority boards
28 pursuant to subdivisions three and four of this section.
29 6. Multiple appointing powers charged with the recommendation,
30 appointment or reappointment of individuals to the same state or local
31 public authority shall consult each other in order to comply with the
32 requirements of this section.
33 7. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit an individ-
34 ual from completing a term for which the person was appointed, prior to
35 the effective date of this section.
36 8. Each state and local authority shall include the number of
37 appointed or reappointed board members in the last year, the number of
38 women board members appointed or reappointed in the last year, the
39 current number of board members on the board and the gender of such
40 board members in the annual report required pursuant to section twenty-
41 eight hundred of this article.
42 § 2. This act shall take effect August 1, 2024 and shall expire and be
43 deemed repealed August 1, 2034.