NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7933C
SPONSOR: Gonzalez-Rojas TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to including individuals
who do not identify exclusively as a binary gender in eligibility for
party positions
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill would allow individuals who do not identify exclusively as a
binary gender in eligibility for party positions.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends subdivision 4 of Section 2-102 of the election law to
require the state committee to change its rules so that people who do
not identify as a binary gender can run for state committee.
Section 2 amends subdivision 2 of section 2-104 of the election law to
change the representation on county committee to be based on gender and
not on sex.
Section 3 amends subdivision 2 of section 2-110 of the election law to
require that committees other than state and county committee change the
requirement that district leaders be of different genders to include
people who do not exclusively identify as a binary gender.
Section 4 amends subdivision 2-122 of the election law to allow deleg-
ates and alternates to national party conventions who do not exclusively
identify as a biriary gender to run and serve.
Section 5 amends subdivision 3 of section 5-504 the election law to
require that the board of elections maintain the gender of voters on
public record as opposed to their sex.
Section 6 amends subdivision 7 of section 74116 of the election law to
require that candidates for election in counties or the city of New York
that are of different genders be printed separately by lot on the
ballot.
Section 7 sets the effective date
JUSTIFICATION:
The New York State Constitution provides that "any committee of a poli-
tical party may, by rule, provide for equal representation of the sexes
on any such committee, and a state convention of a political party, at
which candidates for public office are nominated, may, by rule, provide
for equal representation of the sexes on any committee of such party."
Since the clause was written, scientific understanding has increased
substantially, including in areas relating to human biology and identi-
ty. It is now widely understood in the scientific community that the
concept of "sex" as a binary physical description of human biology is
outdated. Chromosomally, humans can have XY genes, XX genes, XXY, genes,
and other configurations. Hormonally, humans can have dramatically
different levels of estrogen, testosterone, and other types of hormones,
these hormonal levels do not directly correlate to their chromosomes or
their genitalia. What is more commonly known is that an individual's
gender identity does not necessarily correlate to any of the above more
physical traits previously used to describe an individual's "sex." As a
result of this scientific advancement, the term "sex" has dropped out of
favor, and the term "gender" is more frequently used. More significant-
ly, there is an increasing understanding that neither "sex" nor "gender"
is a binary concept, and that individuals may not be clearly "male" or
"female" under any of the many metrics for which those terms are often
used.
This legislation is designed to update the election law to bring it up
to date with modern science. Current election law permits party organ-
izations to create only binary "male" and "female" positions. It
excludes individuals who do not identify exclusively as a binary gender
from running for such a position or requires them to lie to the Board of
Elections about their gender, which puts them at risk for prosecution
for perjury or fraud. Individuals who do not identify exclusively as a
binary gender are excluded from running for countless party positions as
a result of this rule. The updated election law would require that party
organizations' positions are inclusive of individuals who do not identi-
fy exclusively as a binary gender. This would allow for both increased
representation in party office for people who identify as female and who
identify as nonbinary.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act will take effect immediately.
