Assembly Bill A8134

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Relates to videoconferencing meetings under the open meetings law

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

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

Do you support this bill?

Please enter your contact information

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.
Actions

co-Sponsors

2021-A8134 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:
Assembly Governmental Operations
Law Section:
Public Officers Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §§102, 103 & 106, Pub Off L

2021-A8134 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Establishes under the open meetings law any member or officer of the public body that uses videoconferencing to participate in a meeting shall be counted for quorum; requires a site be provided to the public to participate in such videoconferencing.

2021-A8134 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8134
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               June 11, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M. of A. NIOU -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Governmental Operations
 
 AN ACT to amend the public officers law, in relation to  videoconferenc-
   ing meetings under the open meetings law
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 102 of the public officers law, as
 amended by chapter 289 of the laws  of  2000,  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   1.  "Meeting"  means  the  official convening of a public body for the
 purpose of conducting public business, including the use of videoconfer-
 encing for attendance and participation by the  members  of  the  public
 body.  PARTICIPATION  BY  VIDEOCONFERENCING SHALL CONSTITUTE PRESENCE IN
 PERSON AND COUNTED FOR QUORUM PURPOSES.
   § 2. Subdivision (c) of section 103 of the  public  officers  law,  as
 added by chapter 289 of the laws of 2000, is amended to read as follows:
   (c)  A public body that uses videoconferencing to conduct its meetings
 shall provide an opportunity  for  the  public  to  attend,  listen  and
 observe  at any PUBLIC site at which a member participates. IF NO MEMBER
 IS PARTICIPATING AT A PUBLIC SITE, SUCH PUBLIC BODY SHALL PROVIDE A SITE
 FOR THE PUBLIC TO ATTEND, LISTEN AND OBSERVE. SUCH SITE MAY INCLUDE  THE
 INTERNET  ADDRESS  OF THE WEBSITE STREAMING SUCH MEETING IF SUCH MEETING
 IS OCCURRING ONLY THROUGH THE INTERNET.  EACH MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC  BODY
 SHALL ENSURE THEY ARE PRESENT FOR THE DURATION OF SUCH VIDEOCONFERENCE.
   § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 106 of the public officers law, as added
 by  chapter  511 of the laws of 1976 and as renumbered by chapter 652 of
 the laws of 1983, is amended to read as follows:
   1. Minutes shall be taken at all open meetings of a public body  which
 shall  consist  of a record or summary of all motions, proposals, resol-
 utions and any other matter formally voted upon and  the  vote  thereon.
 SUCH  MINUTES  MAY BE TAKEN AND MADE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC IN AN ELEC-
 TRONIC FORMAT INCLUDING BY AUDIO RECORDING WHICH SHALL BE TRANSCRIBED NO
 LATER THAN ONE WEEK AFTER SUCH MEETING.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.