Support for Bill Authorizing ABO Suspension of Local Authority Board/Staff

Memorandum of Support
A.220 (Paulin) / S.1872 (Comrie)

Authorizes the Authorities Budget Office (ABO) to suspend
local authority board members and executive staff

Summary
Section 1 of the bill amends section 6 of the Public Authorities Law to authorize the ABO to suspend, for up to 90 days, board members or executive staff of local authorities who have not submitted the budget, annual and audit reports required by the public authorities law more than three years after the original due date. The ABO may send a 30-day warning, and if it receives no reply, may issue a notice of suspension 180 days before the suspension is to commence. The ABO may terminate such suspensions if the authority files the missing reports. When an entire board or the majority of a board is suspended, that authority shall be prohibited from conducting any actions that bind the board to future activity, unless those actions are part of meeting its legal obligations.

Section 1 also permits the officials or bodies that appoint authority board members to reinstate suspended members. If the appointing authority is a legislator or legislative body, the reinstatement must be held in a public meeting, with an opportunity for the public to comment. The reinstatement must then be recorded and passed by a majority vote of the legislative body. Any reinstatements by chief executive officials who appoint members of local authorities must be done as official actions. The chairperson of a local authority may reinstate an authority’s chief executive officer provided it is at a public meeting (with the opportunity for the public to comment) and approved by the majority of the authority’s board of directors. All reinstatements, regardless of the appointing official or body, must record the act and provide a written description of how the decision to reinstate was reached.

Section 2 states that the changes will go into effect within 90 days of the bill’s passage.