What's happening
This bill amends the NYC charter to classify executive directors and key executives of the Queens Borough Public Library as public servants.
Why it matters
Expands the legal definition of “public servant” to include executive directors and key executives at the Queens Borough Public Library. , making them subject to city ethics laws and oversight that apply to other public officials.
Closes a previous exemption in the law that treated certain library executives differently from other city employees. , potentially increasing transparency and accountability within the library’s leadership.
May impact hiring, conduct, and reporting requirements. for these library officials, as they would now be subject to stricter conflict-of-interest rules, financial disclosures, and other standards applied to public servants.
Could influence public trust and the governance of the Queens Library. by aligning its top management’s responsibilities and obligations with those of other city agencies, potentially affecting decision-making and resource management.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Expand Library Board Membership
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to cities
- Referred to cities
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1937
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 11, 2017
Introduced by Sen. AVELLA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Cities
AN ACT to amend the New York city charter, in relation to the membership of the board of trustees of the Queens Borough Public Library
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivisions 2 and 19 of section 2601 of the New York city charter, as added by a vote of the people of the city of New York at the general election held in November of 1988, are amended to read as follows:
2. "Agency" means a city, county, borough or other office, position, administration, department, division, bureau, board, commission, authority, corporation, advisory committee or other agency of government, the expenses of which are paid in whole or in part from the city treasury, and shall include but not be limited to, the council, the offices of each elected official, the board of education, community school boards, community boards, the financial services corporation, the health and hospitals corporation, the public development corporation, and the New York city housing authority, but shall not include any court or any corporation or institution maintaining or operating a [public library,] museum, botanical garden, arboretum, tomb, memorial building, aquarium, zoological garden or similar facility.
19. "Public servant" means all officials, officers and employees of the city, including members of community boards [and], members of advisory committees, executive directors and key library executive personnel of the Queens Borough Public Library, except unpaid members of advisory committees shall not be public servants.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01193-01-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the New York city charter, in relation to the membership of the board of trustees of the Queens Borough Public Library
Purpose or general idea of bill
This bill will make additional and necessary changes to the executive functioning of the Queens Borough Public Library by including the library within the jurisdiction of the New York City Conflicts of Interest Law.
Summary of provisions
Section one of the bill amends subdivisions 2 and 19, respectively, of section 2601 of the New York City Charter, as added by a vote of the people of the city of New York at the general election held in November of 1988, by removing the exclusion of a public library from the definition of agency and amending the definition of "public servant" to include executive directors and key library executive personnel of the Queens Borough Public Library.
Section two of the bill sets forth an immediate effective date.
Justification
In 2014 significant reform measures were passed into law in Chapter 45 of the Laws of 2014 which sought to address serious misconduct and questionable practices taking place in the Queens Borough Public Library. While those measures were welcome and effective, there remains a significant reform which has yet to be passed that is necessary to complete the important process that was begun in 2014.
This legislation will make the Queens Borough Public Library subject to the city's Conflict of Interest law. This provision recognizes the major sources of public funding the Queens Borough Public Library receives and the resulting obligation that it is subject to the same ethics and freedom of information requirements as all other quasi-public agencies who must comply with these important laws.
As with the prior reforms, this legislation takes necessary steps in reforming the current law governing Queens Borough Public Library in order to ensure that this institution is functioning in a way that is transparent and accountable to the citizens that it serves and who fund its operations.
Prior legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications for state and local governments
To be determined.
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.