Requires that a listing of community advisory committee members, and community advisory committee meeting agendas, materials, and minutes be posted on the corporation's website; provides that advisory committee meetings be accessible for the public to view and attend live.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9622C
SPONSOR: Solages TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the New York state urban development corporation act, in
relation to community advisory committees
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
This bill mandates public postings of committee members, agendas, mate-
rial, minutes, and time. It also requires meetings to be publicly acces-
sible.
JUSTIFICATION:
Empire State Development (ESD) is currently required to form community
advisory committees (CACs) for its economic development projects, but
there is no requirement that these bodies operate under the same trans-
parency requirements as other state agencies, including the Board of
Directors of Empire State Development itself. These advisory bodies
currently do not meet publicly under the Open Meetings Law, and there
are no requirements for meeting agendas, materials, and minutes of these
advisory committees to be posted on ESD's website.
Further, through these advisory bodies, ESD has provided information
regarding the potential spending of billions in taxpayer dollars to a
small group of individuals who in theory represent the community, but
are not required to proactively share this information with the public
at large. For example, for the Community Advisory Committee for the Penn
Station Area project, it was not until after a FOIL request was filed
for CAC materials that ESD posted a portion of the materials provided to
the CAC on its website, months after this information was first made
available to CAC members.
This legislation will ensure that ESD proactively posts all materials
provided to community advisory committees on its website, and requires
these bodies to meet publicly. This will ensure that the broader public
is able to view the activities of community advisory committees, and has
access to the same information presented by ESD and other relevant
government bodies as the members of the CACs.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
