Requires the secretary of state to compile, make public and keep current certain information about state boards

BILL NUMBER:S1622

Title of bill

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to information on state boards

Purpose

To create a centralized compilation of information about State boards that would be available to the public.

Summary of provisions

Section one amends the Executive law by adding a new section 100-A which defines "board" and requires the Secretary of State to maintain a compilation of the membership, duties, meeting and contact information, and products of all State boards. The Secretary of State must keep such inventory in a public record available on the Department of State website.

This section also provides that all boards, or the State agencies they advise, shall annually submit to the Secretary of State all information needed to facilitate these publication requirements, and that the Secretary of State must update the list annually.

This section provides that all boards, or the State agencies they advise, must also provide to the Secretary of State on an annual basis all costs associated with these boards for the prior year, and anticipated costs for the coming year. The public can then access this information upon request to the Secretary of State.

Finally, the Secretary of State is directed to report to the Governor, Speaker of the Assembly, Temporary President of the Senate, Chair of the Assembly Oversight, Investigations and Analysis Committee, and Chair of the Senate Investigations and Government Operations Committee on the status of the inventory on or before June 1, 2018.

Section two provides the effective date.

Justification

No complete public inventory of State commissions, boards, councils, task forces, or similar bodies exists in New York. As a result, it is difficult, if not impossible, for New Yorkers to have an understanding of existing boards, their composition, purpose or legal responsibilities. The Assembly Committee on Oversight, Analysis & Investigation recently completed a review of more than one hundred statutorily authorized boards, task forces, and commissions, and discovered that only about half have information online, public meetings are listed for only thirty percent, and contact information was readily found for only forty-five percent.

Forty-one states have some form of centralized compilation or list of state boards. This legislation would bring New York in line with the majority of states which already provide this information to their citizens, and enable New Yorkers to easily find information about boards they are interested in. Overall, this is an important step in improving accountability and increasing government transparency.

This information is critically important to enable oversight authorities to make recommendations on merging boards with duplicative duties and purposes or eliminate nonfunctioning Boards. Since being vetoed in 2010, executive actions through the SAGE Commission has helped address some of the issues but failed to reach the level of transparency that a list of all commissions would provide. Any costs for creating transparency far outweighed by the potential cost saving of consolidation and the positive societal benefits of transparency.

Legislative history

2010:S. 7369-A/A. 10052-A Vetoed 2011-2012: S.2405-B Passed Senate/A. 73-A, Did not advance in Assembly 2013-2014: S.2526-A Passed Senate/A. 489-A Governmental Operations

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the first of April next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.