New York Senate Bill S01904 Latest Draft

   
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1904 2023-2024 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE January 17, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sen. CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development AN ACT to amend the public housing law, in relation to grievance proce- dures for proceedings involving the New York City Housing Authority The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The public housing law is amended by adding a new section 2 160 to read as follows: 3 § 160. Grievance procedure requirements. 1. As used in this section: 4 a. "administrative procedure" shall include any informal review proc- 5 ess or hearing process available by law to applicants and tenants to 6 review or challenge a New York City Housing Authority decision, action, 7 or failure to act, including all impartial hearings, grievance proce- 8 dures, and termination of tenancy procedures; 9 b. "authority" means the New York City Housing Authority; and 10 c. "hearing decision" means any decision issued by a hearing officer 11 pursuant to Title 24 § 966.57 of the Code of Federal Regulations; and 12 2. The authority shall create policies regarding administrative proce- 13 dures that conform with Title 42 §§ 13661-13662 of the United States 14 Code and any relevant guidance developed by the Office of Public and 15 Indian Housing of the United States Department of Housing and Urban 16 Development. Such policies shall: 17 a. require the authority to provide oral interpretation services 18 throughout the administrative procedure to all limited English profi- 19 cient applicants and residents; 20 b. provide for a formal mechanism by which parties may engage in 21 motion practice in all administrative procedures; 22 c. for all active administrative procedures, provide for an automatic 23 stay in any housing court proceeding in which the resident is the 24 respondent; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03127-01-3 
 S. 1904 2 1 d. provide for the right to a stay until any underlying criminal court 2 proceeding is resolved in all administrative procedures involving 3 alleged criminal activity or non-desirability; 4 e. require that all hearings: 5 (i) are conducted according to New York state rules of evidence; 6 (ii) are held before an impartial hearing officer appointed after 7 review and approval by residents; and 8 (iii) result in a written decision, which the authority shall provide 9 to the resident or applicant within thirty days of the hearing, and 10 which shall be included in redacted form in an electronically searchable 11 public database maintained by the authority; and 12 f. require the authority to allow residents to submit and pursue 13 grievances regardless of whether they are current on rent. 14 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.