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History
- Opinion referred to judiciary
- To attorney-general for opinion
- Referred to judiciary
- Opinion referred to judiciary
- To attorney-general for opinion
- Referred to judiciary
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY proposing an amendment to subdivision (d) of section 1 of article 9 of the constitution, in relation to the powers of local government
Purpose or general idea of bill
The purposes of this bill is to allow municipalities to annex other municipalities without approval from the affected municipalities' legislatures. Note that this bill does not remove the requirement 'of the people, if any, of the territory proposed to be annexed to pass a referendum allowing for the annexation to take place.
Summary of specific provisions
This bill amends Article IX; Section 1 (d) of the State Constitution.
Justification
Municipal borders, often established more than a century ago, are becoming less relevant and more costly to maintain as New Yorkers live increasingly mobile lives. Residents often live and pay taxes in one place, yet work someplace else and shop throughout the region. Yet, while modern transportation and telecommunication technologies render old boundaries virtually meaningless in the day-to-day lives of New Yorkers, multiple often duplicative government layers have driven the cost of local government so high that New York State has achieved the reputation of having the highest local taxes in the nation. Local service delivery is often uncoordinated and planning frequently occurs in a void. For all these reasons the concept of regionalism has become increasingly, if only theoretically, popular. While the State Constitution allows regional cooperation in some respects, a prohibitive impediment to the action of local governments is the State Constitution's requirement that local legislatures approve any attempt by one municipality to annex another. This requirement, in addition to the referenda requirement, suggests that the interest of the local government itself should be given equal weight as the interests of People it represents. This bill recognizes the primacy of the Peoples' interests while removing the local legislative obstacle.
Prior legislative history
2003/04 Opinion, referred to Judiciary, held for consideration in Local Governments 2005/2006 Opinion referred to Judiciary, attorney general, held for consideration in Local Governments S.2722 of 2007/2008
Fiscal implications
This bill, if passed, will have no fiscal implications for the State of New York. Merged localities will save money through increased efficiencies, economies of scale, and shared tax bases.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.