What's happening
This bill limits when New York school districts can hold special meetings to vote on school bonds, restricting certain time periods.
Why it matters
Limits opportunities for school bond votes. By restricting when special meetings for school bond votes can be held, the bill may reduce the number of potential voting dates, possibly making it harder for districts to pass bonds outside of regular election periods.
Aims to prevent low-turnout votes. The specified blackout periods—between the general election and March 1, and from late June to early September—typically see lower voter engagement, so this could increase transparency and ensure that major financial decisions are made when more voters are likely to participate.
Could affect school planning and project timelines. School districts might have to adjust the timing of capital projects, urgent repairs, or expansions to fit within the new voting windows, potentially delaying important infrastructure work.
Addresses concerns about strategic scheduling. The bill responds to criticisms that school bond votes are sometimes held at times when voter turnout is predictably low, possibly giving disproportionate influence to organized interest groups or insiders.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Limit School Bond Vote Dates
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Assembly Member · Assembly District 108
9 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to education
- Referred to education
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Limits the time periods when a special district meeting for the purpose of voting on a school bond may be conducted
In Senate Committee · Education · Sponsor Neil D. Breslin
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3825
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 31, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. McDONALD, D'URSO, MONTESANO, BYRNE, LAWRENCE, GALEF, FAHY -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BARCLAY, BLANKENBUSH, THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to limiting the time periods when a special district meeting for the purpose of voting on a school bond may be conducted
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 416 of the education law, as amended by chapter 171 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read as follows:
3. No addition to or change of site or purchase of a new site or tax for the purchase of any new site or structure, or for grading or improving a school site, or for the purchase of an addition to the site of any schoolhouse, or for the purchase of lands and buildings for agricultural, athletic, playground or social center purposes, or for building any new schoolhouse or for the erection of an addition to any schoolhouse already built, or for the payment or refunding of an outstanding bonded indebtedness, shall be voted at any such meeting in a union free school district or a city school district which conducts annual budget votes in accordance with article forty-one of this chapter pursuant to section twenty-six hundred one-a of this chapter, unless a notice by the board of education stating that such tax will be proposed, and specifying the object thereof and the amount to be expended therefor, shall have been given in the manner provided herein for the notice of an annual meeting. In a common school district the notice of a special meeting to authorize any of the improvements enumerated in this section shall be given as provided in section two thousand six. The board of education of a union free school district or a city school district which conducts annual budget votes in accordance with article forty-one of this chapter pursuant to section twenty-six hundred one-a of this chapter, may deter-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00510-01-9
A. 3825 2
mine that the vote upon any question to be submitted at a special meeting as provided in this section shall be by ballot, in which case it shall state in the notice of such special meeting the hours during which the polls shall be kept open. Printed ballots may be prepared by the board in advance of the meeting and the proposition or propositions called for in the notice of the meeting may be submitted in substantially the same manner as propositions to be voted upon at a general election. No school district in the state, however, shall conduct a special district meeting for the purpose of voting on a school bond, as authorized in this section, between the general election through March first of the following year and between the fourth Wednesday in June through the first Monday in September.
§ 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.