Assembly Bill A10619

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

                                  10619

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                              June 8, 2016
                               ___________

Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Abinanti) --
  read  once  and referred to the Committee on Corporations, Authorities
  and Commissions

AN ACT to amend the public authorities law, in relation to requiring the
  New York state design and construction corporation to meet and conduct
  all business at a public meeting and making the minutes of such  meet-
  ings available to the public

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

  Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 1678-a of the  public  authorities
law, as added by section 1 of part RR of chapter 54 of the laws of 2016,
is amended to read as follows:
  4.  General  powers and duties of the corporation. (a) The corporation
shall have the power to:
  (i) Sue and be sued;
  (ii) Have a seal and alter the same at pleasure;
  (iii) Make and alter by-laws for its organization and internal manage-
ment and make rules and regulations governing same;
  (iv) Appoint such officers and employees from the officers and employ-
ees of the authority, as it may  require  for  the  performance  of  its
duties  and  fix and determine their qualifications, duties, and compen-
sation, and  retain  or  employ  counsel,  auditors,  private  financial
consultants,  professional  engineers or other technical consultants and
other services on a contract basis or otherwise, for  the  rendering  of
professional, business or technical services and advice;
  (v)  Make and execute contracts and all other instruments necessary or
convenient for the exercise of  its  powers  and  functions  under  this
section;
  (vi)  Engage  the  services of private consultants on a contract basis
for rendering professional and technical assistance advice  relating  to
covered projects;
  (vii) Procure insurance against any loss in connection with its activ-
ities,  properties and other assets, in such amount and from such insur-
ance as it deems desirable; and

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

                                                           LBD15552-01-6

A. 10619                            2

  (viii) Invest any funds of the corporation, or any other monies  under
its  custody and control not required for immediate use or disbursement,
at the discretion of the corporation, in obligations of the state or the
United States government or obligations the principal  and  interest  of
which  are  obligations in which the comptroller of the state is author-
ized to invest pursuant to section ninety-eight  of  the  state  finance
law.
  (b) THE CORPORATION SHALL BE REQUIRED TO:
  (I) MEET AND CONDUCT ALL BUSINESS AT A PUBLIC MEETING;
  (II)  BE  SUBJECT  TO THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLES SIX AND SEVEN OF THIS
CHAPTER;
  (III) CONSIDER AT ITS MEETINGS ONLY ITEMS  SET  FORTH  ON  ITS  AGENDA
WHICH  SHALL BE PUBLISHED FIVE DAYS IN ADVANCE OF A MEETING ON A WEBSITE
ACCESSIBLE BY THE PUBLIC; AND
  (IV) RECORD MINUTES OF ALL BUSINESS CONDUCTED AT SAID  MEETINGS  WHICH
MINUTES  SHALL  BE  PUBLISHED  WITHIN  FIVE  DAYS AFTER THE MEETING ON A
WEBSITE ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC.
  (C) The corporation may do any and all things necessary or  convenient
to carry out and exercise the powers given and granted by this section.
  [(c)](D)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, to the contrary,
all state entities and their officers shall cooperate  with  the  corpo-
ration in good faith and may implement the recommendations of the corpo-
ration.
  S  2.  This act shall take effect immediately, provided, however, that
the amendments to subdivision 4 of section 1678-a of the public authori-
ties law made by section one of this act shall not affect the repeal  of
such section and shall be deemed repealed therewith.