Requires members of a public body to complete a minimum of two hours of training, with one hour on the state's open meetings law and one hour on freedom of information law; requires certain local, city, county, town and village public body members to complete such training as well.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7552
SPONSOR: McMahon TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public officers law, in relation to requiring
members of a public body to complete a minimum level of training on the
state's open meetings law and freedom of information law
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill requires members of a public body to complete a minimum level
of training on the state's open meetings law and freedom of information
law.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 adds a new section to public officers law to require each
local officer complete no less than two hours training annually on the
requirements of the open meetings law and freedom of information law.
The training must be approved by the state's Committee on Open Govern-
ment. There is also a reporting requirement.
Section 2 sets the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Since 2007, it has been mandatory for members of planning boards, zoning
boards, to receive a minimum of four hours of annual training. Members
of a public authority board are also required to complete training
regarding their fiduciary, financial and ethical responsibilities.
Newly-elected school board members are required to complete training
within their first year of service. This training requires topics on
the essentials of school board governance and a minimum of six hours in
fiscal oversight, accountability and fiduciary responsibilities of a
school board member. This is a one-time training requirement. Every year
newly elected Judges in NY attend a weeklong training prior to taking
the bench. Attorneys and other professionals are required to complete
continuing education programs.
Several times a year, the New York Coalition for Open Government does
random checks at the local level regarding compliance with open govern-
ment laws. Each report shows concerning non-compliance with the law. For
example, in 2022 72% of towns were not posting meeting documents online
and 25% of towns were not posting meeting minutes or recording. In addi-
tion, 39% of counties failed to acknowledge a FOIL request within five
business days as required by law while 28% of counties never acknowl-
edged a FOIL request.
There should be a law requiring elected officials at the village, town,
city, county and school board level to complete two hours of annual
training regarding the Open Meetings Law and Freedom of Information Law.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A9135 of 2024: Referred to governmental operations
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None to the state.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7552
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 1, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. McMAHON, STECK, SIMON, CONRAD, SIMONE, SCHIAVONI,
GLICK, LEVENBERG -- read once and referred to the Committee on Govern-
mental Operations
AN ACT to amend the public officers law, in relation to requiring
members of a public body to complete a minimum level of training on
the state's open meetings law and freedom of information law
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public officers law is amended by adding a new section
2 79-a to read as follows:
3 § 79-a. Public officers required training. Each local officer, as
4 defined by article one of this chapter, shall complete no less than two
5 hours of training annually, with a minimum of one hour of such training
6 being on the requirements of the open meetings law, as established by
7 article seven of this chapter, and with a minimum of one hour of such
8 training being on the freedom of information law, as established by
9 article six of this chapter. All village clerks, town clerks, city
10 clerks, legislative clerks to a county legislature or board of supervi-
11 sors, village attorneys, town attorneys, city attorneys, county attor-
12 neys or other designated attorneys for a public body, and all designated
13 records access officers and FOIL appeal officers shall be required to
14 complete such training. Such training shall be approved by the committee
15 on open government established under section one hundred nine of this
16 chapter and may include training provided by a state agency, statewide
17 municipal association, non-profit organization, college, or any other
18 similar entity the committee deems necessary. Such training may be
19 provided in a variety of formats, including but not limited to, elec-
20 tronic media, distance learning or traditional classroom training. On
21 or before December thirty-first of each year, individuals required to
22 complete such training shall file with their designated records access
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02955-02-5
A. 7552 2
1 officer proof of their attendance at any such training programs required
2 by this section.
3 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
