BILL NUMBER:  S8062

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act authorizing the taking and filing of oaths of
office

 PURPOSE :

To uphold the will of the electorate despite ministerial defects in
certain oaths of office requirements.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 provides that notwithstanding any other law, rule, or
regulation to the contrary, any village, town, city or county official
duly elected on November 3, 2015 or March 15, 2016 who currently
occupies the office which he or she was elected but who failed to take
or file his or her respective oath of office within the statutorily
prescribed period shall continue to serve in such capacity and for the
full term to which he or she was elected upon the taking and filing
oaths of office consistent with the County Law, Town, Law, or the
Public Officers Law, provided that such oaths are taken within 30
calendar days after the effective date of this act.

Section 2 is the effective date.

 EXISTING LAW :
              

Section 402 of the County Law provides, every officer paid his
compensation from county funds shall take and file an official oath in
the manner prescribed in section ten of the public officers law.  The
refusal or neglect to take and file such oath within the time
prescribed by section thirty of the public officers law, except in the
cases of the sheriff, county clerk and district attorney, shall be
deemed a refusal to serve and the office may be filled as in the case
of a vacancy. Until the sheriff, county clerk or district attorney
shall take and file the required oath, he shall not perform any duties
of the office, nor be entitled to any compensation.

Section 25 of the Town Law provides, before he or she enters on the
duties of the office, and within thirty days after the commencement of
the term of office for which he or she is chosen, every town officer
shall take and subscribe before an officer authorized by law to
administer oaths in his or her county, the constitutional oath of
office and such other oath as may be required by law, which shall be
administered and certified by the officer taking the same without
compensation, and such oath shall be filed in the office of the town
clerk.

Section 10 of the Public Officers Law provides, every officer shall
take and file the oath of office required by law, and every judicial
officer of the unified court system, in addition, shall file a copy of
said oath in the office of court administration, before he shall be
entitled to enter upon the discharge of any of his official duties.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Current state law generally provides that the oath of office for
public officials need be taken or filed within thirty days after the
commencement of the term of office. Routinely, oaths of office are
executed and filed before or at the commencement of a term. On
occasion there are incidents where public officials do not execute and
file the document within the time period, triggering a vacancy in the
position to which they were elected.



This legislation would cure the failure to file for individuals
elected in the most recent November and March elections and fulfill
the choice of the voters in these elections.

Separate legislation is needed to prevent cases where failure to file
oath documents effectively acts to undo the will of voters in
elections. Until the existing' statutes related to oath of office
procedures are improved, this legislation will protect the will of the
voters in the most recent elections.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New bill.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None to State.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.