Assembly Bill A7552

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Requires members of a public body to complete a minimum level of training on the state's open meetings law and freedom of information law

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Assembly 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

Do you support this bill?

Please enter your contact information

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

co-Sponsors

2025-A7552 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:
Assembly Governmental Operations
Law Section:
Public Officers Law
Laws Affected:
Add §79-a, Pub Off L
Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:
A9135

2025-A7552 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires members of a public body to complete a minimum of two hours of training, with one hour on the state's open meetings law and one hour on freedom of information law; requires certain local, city, county, town and village public body members to complete such training as well.

2025-A7552 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7552
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               April 1, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. McMAHON, STECK, SIMON, CONRAD, SIMONE, SCHIAVONI,
   GLICK, LEVENBERG -- read once and referred to the Committee on Govern-
   mental Operations
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend  the  public  officers  law, in relation to requiring
   members of a public body to complete a minimum level  of  training  on
   the state's open meetings law and freedom of information law
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. The public officers law is amended by adding a new  section
 79-a to read as follows:
   §  79-A.  PUBLIC  OFFICERS REQUIRED TRAINING.   EACH LOCAL OFFICER, AS
 DEFINED BY ARTICLE ONE OF THIS CHAPTER, SHALL COMPLETE NO LESS THAN  TWO
 HOURS  OF TRAINING ANNUALLY, WITH A MINIMUM OF ONE HOUR OF SUCH TRAINING
 BEING ON THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE OPEN MEETINGS LAW,  AS  ESTABLISHED  BY
 ARTICLE  SEVEN  OF  THIS CHAPTER, AND WITH A MINIMUM OF ONE HOUR OF SUCH
 TRAINING BEING ON THE FREEDOM OF  INFORMATION  LAW,  AS  ESTABLISHED  BY
 ARTICLE  SIX  OF  THIS  CHAPTER.  ALL  VILLAGE CLERKS, TOWN CLERKS, CITY
 CLERKS, LEGISLATIVE CLERKS TO A COUNTY LEGISLATURE OR BOARD OF  SUPERVI-
 SORS,  VILLAGE  ATTORNEYS, TOWN ATTORNEYS, CITY ATTORNEYS, COUNTY ATTOR-
 NEYS OR OTHER DESIGNATED ATTORNEYS FOR A PUBLIC BODY, AND ALL DESIGNATED
 RECORDS ACCESS OFFICERS AND FOIL APPEAL OFFICERS SHALL  BE  REQUIRED  TO
 COMPLETE SUCH TRAINING. SUCH TRAINING SHALL BE APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE
 ON  OPEN  GOVERNMENT  ESTABLISHED UNDER SECTION ONE HUNDRED NINE OF THIS
 CHAPTER AND MAY INCLUDE TRAINING PROVIDED BY A STATE  AGENCY,  STATEWIDE
 MUNICIPAL  ASSOCIATION,  NON-PROFIT  ORGANIZATION, COLLEGE, OR ANY OTHER
 SIMILAR ENTITY THE COMMITTEE  DEEMS  NECESSARY.  SUCH  TRAINING  MAY  BE
 PROVIDED  IN  A  VARIETY OF FORMATS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ELEC-
 TRONIC MEDIA, DISTANCE LEARNING OR TRADITIONAL CLASSROOM TRAINING.    ON
 OR  BEFORE  DECEMBER  THIRTY-FIRST OF EACH YEAR, INDIVIDUALS REQUIRED TO
 COMPLETE SUCH TRAINING SHALL FILE WITH THEIR DESIGNATED  RECORDS  ACCESS
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD02955-02-5
 A. 7552                             2

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.