NY State Senate Bill 2021-S4727

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Elections 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

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Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to elections
Feb 10, 2021	referred to elections

2021-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Elections
Law Section:: Election Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §6-136, El L

2021-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Eliminates the signature requirement for designating petitions for certain candidates for office in the city of New York.

2021-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S4727

SPONSOR: RIVERA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the election law, in relation to eliminating the signa-
ture requirement for designating petitions for certain candidates

 
PURPOSE:

To amend the election law, in relation to eliminating the signature
requirement for designating petitions for certain candidates

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends election law to remove the signature requirement:

(1) for a candidate running within the city of New York who is receiving
public matching funds pursuant to the provisions of chapter seven of
title three of the administrative code of the city of New York.

(2) for a candidate running in a particular county or borough within the
city of New York who is receiving public matching funds pursuant to the
provisions of chapter seven of title three of the administrative code of
the city of New York.

(3) for a candidate running in a particular municipal court district
within the city of New York who is receiving public matching funds
pursuant to the provisions of chapter seven of title three of the admin-
istrative code of the city of New York.

(4) for a candidate running in a particular city council district within
the city of New York who is receiving public matching funds pursuant to
the provisions of chapter seven of title three of the administrative
code of the city of New York.

Section 2 provides for the effective date and acknowledges the act shall
not apply to any special election occurring in the city of New York.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

By waiving the traditional signature gathering requirement, we can
protect the health and safety of New Yorkers living through the COVID-19
pandemic. During the 2020 election cycle a State of Emergency Declara-
tion took effect which implemented a reduced signature requirement with
a goal of making this process safer.  However, this implementation led
to confusion within campaigns and petitions being deemed invalid.
Further, multiple candidates, political club members, and Board of
Elections staff reported contracting COVID-19 during the signature gath-
ering process.

Even amidst vaccination efforts, New York State continues to report
nearly 20,000 new COVID-19 cases daily. Further, the CDC has cautioned
that although a person may be vaccinated, they can still contribute to
the spread of COVID19. Therefore, even if the vaccination efforts
improve significantly prior to the first day of petitioning, many people
will still be at risk. There is over 600 candidates for New York City
elections, which would mean literally thousands of volunteers collecting
signatures on behalf of these candidates. We must remove the requirement
for signature gathering process to prevent New York City elections from
adding to the prolonged public health crisis.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2021-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4727
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 10, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  RIVERA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections
 
 AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to eliminating the  signa-
   ture requirement for designating petitions for certain candidates
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and  (c-1)  of  subdivision  2  of
 section  6-136 of the election law, as amended by chapter 22 of the laws
 of 2021, are amended to read as follows:
   (a) Notwithstanding any provision of the New York city charter provid-
 ing for greater thresholds to the contrary, for any office to be  filled
 by  all  voters  of the city of New York, two thousand two hundred fifty
 signatures, PROVIDED HOWEVER, THERE SHALL BE  NO  SIGNATURE  REQUIREMENT
 FOR  A  CANDIDATE WHO IS RECEIVING PUBLIC MATCHING FUNDS PURSUANT TO THE
 PROVISIONS OF CHAPTER SEVEN OF TITLE THREE OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE CODE OF
 THE CITY OF NEW YORK;
   (b) Notwithstanding any provision of the New York city charter provid-
 ing for greater thresholds to the contrary, for any office to be  filled
 by  all the voters of any county or borough within the city of New York,
 one thousand two hundred signatures, PROVIDED HOWEVER, THERE SHALL BE NO
 SIGNATURE REQUIREMENT FOR A CANDIDATE WHO IS RECEIVING  PUBLIC  MATCHING
 FUNDS  PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF CHAPTER SEVEN OF TITLE THREE OF THE
 ADMINISTRATIVE CODE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK;
   (c) Notwithstanding any provision of the New York city charter provid-
 ing for greater thresholds to the contrary, for any office to be  filled
 in  the  city  of  New  York  by  all  the voters of any municipal court
 district, four hundred fifty signatures, PROVIDED HOWEVER,  THERE  SHALL
 BE  NO  SIGNATURE  REQUIREMENT  FOR  A CANDIDATE WHO IS RECEIVING PUBLIC
 MATCHING FUNDS PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS  OF  CHAPTER  SEVEN  OF  TITLE
 THREE OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE CODE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK;
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD09301-01-1

 S. 4727                             2
 
   (c-1)  Notwithstanding  any  provision  of  the  New York city charter
 providing for greater thresholds to the contrary, for any office  to  be
 filled  in  the  city  of New York by all the voters of any city council
 district, two hundred seventy signatures, PROVIDED HOWEVER, THERE  SHALL
 BE  NO  SIGNATURE  REQUIREMENT  FOR  A CANDIDATE WHO IS RECEIVING PUBLIC
 MATCHING FUNDS PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS  OF  CHAPTER  SEVEN  OF  TITLE
 THREE OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE CODE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK;
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall not apply to any
 special  election  that  will  occur  in  the city of New York for which
 petitions are required to be filed before February  15,  2021,  provided
 however,  that  the  amendments to subdivision 2 of section 6-136 of the
 election law made by section one of this act shall not affect the  expi-
 ration of such subdivision and shall be deemed to expire therewith.

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Senate Bill S4727

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Elections Committee

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2021-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

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Sponsored By

Gustavo Rivera

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Elections Committee

Actions

2021-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S4727 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments