S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7383
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 22, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- (at request of the NYC Mayor's Office of
   Contract Services) -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed
   to be committed to the Committee on Cities 1
 
 AN  ACT to amend the New York city charter, in relation to public notice
   and comment for certain contracts; and providing  for  the  repeal  of
   certain provisions upon expiration thereof
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Section 326 of the New York city  charter,  as  amended  by
 local  law  number  19  of  the  city  of New York for the year 2004, is
 amended to read as follows:
   § 326. Public [hearings] NOTICE AND COMMENT  on  contract  awards.  a.
 Prior  to entering into any contract for goods, services or construction
 to be awarded by other than competitive sealed  bidding  or  competitive
 sealed  bids  from prequalified vendors, the value of which exceeds [one
 hundred thousand dollars] A THRESHOLD  ESTABLISHED  BY  THE  PROCUREMENT
 POLICY  BOARD  BY  RULE,  the agency shall [upon reasonable public] GIVE
 notice [conduct a public hearing  to  receive  testimony  regarding  the
 proposed  contract.  Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, if within a
 period of time after such notice, which period of time shall  be  deter-
 mined  by the procurement policy board, no individual requests an oppor-
 tunity to speak at such a  public  hearing  with  respect  to  any  such
 proposed  contract  the  value  of  which  does  not  exceed one million
 dollars, then such public hearing need not be  conducted]  IN  THE  CITY
 RECORD  THAT  COMMENTS  ON THE PROPOSED CONTRACT MAY BE SUBMITTED ONLINE
 FOR A PERIOD OF TIME, DETERMINED BY THE PROCUREMENT POLICY BOARD IN  ITS
 DISCRETION  BY  RULE, PROVIDED THAT SUCH PERIOD OF TIME SHALL BE NO LESS
 THAN SEVEN DAYS AND SHALL COMMENCE NO EARLIER THAN THE DATE SUCH  NOTICE
 IS  GIVEN.  IN  ESTABLISHING  A  THRESHOLD PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION, THE
 PROCUREMENT POLICY BOARD  SHALL  CONSIDER  FACTORS  INCLUDING,  BUT  NOT
 LIMITED  TO,  THE  NEED FOR EFFICIENCY AND TRANSPARENCY IN CITY PROCURE-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD11214-01-3
              

 S. 7383                             2
 
 MENTS. The procurement policy board may by rule exempt from this  public
 [hearing]  NOTICE  AND  COMMENT requirement contracts to be let which do
 not differ materially in terms and conditions, as defined by the  board,
 from  contracts  currently  held  by  the city where the parties to such
 contracts are the same; provided, that under no  circumstance  may  such
 exemption apply to any contract in value exceeding ten million dollars.
   b. The requirements of this section shall not apply to any procurement
 (i)  let  pursuant  to  a  finding  of  an emergency under section three
 hundred fifteen, (ii) required to be made on an accelerated basis due to
 markets which experience significant, short-term price fluctuations,  as
 identified  by  rule  of  the board, or (iii) where [a] public [hearing]
 NOTICE PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION would disclose  litigation  strategy  or
 otherwise impair the conduct of litigation by the city.
   §  2. No later than September 30, 2025, and no later than September 30
 of each year thereafter, the mayor's office of contract services of  the
 city  of  New York shall submit to the governor, the temporary president
 of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the mayor of the city of New
 York, and the comptroller of the city of New York a report  relating  to
 public  notice and comment on contracts of the city of New York pursuant
 to section 326 of the New York city charter. Such report shall  include,
 but  need  not  be  limited to, the number of contracts for which public
 notice and comment was provided pursuant  to  such  section  during  the
 previous fiscal year, the dollar value of any such contract, and whether
 the  threshold  established pursuant to such section was modified during
 the previous fiscal year and if so, the value of the threshold following
 such modification.
   § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
 it shall have become a law; provided however, that section two  of  this
 act shall expire and be deemed repealed October 1, 2030. Effective imme-
 diately,  the  affected  agencies of the city of New York, including but
 not limited to, the procurement  policy  board,  may  take  any  actions
 necessary  to  effectuate the provisions of this act prior to its effec-
 tive date.