STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1328 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 11, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring the commis- sioner of general services to maintain a list of all state boards and requiring each state board to maintain a publicly accessible website; and to amend a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the executive law relating to information on state boards, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 8145 and A. 843-A, in relation to the effectiveness thereof The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 203-b of the executive law, as added by a chapter 2 of the laws of 2022 amending the executive law relating to information 3 on state boards, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 8145 and A. 4 843-A, is amended to read as follows: 5 § 203-b. Additional duties of the commissioner regarding information 6 on state boards. 1. As used in this section, "commissioner" means the 7 commissioner of [the office of] general services and, "board" means any 8 board, commission, committee, council, task force or any similar state 9 public organization, required to be established pursuant to the state 10 constitution, state statutes or executive order, for the exercise of any 11 function of state government and to which members are appointed or 12 elected. "Board" does not include: 13 a. any informal advisory organization not established [exclusively] by 14 [a state agency to advise the commissioner, secretary, or director of 15 that agency on an informal basis] law; 16 b. any joint standing committee of the legislature or any committee of 17 the assembly and/or senate composed entirely of members of the legisla- 18 ture; 19 c. any court; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03941-01-3
S. 1328 2 1 d. the board of trustees of any institution of higher education finan- 2 cially supported in whole or in part by the state; 3 e. any entity of local government; 4 f. any public authority or public benefit corporation, a majority of 5 whose members are appointed by the governor or serve as members by 6 virtue of holding state offices to which they were appointed by the 7 governor, or any combination thereof; and 8 g. any board of elections. 9 2. The commissioner shall maintain a [compilation of the membership 10 and meeting information] list of all state boards, including state 11 boards deemed active and regularly meeting on and after the effective 12 date of this section. The commissioner shall keep such [inventory in a 13 public record available for inspection, and updated annually] list on a 14 website designated by the commissioner for the purpose of public access, 15 and such list shall have a link to the website for each such board 16 established pursuant to subdivision three of this section. [Such compi- 17 lation shall include, but not be limited to: 18 a. statutory language, executive order or other legal basis or author- 19 ization for the establishment of such board; 20 b. public information including departmental affiliation, contact 21 address, phone number, and website; 22 c. a brief description of the purpose of the board and its legally 23 required duties, including required reports or other products; 24 d. the size of board membership, current member names, and any quali- 25 fications; 26 e. whether members of a board are eligible for payment of expenses or 27 other compensation in the performance of their duties as members of that 28 board; 29 f. dates and locations of all meetings held, and to be held within six 30 months, or a location, including but not limited to another website, in 31 which such information can be publicly accessed; 32 g. geographic and other relevant qualifications of all current members 33 of the board, including the county in which the member resides and the 34 background or expertise the member possesses where such background or 35 expertise is required for membership on such board; and 36 h. any other information the commissioner may require. Nothing in 37 this section shall authorize the release or publication of any board 38 member's residential address. 39 2-a. The commissioner shall also, to the extent practicable, maintain 40 and update annually a compilation of all available information of all 41 state boards currently authorized by provisions of the state constitu- 42 tion, state statutes or executive orders that the commissioner deems 43 inactive. For purposes of this section, a board shall be deemed inactive 44 if it has not held a meeting in the year prior to the effective date of 45 this section. A board shall hereafter be treated as inactive for the 46 purposes of this section if it has not met in the preceding calendar 47 year. 48 3. The commissioner shall update on an annual basis beginning April 49 first, two thousand twenty-three on the designated website, all vacan- 50 cies, expired terms, those terms expiring within one year, and the proc- 51 ess for filling such vacancies on such boards] The designated website 52 shall be updated annually. 53 [4.] 3. Each board or the state agency that provides administrative 54 support or is otherwise affiliated with a board shall establish and 55 maintain a website available to the public and provide a link to such 56 website to the commissioner. Each board or the state agency that
S. 1328 3 1 provides administrative support or is otherwise affiliated with a board 2 shall annually on or before January first, [submit to the commissioner 3 all information pursuant to this section in a manner specified by the 4 commissioner to facilitate the publication requirements of this section. 5 Each submission shall also include information on compensation and 6 expenses incurred in the prior and current fiscal years, as well as 7 projected costs for the coming fiscal year] update the information on 8 its website. 9 [5. The commissioner shall receive from any department, division, 10 board, bureau, commission or other agency of the state any information 11 and resources as will enable him or her to properly carry out the 12 purposes of this section.] 13 4. The website established by each board or the state agency that 14 provides administrative support or is otherwise affiliated with a board 15 shall include, but not be limited to: 16 a. statutory language, executive order or other legal basis or author- 17 ization for the establishment of such board; 18 b. public information including departmental affiliation, contact 19 address, phone number, and website; 20 c. a brief description of the purpose of the board and its legally 21 required duties, including required reports or other products; 22 d. the size of board membership, current member names, and any quali- 23 fications; 24 e. whether members of a board are eligible for payment of expenses or 25 other compensation in the performance of their duties as members of such 26 board and information on compensation and expenses incurred in the prior 27 and current fiscal years, as well as projected costs for the coming 28 fiscal year; 29 f. meeting minutes and agendas, dates and locations of all meetings 30 held, and to be held within six months, or a location, including but not 31 limited to another website, in which such information can be publicly 32 accessed; 33 g. geographic and other relevant qualifications of all current members 34 of the board, including the county in which the member resides and the 35 background or expertise the member possesses where such background or 36 expertise is required for membership on such board; and 37 h. any other information the commissioner may require. Nothing in this 38 section shall authorize the release or publication of any board member's 39 residential address. 40 5. Each board or the state agency that provides administrative support 41 or is otherwise affiliated with a board shall update on an annual basis 42 beginning November first, two thousand twenty-three on its website, all 43 vacancies, expired terms, terms expiring within one year, and the proc- 44 ess for filling such vacancies on such boards. 45 6. On or before January first, two thousand twenty-four, the commis- 46 sioner shall report to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, the 47 temporary president of the senate, the chair of the assembly oversight, 48 analysis and investigation committee and the chair of the senate inves- 49 tigations and government operations committee on the status of the 50 [inventory] list including but not limited to the number of boards 51 reported and verified[; the aggregate demographic information of 52 appointments made by each appointing authority including but not limited 53 to race, sex, and geographic representation of such appointees provided 54 that no information shall be personally identifiable, and the content 55 and completeness of the information gathered in accordance with the
S. 1328 4 1 requirements of this section]. The commissioner shall also report on any 2 impediments to obtaining information. 3 § 2. Section 2 of a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the executive 4 law relating to information on state boards, as proposed in legislative 5 bills numbers S. 8145 and A. 843-A, is amended to read as follows: 6 § 2. This act shall take effect [April] November 1, 2023. 7 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that 8 section one of this act shall take effect on the same date and in the 9 same manner as a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the executive law 10 relating to information on state boards, as proposed in legislative 11 bills numbers S. 8145 and A. 843-A, takes effect.