Senate Bill S5211

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S5211

SPONSOR: SCARCELLA-SPANTON
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the civil service law, in relation to enacting the "New
York state teleworking expansion act"

 
PURPOSE:

To reduce congestion and increase flexibility by increasing teleworking
in New York State agencies.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 is the short title of "New York state teleworking expansion
act".

Section 2 adds a new section 13 to have each state agency establish a
policy and program to allow employees to perform all or a portion of
their duties through teleworking to the maximum extent possible without
diminished employee performance. Each State Agency shall appoint a tele-
              

work coordinator who shall be responsible for overseeing the implementa-
tion of this program.

Further defines telework to mean normal and regular work functions on a
workday that ordinarily would be performed at the agency's principal
location at different locations, eliminating or reducing the physical
commute.

Also defines a state agency as any state department, board, bureau,
division, commission, committee, public authority, public benefit corpo-
ration, council, office, or other governmental entity. This section also
clearly states that nothing set forth in this section shall be construed
to impede, infringe, or diminish the rights and benefits that accrue to
employees and employers through collective bargaining agreements or
otherwise diminish the integrity of the collective bargaining relation-
ship.

This section also states that no agency shall establish a policy pursu-
ant to this section for any employee that is subject to a collective
bargaining agreement unless such policy has been mutually agreed to
between the agency and employee organization.

Section 3 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Teleworking offers an opportunity to reduce congestion.  The federal
government and many states and municipalities have established telework-
ing policies to get workers out of their cars, and not merely to reduce
congestion. Teleworking has been shown to increase productivity and
retention while reducing absenteeism.  Private sector-based strategies
include tax credits for businesses against the cost of planning, train-
ing and capital purchases necessary to establish a teleworking program
(i.e., Georgia), or merely free.

Consulting and training for businesses interested in establishing tele-
working programs (i.e., Connecticut).  Numerous jurisdictions have
established successful telework programs for government employees.
Arizona, for example, required (and achieved) 20% of state government
workers in busy Maricopa County (including the City of Phoenix) to tele-
work. Virginia has required that each state agency should have 25% of
its employees teleworking by 2010. The federal the government requires
its agencies to establish teleworking programs for its employees, and
over 100,000 federal employees participate. New York should be required
to establish a teleworking program for its employees, with appropriate
goals for the percentage of city workers teleworking.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2024; Held in Senate Finance Committee.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Cost Savings to the State.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.