STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1145 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 10, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sens. KRUEGER, BAILEY, BRESLIN, LIU, PARKER, SERRANO, STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to the appointment and reporting duties of the superintendent of the state police, the appointment of employees of the state police and the approval of certain duties of the state police The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 210 of the executive law, as amended by chapter 169 2 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 210. Division of state police. (a) The division of state police in 4 the executive department shall be known as the "New York State Police." 5 (b) (1) The head of the New York state police shall be the superinten- 6 dent of state police who shall be appointed by the governor by and with 7 the advice and consent of the senate, and hold office during his or her 8 pleasure. The superintendent shall be a member of the state police, 9 shall receive as salary such sum as may be appropriated by law, and 10 shall accrue such leave credits and be eligible for the same retirement 11 benefits, service credits and other benefits as any other member of the 12 state police. The superintendent of state police shall have control of 13 all staffing decisions, resource allocation and unit assignments within 14 the state police. If, prior to appointment, the superintendent served as 15 a member of the state police, he or she, upon appointment, shall be 16 entitled to continue to accrue and receive such credits and benefits as 17 he or she would have been entitled to accrue and receive prior to 18 appointment. 19 (2) If, prior to his or her appointment, the superintendent shall have 20 served as a member of the State Police for a period of ten years or 21 more, he or she shall, provided he or she is not eligible for retire- 22 ment, upon termination of service as superintendent, be reappointed, EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD01377-01-3
S. 1145 2 1 without examination, as a member of the state police in the grade held 2 by him or her prior to appointment as superintendent, notwithstanding 3 the absence of any vacancy in such grade. For the purpose of determin- 4 ing the annual salary to be paid upon such reappointment, the period of 5 service as superintendent shall be counted as service in the grade to 6 which reappointed. 7 (3) Effective with respect to any individual appointment by the gover- 8 nor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, after January 9 first, two thousand twenty-four, the term of service of the superinten- 10 dent of the state police shall be seven years. A superintendent may not 11 serve more than one seven-year term. The appointment of the first depu- 12 ty superintendent shall also be subject to senate confirmation. 13 (4) Notwithstanding sections thirty-three and thirty-three-a of the 14 public officers law, a superintendent shall be removed from office for 15 failure to fulfill his or her duties by the governor and with a two- 16 thirds vote of the whole number of members of each house of the legisla- 17 ture or in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs e, f or g of 18 subdivision one of section thirty of the public officers law. 19 (5) In the event the superintendent resigns from office, is removed 20 from office or is incapable of continuing in office due to physical 21 illness, mental illness or death the first deputy superintendent shall 22 assume the superintendent position. If after forty-five days the gover- 23 nor has not appointed a new superintendent to a full term, the first 24 deputy superintendent shall complete the remainder of the previous 25 superintendent's term. Upon assumption of the duties of superintendent, 26 the first deputy superintendent shall be subject to all requirements and 27 provisions associated with the superintendent's position. If the first 28 deputy superintendent completes the term of a previously appointed 29 superintendent, the first deputy is eligible for appointment to a full 30 term as superintendent in his or her own right. All other potential 31 replacements within the ranks of the state police or from outside its 32 ranks for superintendent, in the event the first deputy is unable to 33 complete the previous superintendent's position, shall have the same 34 rights and eligibilities as the first deputy superintendent and shall be 35 subject to all the requirements and provisions associated with the 36 superintendent. 37 § 2. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 210-a to 38 read as follows: 39 § 210-a. Superintendent's annual reports and biennial testimony. (a) 40 The superintendent shall submit an annual report to the governor, the 41 temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the 42 minority leader of the senate and the minority leader of the assembly no 43 later than September first of each year. 44 (1) Such report shall contain the following information: 45 (A) a detailed description of any special requests made by or on 46 behalf of the governor or any member of the legislature for services of 47 the state police beyond traditional services provided by the state 48 police. Such description shall include whether the request was approved 49 or denied by the superintendent of state police; 50 (B) a detailed description of any information, unless it is privileged 51 or requires confidentiality, provided by the state police to the gover- 52 nor, and/or his or her staff, and/or to any member of the legislature, 53 and/or his or her staff, beyond the general programmatic and budgetary 54 reporting requirements of the state police and a description of the 55 purpose for which such information was provided;
S. 1145 3 1 (C) a description of any special disciplinary actions taken by the 2 superintendent regarding inter- or intra-governmental affairs involving 3 state police personnel, based upon special requests made to the state 4 police by or on behalf of the governor, any member of the legislature 5 and/or any other public or quasi-public entity; 6 (D) a description of each request made by or on behalf of the governor 7 and/or his or her staff, and/or any member of the legislature and/or his 8 or her staff, for information of any kind other than the general infor- 9 mation provided by the state police to the executive branch, the legis- 10 lative branch, public authorities or local government entities; and 11 (E) a description of all officer transfers to or from the executive 12 services unit or any other unit associated with security and/or protect- 13 ing other elected officials, and reason for the change. For transfers 14 from the executive services unit the superintendent of state police 15 shall include a description of what unit the officer transferred to. All 16 officer transfers to or from the executive services unit shall require 17 the approval of the superintendent of state police. 18 (2) The superintendent shall include a signed certification with the 19 report that the information provided is true to the best of his or her 20 knowledge. If such certification is found to be false, the superinten- 21 dent may be subject to removal by the legislature. 22 (b) Every two years, commencing in two thousand twenty-four, the 23 superintendent shall attend a proceeding to testify before the senate 24 finance committee, the assembly ways and means committee, the senate 25 investigations and government operations committee and the assembly 26 oversight, analysis and investigation committee to review the personnel 27 and administrative activities of the state police and the future plans 28 and initiative of the state police. Such proceeding shall be conducted 29 jointly at the direction of the temporary president of the senate and 30 the speaker of the assembly and shall take place no later than November 31 first of every other year during which the proceeding is conducted. 32 (c) The reporting requirements described in this section shall be in 33 addition to, and not in lieu of, any other reporting requirements 34 provided by law. 35 (d) As used in this section, "traditional services" means services 36 rendered by the state police to: 37 (1) protect people and property; 38 (2) prevent and detect crime and other violations of law and pursue 39 criminal investigations and arrest criminals; and make roads safe for 40 all users; 41 (3) reduce the deaths, injuries and property damage caused by motor 42 vehicle accidents through vehicle and traffic enforcement and 43 education; 44 (4) provide disorder control and security in all types of natural 45 and man-made emergencies; and provide for the safety and security of 46 individuals and groups of citizens in furtherance of their rights, 47 duties and responsibilities; and 48 (5) support other entities by creating partnerships for safety and 49 security with individuals, groups and communities throughout the 50 state. 51 § 3. Section 211 of the executive law, as amended by chapter 331 of 52 the laws of 1993, is amended to read as follows: 53 § 211. Employees. (a) The superintendent may appoint such employees as 54 may be necessary and fix their compensation within such sum as may be 55 appropriated by law. Persons appointed to competitive positions within 56 the division who meet the definition of veteran or disabled veteran as
S. 1145 4 1 defined in section eighty-five of the civil service law shall be enti- 2 tled to additional credit and preference as conferred by that law and in 3 the same manner, except that, notwithstanding any law to the contrary, 4 with respect to any candidate applying for credit in a competitive exam- 5 ination for original appointment as a disabled or non-disabled veteran, 6 such candidate may apply provisionally for such credit while still an 7 active member of the armed forces. The application for provisional cred- 8 it may be made at any time between the date of his or her application 9 for the competitive examination and the date the eligible list is estab- 10 lished. In cases where there has been a provisional application, the 11 superintendent shall grant final credit only if the candidate renews his 12 or her application within ninety days following termination of the 13 candidate's military duty, and the candidate's period of eligibility on 14 the list has not expired, and the candidate satisfies the appropriate 15 statutory requirements for eligibility. Pending the granting of final 16 credit, the candidate's ranking on any eligible list shall reflect the 17 provisional credit. 18 (b) (1) Any employee appointed to the executive services unit or any 19 other unit associated with security and/or protecting other elected 20 and/or public officials shall hold such appointment for no more than two 21 years after which period, the employee shall be reappointed to the posi- 22 tion he or she held prior to the appointment to the executive services 23 unit or any other unit associated with security and/or protecting other 24 elected and/or public officials or to such other position and duties as 25 are determined by the superintendent. 26 (2) No employee appointed as provided in paragraph one of this subdi- 27 vision shall provide services that constitute a violation of the 28 provisions of paragraph d of subdivision three of section seventy-four 29 of the public officers law. Any requests for such services shall be 30 referred by the employee to his or her superior who shall refer the 31 request to the superintendent. The superintendent shall approve or 32 disapprove all such requests. 33 § 4. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed- 34 ing the date upon which it shall have become a law.