NY State Senate Bill 2021-S7550

Senate Bill S7550

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Relates to training requirements for members of the board of ethics of a political subdivision or municipality

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jun 03, 2022	committed to rules
Feb 16, 2022	advanced to third reading
Feb 15, 2022	2nd report cal.
Feb 14, 2022	1st report cal.482
Jan 05, 2022	referred to local government
Nov 29, 2021	referred to rules

Votes

- Feb 14, 2022 - Local Government Committee Vote
  S7550
  
  5
  
  Aye
  
  0
  
  Nay
  
  2
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Local Government Committee Vote: Feb 14, 2022
      
      aye (5)
      
      Brooks
      
      Gaughran
      
      Hinchey
      
      Reichlin-Melnick
      
      Thomas
      
      aye wr (2)
      
      Borrello
      
      Rath III

2021-S7550 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A9120
Current Committee:: Senate Rules
Law Section:: General Municipal Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §808, Gen Muni L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:: S4067, A3438

2021-S7550 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Provides that each member of the board of ethics of a political subdivision or municipality shall complete, at a minimum, four hours of training each year designed to enable such members to more effectively carry out their duties; makes related provisions.

2021-S7550 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S7550

SPONSOR: GAUGHRAN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the general municipal law, in relation to training
requirements for members of the board of ethics of a political subdivi-
sion or municipality

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To require mandatory training for each member of the board of ethics of
a political subdivision or municipality.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one amends section 808 of the General Municipal Law by adding a
new subdivision six to require each member of a board of ethics of a
political subdivision or municipality outside of New York City to
complete a minimum of four hours of training annually. Members who fail
to complete their annual training would be ineligible for reappointment
until such time that their training was completed. This section also

carves out an exception to the training requirement by allowing the
governing body to adopt a resolution waiving or modifying the training.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Article 18 of New York State General Municipal Law (GML) establishes
standards of conduct for officers and employees of municipalities
outside of New York City. GML Section 808 allows for the adoption of
local codes of ethics by political subdivisions and municipalities.
Local boards of ethics are empowered to render advisory opinions to
municipal staff and officers with respect to ethical conduct prescribed
by Article 18. However, nothing in statute requires that the ethics
board members have any experience, training or background related to
GML.

This amendment would ensure that board members are trained annually so
that they may carry out their important oversight duties more efficient-
ly and effectively. Further, annual training will help the public and
the employees receiving decisions to have more confidence in the deter-
minations that local ethics boards are issuing.

State law already requires annual training for local Zoning Board of
Appeals and Planning Boards pursuant to Town Law.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

No fiscal impact to the State. Fiscal impact to local governments will
be minimal, as this training can be provided in-house and in any format.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become law.

2021-S7550 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7550
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             November 29, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. GAUGHRAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to amend the general  municipal  law,  in  relation  to  training
   requirements  for members of the board of ethics of a political subdi-
   vision or municipality

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Section  808  of  the general municipal law is amended by
 adding a new subdivision 6 to read as follows:
   6. (A) EACH MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF ETHICS OF A  POLITICAL  SUBDIVISION
 OR  MUNICIPALITY  SHALL  COMPLETE,  AT A MINIMUM, FOUR HOURS OF TRAINING
 EACH YEAR DESIGNED TO ENABLE SUCH MEMBERS TO MORE EFFECTIVELY CARRY  OUT
 THEIR  DUTIES.  TRAINING RECEIVED BY A MEMBER IN EXCESS OF FOUR HOURS IN
 ANY ONE YEAR MAY BE CARRIED OVER BY THE MEMBER INTO SUCCEEDING YEARS  IN
 ORDER  TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF THIS SUBDIVISION. SUCH TRAINING SHALL
 BE APPROVED BY THE GOVERNING BODY AND MAY INCLUDE, BUT  NOT  BE  LIMITED
 TO, TRAINING PROVIDED BY A MUNICIPALITY, COUNTY, STATE AGENCY, STATEWIDE
 MUNICIPAL  ASSOCIATION, COLLEGE OR OTHER SIMILAR ENTITY. TRAINING MAY BE
 PROVIDED IN A VARIETY OF FORMATS, INCLUDING BUT NOT  LIMITED  TO,  ELEC-
 TRONIC  MEDIA, VIDEO, DISTANCE LEARNING AND TRADITIONAL CLASSROOM TRAIN-
 ING.
   (B) TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR REAPPOINTMENT TO SUCH BOARD, SUCH MEMBER  SHALL
 HAVE  COMPLETED THE TRAINING PROMOTED BY THE RESPECTIVE POLITICAL SUBDI-
 VISION OR MUNICIPALITY PURSUANT TO THIS SUBDIVISION.
   (C) THE TRAINING REQUIRED BY THIS SUBDIVISION MAY BE WAIVED  OR  MODI-
 FIED  BY  RESOLUTION  OF THE GOVERNING BODY WHEN, IN THE JUDGMENT OF THE
 GOVERNING BODY, IT IS IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE  RESPECTIVE  POLITICAL
 SUBDIVISION OR MUNICIPALITY TO DO SO.
   (D)  NO  DECISION  OF  A  BOARD  OF ETHICS SHALL BE VOIDED OR DECLARED
 INVALID BECAUSE OF A FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS SUBDIVISION.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD13656-01-1
 S. 7550                             2

 
   (E) NOTWITHSTANDING ANY INCONSISTENT PROVISION, THIS SUBDIVISION SHALL
 HAVE NO APPLICATION TO A CITY HAVING A POPULATION OF ONE MILLION OR MORE
 OR TO A COUNTY, SCHOOL DISTRICT, OR  OTHER  PUBLIC  AGENCY  OR  FACILITY
 THEREIN.
   §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
 have become a law.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.