Removes the residency requirement for all public office positions employed by a county; provides that counties shall have the authority to determine residency requirements for each county job on a county by county basis.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3587
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 28, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. BORRELLO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Govern-
ment Operations
AN ACT to amend the public officers law, in relation to the residency
requirement for public office in counties in the state; 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. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 3 of the public officers
2 law, subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 251 of the laws of 2014 and
3 subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 1004 of the laws of 1966, are
4 amended and a new subdivision 1-b is added to read as follows:
5 1. No person shall be capable of holding a civil office who shall not,
6 at the time [he or she] such person shall be chosen thereto, have
7 attained the age of eighteen years, except that in the case of youth
8 boards, youth commissions, recreation commissions, or community boards
9 in the city of New York only, members of such boards or commissions may
10 be under the age of eighteen years, but must have attained the age of
11 sixteen years on or before appointment to such youth board, youth
12 commission, recreation commission, or community board in the city of New
13 York, be a citizen of the United States, a resident of the state, and if
14 it be a local office other than a public office position employed by a
15 county, a resident of the political subdivision or municipal corporation
16 of the state for which [he or she] such person shall be chosen, or with-
17 in which the electors electing [him or her] such person reside, or with-
18 in which [his or her] such person's official functions are required to
19 be exercised, or who shall have been or shall be convicted of a
20 violation of the selective draft act of the United States, enacted May
21 eighteenth, nineteen hundred seventeen, or the acts amendatory or
22 supplemental thereto, or of the federal selective training and service
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08058-01-5
S. 3587 2
1 act of nineteen hundred forty or the acts amendatory thereof or supple-
2 mental thereto.
3 1-b. Neither the provisions of this section or of any general, special
4 or local law, charter, code, ordinance, resolution, rule or regulation,
5 requiring a person to be a resident of the political subdivision or
6 municipal corporation of the state for which such person shall be chosen
7 or within which such person's official functions are required to be
8 exercised, shall apply to the appointment of a person to any county
9 public office employment position, and each county in the state shall
10 set forth residency requirements for county positions on an individual
11 basis.
12 2. Neither the provisions of this section or of any general, special
13 or local law, charter, code, ordinance, resolution, rule or regulation,
14 requiring a person to be a resident of the political subdivision or
15 municipal corporation of the state for which [he] such person shall be
16 chosen or within which [his] such person's official functions are
17 required to be exercised, shall apply to the appointment of a person as
18 a member of the police force of any political subdivision or municipal
19 corporation of the state if such person resides (a) in the county in
20 which such political subdivision or municipal corporation is located; or
21 (b) in a county within the state contiguous to the county in which such
22 political subdivision or municipal corporation is located; or (c) in a
23 county within the state contiguous to such political subdivision or
24 municipal corporation; or (d) in a county within the state contiguous to
25 a county described in item (c) hereof where the former is less than
26 fifteen miles from such political subdivision or municipal corporation,
27 measured from their respective nearest boundary lines; or (e) in a coun-
28 ty within the state contiguous to a county described in item (d) hereof
29 where the former is less than thirty miles from such political subdivi-
30 sion or municipal corporation, measured from their respective nearest
31 boundary lines. This subdivision shall not apply to any sheriff's
32 office or other county police force in the state.
33 § 2. Subdivisions 2-b, 28, 35, 38, 38-a, 41, 42, 44, 48, 48, 49, 49,
34 50, 50, 52, 53, 55, 55, 55, 60, 62, 64, 66, 66, 67, 67, 68, 68, 68, 68,
35 68, 68, 69, 70, 72, 72, 72, 72, 73, 73, 73, 73, and 73 of section 3 of
36 the public officers law, subdivision 2-b as added by chapter 1003 of the
37 laws of 1965, subdivision 41 as added by chapter 174 of the laws of
38 1998, subdivision 42 as added by chapter 174 of the laws of 1998, subdi-
39 vision 44 as added by chapter 457 of the laws of 2000, subdivision 48 as
40 added by chapter 517 of the laws of 2002, subdivision 48 as added by
41 chapter 518 of the laws of 2002, subdivision 49 as added by chapter 129
42 of the laws of 2003, subdivision 49 as added by chapter 313 of the laws
43 of 2003, subdivision 50 as added by chapter 551 of the laws of 2004,
44 subdivision 50 as added by chapter 665 of the laws of 2004, subdivision
45 53 as added by chapter 663 of the laws of 2006, subdivision 55 as added
46 by chapter 250 of the laws of 2008, subdivision 55 as added by chapter
47 265 of the laws of 2008, subdivision 55 as added by chapter 281 of the
48 laws of 2008, subdivision 60 as added by chapter 255 of the laws of
49 2013, subdivision 62 as added by chapter 225 of the laws of 2014, subdi-
50 vision 64 as added by chapter 139 of the laws of 2015, subdivision 66 as
51 added by chapter 113 of the laws of 2017, subdivision 66 as added by
52 chapter 130 of the laws of 2017, subdivision 67 as added by chapter 185
53 of the laws of 2018, subdivision 67 as added by chapter 340 of the laws
54 of 2018, subdivision 68 as added by chapter 292 of the laws of 2019,
55 subdivision 68 as added by chapter 333 of the laws of 2019, subdivision
56 68 as added by chapter 349 of the laws of 2019, subdivision 68 as added
S. 3587 3
1 by chapter 396 of the laws of 2019, subdivision 68 as added by chapter
2 464 of the laws of 2019, subdivision 68 as added by chapter 645 of the
3 laws of 2019, subdivision 70 as added by chapter 176 of the laws of
4 2020, subdivision 72 as added by chapter 271 of the laws of 2022, subdi-
5 vision 72 as added by chapter 275 of the laws of 2022, subdivision 72 as
6 added by chapter 334 of the laws of 2022, subdivision 72 as added by
7 chapter 458 of the laws of 2022, subdivision 73 as added by chapter 385
8 of the laws of 2023, subdivision 73 as added by chapter 392 of the laws
9 of 2023, subdivision 73 as added by chapter 399 of the laws of 2023,
10 subdivision 73 as added by chapter 405 of the laws of 2023, and subdivi-
11 sion 73 as added by chapter 407 of the laws of 2023, are REPEALED.
12 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
