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A03642 Summary:

BILL NOA03642
 
SAME ASNo Same As
 
SPONSORRamos
 
COSPNSRCook
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Add §2104, Ed L
 
Prohibits trustees and members of a board of education from voting on matters before the board which affect a family member of the trustee or board member who is either employed by the board of education or school district or who would be financially impacted by such vote.
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A03642 Actions:

BILL NOA03642
 
02/03/2023referred to education
01/03/2024referred to education
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A03642 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A3642
 
SPONSOR: Ramos
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the education law, in relation to prohibiting trustees and members of a board of education from voting on matters before the board which affect a family member of the trustee or board member   PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: This bill would amend the education law in relation to prohibiting trus- tees and members of the board of education from voting on any matter before them that would affect a person, financially or otherwise, who is related to the trustee or member of the board of education.   SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: Section 1 of the bill amends the education law by adding a new section, 2104, which prohibits trustees and members of board of education to vote on any matter before the board when such vote shall affect a person who is related to the trustee or member and such person is employed by the board of education or school district or would be financially impacted. by such vote. Section 2 provides the effective date.   JUSTIFICATION: Nepotism, defined as "favoritism shown to relatives or close friends by those in power". Across New York State, there have been incidents of nepotism by trustees and members of the board of education and when nepotism exists in our school system it undermines the public's trust. Never is this worse than when a member of a board of education or trus- tee can cast a vote on a matter that that directly affects a relative of theirs that works for the board of education or the school district which they preside over. This goes for matters that are financial or in other ways personally beneficial. A trustee or school board member should not be allowed to vote for a raise or other such matters, for a family member that works for the district that they've been elected to represent. Such was the case in the Brentwood School district where a trustee of the board of education attempted to create a new six-figure job position for a family member while the school district was experiencing fiscal hardships.   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: A.3857 of 2021-22 referred to education A.6691 of 2019-20 referred to education A.5944 of 2017-18 referred to education A.9849 of 2015-16 referred to education   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.
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A03642 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          3642
 
                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    February 3, 2023
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  RAMOS, COOK -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Education
 
        AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to  prohibiting  trustees
          and  members of a board of education from voting on matters before the
          board which affect a family member of the trustee or board member

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section  1.  The education law is amended by adding a new section 2104
     2  to read as follows:
     3    § 2104. Voting by trustees and members of board of education. No trus-
     4  tee or member of a board of education shall vote on  any  matter  before
     5  the  board  when  such  vote shall affect a person who is related to the
     6  trustee or member and such person is employed by the board of  education
     7  or school district or would be financially impacted by such vote.
     8    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
 
 
 
 
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08234-01-3
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