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History
- Referred to investigations and government operations
- Referred to investigations and government operations
Full text
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Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S5797
Title of bill
An act to amend the public officers law and the election law, in relation to elections to fill vacancies in the office of state senator or in the office of member of assembly
Purpose or general idea of bill
This bill would reform the special elections procedure for the New York State legislature, by creating a nonpartisan, independent nomination process.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of the bill amends subdivision 3 of section 42 of the public officers law to require that, on the occurrence of a vacancy in the office of state senator or member of the assembly, the governor shall make a proclamation of a special election to fill the office, within seven days of the vacancy.
Section 2 of the bill amends section 6-116 of the election law to provide that a vacancy in the office of state senator or member of the assembly shall be filled by special non-partisan election. All nominations for said election shall be by independent nominating petition. The petition shall be required to contain a designated number of signatures, which shall be the lesser of five percent of votes cast in the last preceding gubernatorial election in the district or two thousand signatures for the office of state senator and one thousand for the office of member of the assembly.
Section 3 of the bill provides that this act shall take effect immediately.
Justification
In a general election, candidates of any party must petition in order to gain the nomination. The petitioning serves as a form of public review. However, under current law, candidates for a special election are nominated in accordance with individual party nomination rules, rather than by petition. This system leaves political parties in a position of enormous influence, as they have the ability to choose the candidates outside of any public evaluation,
This bill aims to remove the partisan special elections process, by establishing a completely nonpartisan system by which all candidates must be nominated by independent nominating petition. By requiring that all candidates obtain a place on the ballot by independent petition, the playing field is leveled, and the people are free to choose their candidates.
This bill also seeks to address gubernatorial discretion in issuing special election proclamations. As illustrated in the 2014 electoral cycle, current law allows the Governor to refuse to issue a proclamation for a special election. However, failure to hold a special election when a vacancy occurs leads to the overall
disenfranchisement of the residents of the respective district, who are left without representation This bill further aims to ensure that the people of every district are properly represented, by requiring that the Governor issue a proclamation for a special election within seven days of a vacancy.
Prior legislative history
None.
Fiscal implications for state and local governments
TBD.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.