Conditions the institution of any substantial change in surface route or rapid transit route service upon approval by the metropolitan transportation authority and committee on operations of the NYC transit authority and upon public hearing; sets allotted individual and aggregate speaking time during such hearings.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5854A
SPONSOR: Wright TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public authorities law, in
relation to requiring public notice and hearing prior to any planned
substantial change in service
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To allow for public comment and adequate notice thereof, prior to the
implementation of proposed changes in the levels of subway or bus
service; and to encourage public speaking at board and committee meet-
ings by specifying minimum speaking times to be allotted to each speak-
er.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1205 of the public authorities law is amended by adding a new
subdivision 9:
Requires NYCTA to obtain approval by resolution of the committee on
operations of the NYCTA and the MTA Board to hold a public hearing in
the affected county(ies) prior to any substantial change in service.
*Defines a substantial change in service.
*Requires further hearings for additional changes if substantial changes
in service were made within previous three years.
*includes complete or partial closing of a passenger station as a
substantial change
*Defines notice of hearing(s) to be given to affected communities
*Requires posters describing proposed change at affected stations and on
buses on affected routes, where detailed information is available and
date, time and place of hearing(s) and right of public to speak.
Paragraph (c) of subdivision 4 of section 1263 of the public authorities
law as added by chapter 247 of the laws of 1990 is amended.
*Describes allowable public speaking
*Requires that public comments be recorded in the minutes.
* Requires agendas for the meeting(s) be made available to the public.
JUSTIFICATION:
This legislation has four objectives:
(1) Provide Sunshine Law for NYCTA Service Changes. The legislation will
insure that the data collection and analysis performed by the NYCTA
prior to proposing a service change is adequate, and is subject to
detailed scrutiny by the MTA board and the public. Most of the data
collection and analysis stipulated in this legislation is already being
performed by NYCTA planning staff. However, when the NYCTA proposes
service changes, minimal information is presented to the board, and
even less to the public. The quality of NYCTA's service change planning
will be significantly improved by opening up the process to detailed
public scrutiny.
(2) Provide public Input Before Service Changes are Implemented. The
legislation will give the public the opportunity to comment on the tech-
nical analysis presented by NYCTA staff, and also to present other rele-
vant issues. Service changes on buses and subways often have impacts on
riders that are not apparent from studying ridership figures alone. Many
New Yorkers decide where to live based on available mass transit and,
especially for the elderly and disabled, a service change that may
appear minor may have a major impact on the quality of rider's lives.
Because such facts are often not apparent from ridership studies alone,
a public hearing is essential to bring to light information that may
otherwise be unavailable. Public hearings would therefore allow those
affected by cuts and other interested parties to present important
information to the committee on NYCTA operators for its consideration.
(3) Improve Public Speaking at MTA Board and Committee Meetings. The
legislation strengthens requirements concerning public speaking at meet-
ings of the MTA Board and its committees. Currently, the MTA discourages
public speakers by limiting their comments to a maximum of two minutes;
by restricting comments to topics on the agenda, while making the agenda
unavailable to the public until minutes before each meeting; and by not
recording the comments of public speakers in the minutes. The legis-
lation is specifically designed to correct these abuses. It stipulates
that more adequate speaking times shall be provided and may be shortened
only when, necessary to permit the Board to proceed with its agenda
within a reasonable time, and it requires that agendas shall be avail-
able for public inspection at easily accessible locations throughout
MTA's service territory well in advance of each meeting of the MTA Board
and each of its committees.
(4) Enhance Oversight by MTA Board. An intended and desirable effect of
this legislation is that MTA Board members, as well as the public, shall
have at least seven days to review agendas for meetings of the MTA Board
and its committees. Currently, nothing prevents the MTA from giving
draft agendas to Board members as little as forty-eight hours prior to a
committee or Board meeting, and final agendas only a few hours prior to
a committee meeting. At a typical meeting, the MTA Board is asked to
authorize the expenditure of tens of, millions of dollars, and frequent-
ly-hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds by guaranteeing that
Board members shall have at least seven days to review proposed MTA
expenditures, this legislation will significantly enhance the MTA
Board's ability to discharge its responsibilities.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2012:A639A
2010:A1335
2008:A552
2006:A9352
2005:A1195
2004:A4563
2002:A1666
1998:A1397
1996:A5721
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
