Senate Bill S8941

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S8941

SPONSOR: KAMINSKY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public authorities law, in relation to requiring
certain reports of public authorities are open for public inspection via
the public authorities reporting information system

 
PURPOSE:

To allow the public to access and inspect information reported by public
authorities to the public authorities reporting information system
(PARIS).

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 and 2 amends Sections 2800 and 2801 of the public authorities
to require annual reports and budget reports that public authorities
have to submit to the Authorities Budget Office (ABO) to be made avail-
able to the public on the Public Authorities Reporting Information
              

System (PARIS).

Section 3. Effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Public oversight over government entities is essential since it enhances
transparency and accountability. This concept is particularly important
when considering the operations of Public Authorities and Industrial
Development Agencies (IDAs). Under current law, these entities are
already required to submit annual reports. A majority of these entities
utilize the Public Authorities Reporting Information System (PARIS),
which is an online data collection program maintained by the State, to
comply with reporting requirements under the law. This system combines
the data requirements of both the Comptroller and the Authorities Budget
Office (ABO) into a standard reporting format eliminating the need for
multiple filings of the same data.

Current information included in the annual and budget reports varies
from information about the financial status of the authority, governance
of the authorities, information connected to the board of directors, how
much debt the authority has taken on, and more. All of this information
is reported by authorities through PARIS, yet even though the final
reports are public, the public does not have a convenient way to access
all the data reported through PARIS. To maintain a transparent and
accountable system, New York must make this information accessible to
the public. This legislation would do just that, by making sure the
public can view this information through PARIS. By allowing this data to
be open-to inspection, the state will aid the public in acting as anoth-
er level of checks and balances on authorities across the state.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
180 days.