Watchdog Support for Public Authorities Reform Bills

February 6, 2023

As part of our work to create a more transparent and accountable state government, we support legislation to improve our laws regarding public authorities. We urge the State Senate Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee to vote yes on three bills we support at its meeting on Tuesday, February 7, 2023:

  1. S521 (Comrie)/A3788 (Zebrowski), Public Authorities Control Board repeal – restores the independence of the Public Authorities Control Board (PACB), repealing changes to the PACB statute enacted by demand of the former Governor in 2019. See our Memo of Support
     
  2. S1081 (Comrie)/A2229 (Hyndman), Municipal housing authorities reporting – requires municipal housing authorities like the NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) to report annually to the Authorities Budget Office (ABO) about their use of state funding. See our Memo of Support
     
  3. S2872 (Comrie), Exempts the MTA from the NYS bond issuance charge – eliminates the MTA’s requirement to pay state bond issuance charges, reducing its costs for borrowing and thus the cost to riders and taxpayers. See our Memo of Support

We urge the bills to be voted out of committee, and passed by the full Senate and Assembly.