NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A255
SPONSOR: Magnarelli TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general municipal law, in relation to preventing
certain elected officials from being a member of an agency; and to
repeal subdivision 4 of section 856 of such law relating thereto
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The bill would prohibit any elected official serving at the county,
town, city, or village level, from serving as member of the board of any
industrial development agency (IDA) located within the county. This
reform would eliminate major potential conflicts of interest in the
current law.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Repeals the existing subdivision 4 of section 856 of the
general municipal law which deals with elected officials serving as
members of IDA boards and replaces it with a new subdivision 4 that
prohibits any elected official serving at the county, town, city, or
village level from serving as member of the board of any industrial
development agency (IDA) located within the county. Any IDA board member
who would now be ineligible to serve may serve until the expiration of
his or her term as a member of the IDA, at which time new board members
must be selected using the existing process established by each IDA. The
enabling legislation for certain county and municipal IDAs specifically
requires certain elected positions to be represented on the IDA's board.
This bill would not apply to any elected officials required by the terms
of the enabling legislation for a particular IDA to serve on the board
of that IDA.
Section 2: Effective Date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Each year, local industrial development agencies grant millions of
dollars of financial assistance in the form of tax incentives, payment
in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreements, and others, to projects seeking
assistance. The members of IDA boards make decisions on which projects
will receive assistance and how much assistance to offer. Allowing
elected officials to serve as IDA board members opens obvious opportu-
nities for corruption and conflicts of interest. For instance, a company
(or its officers) seeking financial assistance from a county or munici-
pal IDA could contribute to the campaign of an elected official who
serves on the IDA board and that elected official could then vote to
confer millions of dollars in taxpayer incentives on the company.
Despite this clear potential for corruption, elected officials currently
serve on IDA boards all around the state, making this bill a vitally
needed anti-corruption measure.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-2022: A.1308-A; 2019-2020: A.7235
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
255
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 4, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. MAGNARELLI, THIELE, SIMON, BUTTENSCHON, COOK,
LAVINE, GUNTHER, JACOBSON, STIRPE -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Local Governments
AN ACT to amend the general municipal law, in relation to preventing
certain elected officials from being a member of an agency; and to
repeal subdivision 4 of section 856 of such law relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 856 of the general municipal law
2 is REPEALED and a new subdivision 4 is added to read as follows:
3 4. No member of an agency shall be an elected official of the munici-
4 pality nor shall any member of an agency be an elected official of any
5 county, city, town, or village within the county in which the agency is
6 located. Where an individual who currently serves as a member of an
7 agency would be ineligible to serve until his or her term as a member of
8 an agency has expired, the governing body of the municipality or
9 appointing authority of the agency shall appoint new members of the
10 agency as provided in subdivision two of this section where an individ-
11 ual was no longer able to serve in such a capacity. This subdivision
12 shall not apply to any elected officials required to serve on an indus-
13 trial development agency under title two of this article. This subdivi-
14 sion shall not apply to any industrial development agency that has a
15 board entirely composed of elected officials from the municipality that
16 chartered such industrial development agency.
17 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00272-01-3
