NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4874A
SPONSOR: Wright (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public housing law, in relation to
the composition of the New York city housing authority, and in relation
to the compensation of members of the New York city housing authority;
and to repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The bill would alter the structure and operation of the New York City
Housing Authority's board of directors.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
This bill would change the composition of the New York City Housing
Authority (NYCHA) members to consist of three tenant representative
members, and four other members including the Chairman. The bill would
change the term of members of the authority, other than the chairman,
from five to three years. Upon the removal of members, other than the
Chairman, the Mayor would be required to file the reason for removal of
the member in the Office of the Commissioner of Citywide Administrative
Services and make the reasons for such removal available to the public.
The bill would extend the time for the Mayor to fill vacancies of the
board to 90 days.
This bill would also require that only the NYCHA chairman work full-time
for the Authority and not be employed elsewhere. The bill would author-
ize the chairman's salary to be fixed by local law. Members other than
the chairman would receive a monthly stipend of two-hundred fifty
dollars for every four hours of work performed for the authority, not to
exceed one-thousand five hundred dollars every month.
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill would expand tenant representation on the Authority. Current-
ly NYCHA is comprised of five appointees, including the chairman and one
tenant representative. The bill would expand the Authority to seven
members by adding two additional tenant representatives and limiting the
number of appointed members to four. This would ensure that NYCHA resi-
dents are well-represented on the Authority. The bill also sets a new
equitable compensation structure for board members other than the full-
time chairman that reflects the time they are expected to dedicate to
the performance of their Authority duties.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on June 1, 2013, provided that the mayor of
the City of New York may make appointments to the board prior to the
effective date of this act.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4874--A
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 12, 2013
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WRIGHT, RODRIGUEZ -- read once and referred to
the Committee on Housing -- committee discharged, bill amended,
ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public housing law, in relation to the composition
of the New York city housing authority, and in relation to the compen-
sation of members of the New York city housing authority; and to
repeal certain provisions 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 3 of section 402 of the public housing law is
2 REPEALED and a new subdivision 3 is added to read as follows:
3 3. The authority shall consist of seven members appointed by the
4 mayor, one of whom shall be designated by the mayor as chairman remova-
5 ble at his or her pleasure. The term of office of each member other than
6 the chairman shall be three years, provided, however, that the initial
7 appointments of the six members other than the chairman shall be as
8 follows: two shall be appointed for one-year terms, two shall be
9 appointed for two-year terms, and two shall be appointed for three-year
10 terms. The mayor shall file with the commissioner of housing a certif-
11 icate of appointment of the chairman and of each member. Any member
12 other than the chairman may be removed by the mayor upon filing in the
13 office of the commissioner of citywide administrative services and serv-
14 ing upon the member the reasons therefor. Such document setting forth
15 the reasons shall be made available to the general public, which shall
16 include but not be limited to publishing the reasons on the New York
17 city housing authority's website. Three of such members shall be a
18 tenant of record or an authorized member of the tenant household, in
19 good standing, residing in one of the federal projects owned or operated
20 by the authority, provided, however, that for the initial appointments
21 of the three such members, one shall be among the members initially
22 appointed for one-year terms, one shall be among the members initially
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08551-04-3
A. 4874--A 2
1 appointed for two-year terms, and one shall be among the members
2 initially appointed for three-year terms. A vacancy in the office of a
3 member other than the chairman occurring otherwise than by expiration of
4 term shall be filled for the unexpired term. Further, any vacancy in the
5 office of a tenant member shall only be filled by the appointment of an
6 eligible tenant member, and such appointment shall be made within ninety
7 days of such vacancy.
8 § 2. Subdivision 4 of section 402 of the public housing law, as
9 amended by chapter 531 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as
10 follows:
11 4. The chairman [and the other members of the authority other than the
12 additional tenant member] shall give [their] his or her whole time to
13 [their] his or her duties and shall not engage in any other occupation,
14 profession or employment. The chairman [and the members of the authori-
15 ty other than the additional tenant member] shall receive a salary the
16 amount of which shall be fixed by local law. The [additional tenant
17 member] other members of the authority shall receive a [monthly] stipend
18 in the amount of two hundred fifty dollars for every four hours of work
19 performed for the authority, not to exceed one thousand five hundred
20 dollars per month.
21 § 3. This act shall take effect on June 1, 2013, provided that the
22 mayor of the city of New York may make appointments to the board created
23 by subdivision 3 of section 402 of the public housing law, as added by
24 section one of this act, prior to the effective date of this act.
