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Assembly Bill A8134

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Relates to videoconferencing meetings under the open meetings law

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Assembly Committee

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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.

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