Provides the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly the ability to appoint four members each of the state university of New York's board of trustees; reduces the members of such board the governor appoints to seven.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7732
SPONSOR: Hyndman TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to providing the tempo-
rary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly the ability
to appoint members of the state university of New York's board of trus-
tees
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 353 of the education law by changing SUNY board
of trustee appointments by the Governor to seven and adding four
appointments by the temporary president of the senate, and four appoint-
ments by the speaker of the assembly.
Section 2 sets out the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Under current law, the Governor appoints 15 of the 18 members of the
SUNY Board of Trustees, subject to senate approval. This legislation
would spread the appointments among the three different branches of
government, thereby eliminating the concentration of power to make these
critical appointments. These important members set policy for our entire
public university system and should reflect the values and perspectives
of all three branches of government.
Recent events in other states demonstrate the need for this legislation.
For example, in Florida, Governor DeSantis stunned voters by abruptly
replacing trustees at one of the state's public universities with
conservative activists committed to eliminating diversity and inclusion
programs and intent on substituting the university's traditional liberal
arts curriculum with conservative-driven ideologies. The move was
extremely disruptive to the university and its current students and
highlights the need to ensure that the power to appoint SUNY Trustee
Board members be spread across all three branches of government.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: A6430
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7732
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HYNDMAN -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to providing the tempo-
rary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly the abil-
ity to appoint members of the state university of New York's board of
trustees
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 353 of the education law, as
2 amended by chapter 268 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. The state university shall be governed, and all of its corporate
5 powers exercised, by a board of trustees. Such board shall consist of
6 eighteen members, [fifteen] seven of whom shall be appointed by the
7 governor [with the advice and consent of the senate] and who shall not
8 be an employee of, or under direct supervision of, the governor, four of
9 whom shall be appointed by the temporary president of the senate, four
10 of whom shall be appointed by the speaker of the assembly, one of whom
11 shall be the president of the student assembly of the state university,
12 ex-officio and voting, one of whom shall be the president of the univer-
13 sity faculty senate, ex-officio and non-voting, and one of whom shall be
14 the president of the faculty council of community colleges, ex-officio
15 and non-voting. Such ex-officio members shall be subject to every
16 provision of any general, special, or local law, ordinance, charter,
17 code, rule, or regulation applying to the voting members of such board
18 with respect to the discharge of their duties, including, but not limit-
19 ed to, those provisions setting forth codes of ethics, disclosure
20 requirements, and prohibiting business and professional activities. One
21 member of the board shall be designated by the governor as chairperson
22 and one as vice-chairperson. Of the members first appointed, two shall
23 be appointed for a term which shall expire on June thirtieth, nineteen
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09804-01-5
A. 7732 2
1 hundred fifty-two; one for a term which shall expire on June thirtieth,
2 nineteen hundred fifty-three; two for a term which shall expire on June
3 thirtieth, nineteen hundred fifty-four; one for a term which shall
4 expire on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred fifty-five; two for a term
5 which shall expire on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred fifty-six; one
6 for a term which shall expire on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred
7 fifty-seven; two for a term which shall expire on June thirtieth, nine-
8 teen hundred fifty-eight; one for a term which shall expire on June
9 thirtieth, nineteen hundred fifty-nine; two for a term which shall
10 expire on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred sixty; and one for a term
11 which shall expire on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred sixty-one. Vacan-
12 cies shall be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as
13 original appointments are made pursuant to this subdivision and subdivi-
14 sion one-a of this section. The term of office of each trustee
15 appointed on or after April first, nineteen hundred eighty-six shall be
16 seven years, except those of the student member and the faculty members.
17 Trustees shall receive no compensation for their services but shall be
18 reimbursed for their expenses actually and necessarily incurred by them
19 in the performance of their duties under this article.
20 § 2. Section 353 of the education law is amended by adding a new
21 subdivision 1-a to read as follows:
22 1-a. The appointment of members of such board by the temporary presi-
23 dent of the senate and the speaker of the assembly pursuant to subdivi-
24 sion one of this section shall commence when a vacancy occurs from a
25 member appointed by the governor either through the expiration of such
26 member's term, or separation of a member prior to an expired term. In
27 either case, vacancies of members appointed by the governor shall be
28 filled in an alternating manner between the temporary president of the
29 senate and the speaker of the assembly. The first such vacancy of a
30 member appointed by the governor shall be filled by the temporary presi-
31 dent of the senate and the next such vacancy of a member appointed by
32 the governor shall be filled by the speaker of the assembly. Such
33 vacancies shall continue to be filled in such alternating manner until
34 such time as the composition of such board reflects the number of
35 appointments authorized by each appointing authority pursuant to subdi-
36 vision one of this section. After such time, vacancies on such board
37 shall be filled by the appointing authority.
38 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
