Senate Bill S7311

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S7311

SPONSOR: MAYER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public officers law, in relation to prohibiting
executive sessions for the appointment of elected office

 
PURPOSE OF BILL:

To require that consideration of matters relating to the appointment of
a member or officer of a public body to fill a vacancy shall be
conducted in a meeting open to the public, not during executive session.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one adds a new subdivision 3 to section 105 of the public offi-
cers law to require that consideration of matters relating to the
appointment of a member or officer of a public body to fill a vacancy in
such public body, including interviews of applicants for appointment to
fill such vacancy, and any discussions or deliberations regarding any
such appointment, shall be conducted in a meeting open to the public and
              

shall not be conducted in an executive session.

Section two provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

When an elected public official resigns, public bodies often solicit
applications, conduct interviews, and have discussions about filling the
opening behind closed doors in an executive session. This practice has
been scrutinized, particularly in the case of filling school board
vacancies.

New York courts have weighed in on the question of whether executive
session is appropriate to fill a position left vacant by an elected
official. In Gordan v. Village of Monticello (1994), the court deter-
mined that the process of replacing elected officials must be subject to
"public input and scrutiny." Similarly, the Committee on Open Government
issued an advisory opinion in 2001 which pointed to the "obvious impor-
tance of protecting the voter's franchise" and declared that an execu-
tive session is not appropriate to handle appointments to fill the unex-
pired terms of elected officials (See Committee on Open Government
Advisory Opinion 3354, Aug. 15, 2001).

This legislation amends the public officers law to require that the
consideration of matters relating to the appointment of a member or
officer of a public body to fill a vacancy, including interviews of
applicants, and any discussions or deliberations regarding any such
appointment, be conducted in a meeting open to the public rather than in
an executive session. Filling a vacant elected position should never
occur behind closed doors. This change to the law is a needed step
towards greater transparency.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

A. 2788 of 2023 and 2024, referred to governmental operations.


A.8304 of 2021 and 2022, referred to governmental operations. Same as
S.8571, referred to investigations and government operations.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.