Authorizes the authorities budget office to suspend local authority board members and executive staff for failure to submit any report required by public authorities law section 2800.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A220
SPONSOR: Paulin (MS) TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public authorities law, in relation to authorizing
the authorities budget office to suspend local authority board members
and executive staff
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To authorize the Authorities Budget Office to suspend local authority
board members and chief executive officers that are substantially delin-
quent in filing required reports.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends the public authorities law to allow the Authorities
Budget Office (ABO) to suspend local authority board members or chief
executive officers that have failed to file the reports required under
the public authorities law for more than three years after the due date.
This section also establishes the procedures the ABO must follow in
order to issue a suspension, which include notification and an explana-
tion of the failure to file a required report. The notification proce-
dures would include:
*the issuance of a notice of intent to suspend, informing the board
member(s) or CFO that the local authority has 30 days to remedy the
non-compliance; and
*in the event the board member(s) or CEO fails to respond to the notice,
the issuance of a notice of suspension, which shall give the local
authority 180 days to comply prior to suspension.
Finally, this section authorizes the appointing authority, typically a
local municipal official or legislative body, to reinstate a suspended
board member. This section also authorizes the chairperson of a local
authority to reinstate a suspended chief executive officer. In both
instances, the facts and circumstances by how this decision was reached
would be available to the public.
Section two provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill would authorize the Authorities Budget Office (ABO) to suspend
local authority board members and chief executive officers (CEOs) who
have failed to file the reports that are annually required under the
Public Authorities Law. Reports are due 90 days after the end of the
authority's fiscal year. Currently, the ABO is only authorized to make
recommendations and issue a public censure letter.
Each year the ABO publishes a report listing authorities that are delin-
quent in these filings. Many of these authorities are only a few months
overdue and the filings are made, if not on time at least soon after
they are due. However, there are some authorities that have not filed
for years, and these are the authorities that this bill captures. The
current lack of strong enforcement measures has led some authorities to
ignore this filing requirement knowing that they can do so with impuni-
ty. By closing this gap in the ABO's enforcement powers, authority board
members and CEOs can be held directly accountable for long term
violations of filing requirements they are obligated to follow. This
bill includes a public suspension process which would shine a light on
authorities that are not otherwise providing information to which the
public is entitled.
As of February 2018, 129 local authorities failed to file reports with
the ABC required by the Public Authorities Law. This includes annual
reports and audit reports which are important documents to assure the
public that a local authority is fulfilling its mission and remains
accountable to the public they serve.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.9999-A of 2018, passed assembly.
Same as S.7749 of 2018, referred to corporations, authorities and
commissions.
A.3614 of 2017, referred to corporations, authorities and commissions.
A.7744-A of 2015 and 2016, referred to codes. Same as S.7878, committed
to rules.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Effective on the ninetieth day after it shall have become law.
