NY State Senate Bill 2023-S8645

Senate Bill S8645

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Provides the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly the ability to appoint members of the state university of New York's board of trustees

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Higher Education 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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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Feb 26, 2024	referred to higher education

co-Sponsors

2023-S8645 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A6430
Current Committee:: Senate Higher Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §353, Ed L

2023-S8645 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Provides the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly the ability to appoint four members each of the state university of New York's board of trustees; reduces the members of such board the governor appoints to seven.

2023-S8645 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8645

SPONSOR: SKOUFIS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the education law, in relation to providing the tempo-
rary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly the ability
to appoint members of the state university of New York's board of trus-
tees

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Amends section 353 of the education law by changing SUNY
board of trustee appointments by the Governor to seven and adding four
appointments by the temporary president of the senate, and four appoint-
ments by the speaker of the assembly.

Section 2: Sets out the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Under current law, the Governor appoints 15 of the 18 members of the

SUNY Board of Trustees, subject to senate approval. This legislation
would spread the appointments among the three different branches of
government, thereby eliminating the concentration of power to make these
critical appointments. These important members set policy for our entire
public university system and should reflect the values and.perspectives
of all three branches of government.

Recent events in other states demonstrate the need for this legislation.
For example, in Florida, Governor DeSantis stunned voters by abruptly
replacing trustees at one of the state's public universities with
conservative activists committed to eliminating diversity and inclusion
programs and intent on substituting the university's traditional liberal
arts curriculum with conservative-driven ideologies. The move was
extremely disruptive to the university and its current students and
highlights the need to ensure that the power to appoint SUNY Trustee
Board members be spread across all three branches of government.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

Senate

New bill.

Assembly

2022-2023: Referred to higher education

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2023-S8645 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8645
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 26, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education
 
 AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to providing  the  tempo-
   rary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly the abil-
   ity  to appoint members of the state university of New York's board of
   trustees

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision  1  of  section  353 of the education law, as
 amended by chapter 268 of the laws  of  2011,  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   1.  The  state  university shall be governed, and all of its corporate
 powers exercised, by a board of trustees. Such board  shall  consist  of
 eighteen  members,  [fifteen]  SEVEN  of  whom shall be appointed by the
 governor [with the advice and consent of the senate] AND WHO  SHALL  NOT
 BE AN EMPLOYEE OF, OR UNDER DIRECT SUPERVISION OF, THE GOVERNOR, FOUR OF
 WHOM  SHALL  BE APPOINTED BY THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, FOUR
 OF WHOM SHALL BE APPOINTED BY THE SPEAKER OF THE ASSEMBLY, one  of  whom
 shall  be the president of the student assembly of the state university,
 ex-officio and voting, one of whom shall be the president of the univer-
 sity faculty senate, ex-officio and non-voting, and one of whom shall be
 the president of the faculty council of community  colleges,  ex-officio
 and  non-voting.  Such  ex-officio  members  shall  be  subject to every
 provision of any general, special, or  local  law,  ordinance,  charter,
 code,  rule,  or regulation applying to the voting members of such board
 with respect to the discharge of their duties, including, but not limit-
 ed to, those  provisions  setting  forth  codes  of  ethics,  disclosure
 requirements,  and prohibiting business and professional activities. One
 member of the board shall be designated by the governor  as  chairperson
 and  one  as vice-chairperson. Of the members first appointed, two shall
 be appointed for a term which shall expire on June  thirtieth,  nineteen
 hundred  fifty-two; one for a term which shall expire on June thirtieth,
 nineteen hundred fifty-three; two for a term which shall expire on  June
 thirtieth,  nineteen  hundred  fifty-four;  one  for  a term which shall
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD09021-03-4
 S. 8645                             2
 
 expire on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred fifty-five; two  for  a  term
 which  shall  expire  on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred fifty-six; one
 for a term which  shall  expire  on  June  thirtieth,  nineteen  hundred
 fifty-seven;  two for a term which shall expire on June thirtieth, nine-
 teen hundred fifty-eight; one for a term  which  shall  expire  on  June
 thirtieth,  nineteen  hundred  fifty-nine;  two  for  a term which shall
 expire on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred sixty; and  one  for  a  term
 which shall expire on June thirtieth, nineteen hundred sixty-one. Vacan-
 cies  shall  be  filled  for  the  unexpired  term in the same manner as
 original appointments ARE MADE PURSUANT TO THIS SUBDIVISION AND SUBDIVI-
 SION ONE-A OF THIS  SECTION.    The  term  of  office  of  each  trustee
 appointed  on or after April first, nineteen hundred eighty-six shall be
 seven years, except those of the student member and the faculty members.
 Trustees shall receive no compensation for their services but  shall  be
 reimbursed  for their expenses actually and necessarily incurred by them
 in the performance of their duties under this article.
   § 2. Section 353 of the education law  is  amended  by  adding  a  new
 subdivision 1-a to read as follows:
   1-A.  THE APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS OF SUCH BOARD BY THE TEMPORARY PRESI-
 DENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE ASSEMBLY PURSUANT TO  SUBDIVI-
 SION  ONE  OF  THIS  SECTION SHALL COMMENCE WHEN A VACANCY OCCURS FROM A
 MEMBER APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR EITHER THROUGH THE EXPIRATION  OF  SUCH
 MEMBER'S  TERM,  OR  SEPARATION OF A MEMBER PRIOR TO AN EXPIRED TERM. IN
 EITHER CASE, VACANCIES OF MEMBERS APPOINTED BY  THE  GOVERNOR  SHALL  BE
 FILLED  IN  AN ALTERNATING MANNER BETWEEN THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE
 SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE ASSEMBLY. THE  FIRST  SUCH  VACANCY  OF  A
 MEMBER APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR SHALL BE FILLED BY THE TEMPORARY PRESI-
 DENT  OF  THE  SENATE AND THE NEXT SUCH VACANCY OF A MEMBER APPOINTED BY
 THE GOVERNOR SHALL BE FILLED BY THE  SPEAKER  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY.    SUCH
 VACANCIES  SHALL  CONTINUE TO BE FILLED IN SUCH ALTERNATING MANNER UNTIL
 SUCH TIME AS THE COMPOSITION  OF  SUCH  BOARD  REFLECTS  THE  NUMBER  OF
 APPOINTMENTS  AUTHORIZED BY EACH APPOINTING AUTHORITY PURSUANT TO SUBDI-
 VISION ONE OF THIS SECTION. AFTER SUCH TIME,  VACANCIES  ON  SUCH  BOARD
 SHALL BE FILLED BY THE APPOINTING AUTHORITY.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S8645

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Sponsored By

James Skoufis