BILL NUMBER: S8775

SPONSOR: COONEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act extending the time within which certain elected officers may file
their oaths of office

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one provides that any elected officials in a town-wide race in
the Town of Clarkson who failed to timely take or file their respective
oath of office will have an additional thirty day timeframe from enact-
ment, of this legislation to take and file their respective oaths of
office. If such elected officials take and file their respective oaths
of office in the new thirty day timeframe, they will be deemed to have
been in their elected office since the commencement of their term (Janu-
ary 1, 2022) and shall remain in their office until the conclusion of
their term (December 31, 2023).

Section two sets forth an immediate effective date.

 
              

JUSTIFICATION:

Under current law, once the term of a duly elected official begins, such
elected official has thirty days from commencement of their term to take
and file an oath of office. Failure to take and file an oath of office
in the thirty day timeframe disqualifies the duly elected official from
serving in their office, thereby leaving the office vacant. Pursuant to
existing law, once a vacancy occurs, the serving town board members may
appoint someone to fill the vacancy. However, the appointment is merely
temporary until an election can be held in the next-occurring November
to fill the remaining balance of that term of office.

On November 2nd, 2021, the voters of the Town of Clarkson elected Susan
Henshaw as town clerk. Clerk Henshaw failed to take her oath of office
due to illness within the thirty day timeframe required by law. In the
absence of such filing, Clerk Henshaw could not legally hold the office
she had just been elected to by the voters.

The serving Town Board members appointed Clerk Henshaw to her elected
position until December 31st, 2022, as permitted by law. As previously
stated, however, without this legislation Clerk Henshaw would need to
run again for this elected office this coming November in order to serve
out the remaining balance of a four-year term. This is an unforeseen,
unintended consequence of existing state law that should be immediately
corrected.

To now require Clerk Henshaw to run in another election for the remain-
ing balance of a four-year term that seemingly has already been granted
by the Clarkson voters is unjust, unfair and an unnecessary waste of
taxpayers' time and money. Most importantly, it has the potential to
nullify the results of a fairly held election for this office. Enacting
this legislation would uphold the decision of Clarkson voters and
preserve the integrity of the electoral process.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None. This bill would result in savings to the taxpayers of the Town of
Clarkson.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.