Assembly Bill A10165

2009-2010 Legislative Session

Authorizes the city council in N.Y. city to prevent a proposed new charter or amendments from being placed on the ballot and promotes representative charter commission

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Assembly Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Mar 09, 2010	referred to cities

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2009-A10165 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Assembly Cities
Law Section:: Municipal Home Rule Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §36, Munic Home R L
Versions Introduced in 2011-2012 Legislative Session:: A1433

2009-A10165 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Authorizes the city council in cities with a population of one million or more from preventing a proposed new charter or amendments from being placed on the ballot for submission to electors and promotes representative charter commissions.

2009-A10165 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                BILL NUMBER:A10165

TITLE  OF  BILL:    An  act  to  amend the municipal home rule law, in
relation to authorizing the city council in cities with  a  population
of one million or more to prevent a proposed new charter or amendments
from  being  placed  on  the ballot for submission to electors; and in
relation to promoting representative charter revision  commissions  in
cities of one million or more

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: Section 1 amends subdivision 5 of §36
of  the municipal home rule law by adding a new paragraph b-1 to allow
the New York City Council, by a two-thirds vote, to block  a  proposal
made by a charter revision commission from being placed on the ballot.

Section  2  amends section 36 of the municipal home rule law by adding
subdivision 4-a. This section would require the mayor  to  choose  the
charter  revision  commission  from  at  least  the nominations of the
following: the comptroller, public advocate,  the  borough  presidents
acting  together, and one nominated by each of the borough delegations
to the city council. No member of the commission may be an officer  or
employee  of the City or an officer of a political party, a registered
lobbyist or employee of a registered lobbyist. Commission members  may
not  make contributions to campaigns of people seeking or holding city
office. The commission members will be  subject  to  the  conflict  of
interest provisions in the charter.

If  charter  revision  commission  is  created  after  May  15th,  the
commission may not submit proposals until the following calendar  year
without  city  council  approval at least 90 days prior to .the year's
general election. Proposals for changes shall be separately identified
on the ballot, to the maximum extent possible.

Section 3 of the bill amends  subdivision  4  of  section  36  of  the
municipal home rule law such that in a city of one million-or more the
charter  commission  shall consist of not less than 9 members nor more
than seventeen members.

Section 4 amends the law to allow for the officers and employees of  a
city of one million or more to be prohibited from serving on a charter
commission.

JUSTIFICATION:  In  the  past ten years, mayors have appointed charter
revision commissions six times resulting in rapidly  proposed  changes
to  the  City  Charter  which were put before the voters. The first of
these commissions was put  together  in  1998  by  Mayor  Giuliani  to
propose  recommendations related to campaign finance reform. He did so
immediately after the City Council planned for a referendum on whether
to ban the use of taxpayer funds for a new Yankee Stadium in order  to
block that from appearing on the ballot.

The  mayor again put together a commission in 1999 to propose a change
to the order Of succession should the mayor's position become  vacant.
The  current Charter provided for the Public Advocate.to become Mayor,
and Mayor Giuliani wanted to  change  that  to  provide  fora  special
election. It was no secret that Giuliani was considering a run for the
US  Senate  seat  and  wanted his political adversary, Public Advocate
Mark Green, from becoming Mayor.


The most recent Commission was appointed by mayor Bloomberg in 2005 to
address  several  subjects.  When  the  City  Council  Speaker  Miller
requested another subject be added to the discussion, it was summarily
rejected,  giving  the  City Council no say in what proposals were put
before the voters.

This  bill  would give the City Council and other elected officials of
City government a voice in what issues were  put  before  the  voters.
The city charter is the most vital document a city maintains. Over the
last  several  years,  there  have  been many attempts to form charter
revision commissions in short periods of time in order to push through
the objectives of the mayor. Since the city charter is the document of
all the people of a city, it is important  any  commission  formed  is
representative  of  the  city. The best way to create a representative
body is from nominees of the city's elected officials,  and  to  allow
for an overwhelming vote of the City Council to block proposals.

City  charter  commissions  need  time to deliberate before submitting
proposals and there needs to be adequate time for  public  consumption
of  the  proposals. By creating a deadline for a charter commission to
be formed there is adequate time provided for  both  deliberation  and
public consumption.

PRIOR  LEGISLATIVE  HISTORY:  This  is  a  combination  of A.4421b and
A10055.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Applies to any commission coming into existence as  of
January  1,  2010  or  after  that  date.  It  disbands any commission
appointed before that date if it was  not  in  compliance  with  these
provisions.

2009-A10165 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  10165

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                              March 9, 2010
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M.  of  A. BRENNAN, DINOWITZ, WRIGHT, BENEDETTO, JACOBS,
  GIBSON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BOYLAND,  CRESPO,  GOTTFRIED,
  MAISEL,  MILLMAN,  REILLY,  P. RIVERA,  D. Weprin  --  read  once  and
  referred to the Committee on Cities

AN ACT to amend the municipal home rule law, in relation to  authorizing
  the city council in cities with a population of one million or more to
  prevent  a proposed new charter or amendments from being placed on the
  ballot for submission to electors; and in relation to promoting repre-
  sentative charter revision commissions in cities  of  one  million  or
  more

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Subdivision 5 of section 36 of the municipal home rule  law
is amended by adding a new paragraph (b-1) to read as follows:
  (B-1) IN A CITY WITH A POPULATION OF ONE MILLION OR MORE, WITHIN THREE
DAYS  OF THE FILING OF A NEW CHARTER OR AMENDMENTS PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH
(B) OF THIS SUBDIVISION, THE CITY CLERK SHALL NOTIFY THE CITY COUNCIL OF
SUCH FILING. WITHIN THIRTY DAYS OF SUCH NOTIFICATION, THE  CITY  COUNCIL
MAY,  BY  A  VOTE  OF TWO-THIRDS OF THE MEMBERS OF SUCH COUNCIL, PREVENT
SUCH PROPOSED NEW CHARTER OR AMENDMENTS FROM BEING PLACED ON THE  BALLOT
FOR SUBMISSION THEREOF TO THE ELECTORS OF THE CITY.
  S  2. Section 36 of the municipal home rule law is amended by adding a
new subdivision 4-a to read as follows:
  4-A. THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SUBDIVISION APPLY TO CITIES OF ONE MILLION
OR MORE INHABITANTS. IN APPOINTING THE MEMBERS OF A COMMISSION  PURSUANT
TO SUBDIVISION FOUR OF THIS SECTION, THE MAYOR SHALL CHOOSE AT LEAST THE
FOLLOWING  MEMBERS NOMINATED BY LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS: ONE EACH BY THE
COMPTROLLER, BY THE PUBLIC  ADVOCATE,  AND  BY  THE  BOROUGH  PRESIDENTS
ACTING TOGETHER; AND ONE NOMINATED BY EACH OF THE BOROUGH DELEGATIONS TO
THE  CITY  COUNCIL. IN NOMINATING AND APPOINTING COMMISSION MEMBERS, THE
MAYOR AND LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS SHALL  CHOOSE  INDIVIDUALS  FOR  THEIR
INDEPENDENCE,  INTEGRITY,  AND  EXPERIENCE IN CITY GOVERNMENT AND IN THE
SECTORS OF THE CITY AFFECTED BY CITY GOVERNMENT.    NO  MEMBER  OF  SUCH
COMMISSION  MAY BE A CURRENT OFFICER OR EMPLOYEE OF THE CITY OR AN OFFI-

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                           LBD16106-04-0

A. 10165                            2

CER OF A POLITICAL PARTY OR A LOBBYIST REGISTERED WITH THE  CITY  OR  AN
EMPLOYEE  OF  SUCH  LOBBYIST,  NOR MAY MEMBERS MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE
CAMPAIGNS OF PERSONS HOLDING OR SEEKING PUBLIC OR PARTY ELECTED  OFFICES
OR  POSITIONS  OF  SUCH  CITY DURING THEIR TENURE AS MEMBERS. COMMISSION
MEMBERS AND  STAFF  SHALL  BE  SUBJECT  TO  THE  CONFLICTS  OF  INTEREST
PROVISIONS OF THE CHARTER OR OTHER APPLICABLE LOCAL LAWS OF SUCH A CITY.
IF  SUCH  A COMMISSION IS CREATED PURSUANT TO THIS SUBDIVISION AFTER THE
FIFTEENTH DAY OF MAY OF ANY YEAR, SUCH  COMMISSION  MAY  NOT  PLACE  ANY
PROPOSALS ON THE BALLOT UNTIL THE SUBSEQUENT CALENDAR YEAR FOLLOWING ITS
CREATION,  UNLESS  SUCH  PROPOSALS ARE APPROVED BY THE LOCAL LEGISLATIVE
BODY AT LEAST  NINETY  DAYS  PRIOR  TO  THAT  YEAR'S  GENERAL  ELECTION.
PROPOSALS  FOR  SPECIFIC  CHANGES  TO  THE  CHARTER  RECOMMENDED BY SUCH
COMMISSION SHALL, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PRACTICABLE, BE SEPARATELY IDEN-
TIFIED ON THE BALLOT FOR SEPARATE VOTER CONSIDERATION.
  S 3. Subdivision 4 of section 36 of the municipal home  rule  law,  as
amended  by  chapter  592  of  the  laws  of 1964, is amended to read as
follows:
  4. A charter commission to draft a new or  revised  city  charter  may
also  be created by the mayor of any city. Such commission shall consist
of not less than nine nor more than fifteen members, EXCEPT  THAT  IN  A
CITY  WITH  A  POPULATION  OF ONE MILLION OR MORE, SUCH COMMISSION SHALL
CONSIST OF NOT LESS THAN NINE NOR MORE THAN SEVENTEEN  MEMBERS,  all  of
whom  shall  be  residents  of the city. Original appointments to such a
commission shall be made by the mayor by a  certificate  of  appointment
which  shall specify the number of, and names of, the members to consti-
tute [the] SUCH commission, which certificate shall be  filed  forthwith
with  the city clerk. The chairman, vice-chairman and secretary shall be
appointed by the mayor from among the members of [the] SUCH  commission.
Any  vacancy  in  the membership of such a commission or of its officers
shall be filled by the mayor.
  S 4. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 6 of section  36  of  the  municipal
home rule law, as amended by chapter 592 of the laws of 1964, is amended
to read as follows:
  (d)  [No] EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN SUBDIVISION FOUR-A OF THIS SECTION, NO
person shall be disqualified to serve as a member, employee or  consult-
ant  of  the  commission by reason of holding any other public office or
employment, nor shall he forfeit any such office or employment by reason
of his appointment hereunder,  notwithstanding  the  provisions  of  any
general, special or local law, ordinance or city charter.
  S  5.  This  act shall take effect immediately; provided, however that
sections two, three and four of this act shall be deemed to have been in
full force and effect on and after January 1, 2010, and shall  apply  to
any  charter revision commission coming into existence on or after Janu-
ary 1, 2010; provided that any charter revision commission  that  is  in
existence  prior  to January 1, 2010 and which is not in compliance with
the provisions of this act is hereby terminated,  and  no  proposed  new
charter or amendment offered by such commission shall be put to vote nor
take effect.

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Assembly Bill A10165

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Assembly Committee

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co-Sponsors

multi-Sponsors

2009-A10165 (ACTIVE) - Details

2009-A10165 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2009-A10165 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2009-A10165 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

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Sponsored By

BRENNAN

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Assembly Committee

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co-Sponsors

Jeffrey Dinowitz

Keith L.T. Wright

Michael Benedetto

Rhoda Jacobs

multi-Sponsors

William Boyland

Marcos Crespo

Richard Gottfried

Alan Maisel

2009-A10165 (ACTIVE) - Details

2009-A10165 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2009-A10165 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2009-A10165 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments