Relates to gender balance on boards of state and local public authorities; provides that all appointive state and local authorities heretofore or hereafter established by law or resolution shall have recommendations for appointments, or reappointments that are gender balanced.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2921--B
Cal. No. 283
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 25, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sens. CLEARE, JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Corporations,
Authorities and Commissions -- recommitted to the Committee on Corpo-
rations, Authorities and Commissions in accordance with Senate Rule 6,
sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee -- reported favorably from
said committee, ordered to first and second report, ordered to a third
reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the
order of third reading
AN ACT to amend the public authorities law, in relation to gender
balance in state and local public authorities; and providing for the
repeal of such provisions upon the expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public authorities law is amended by adding a new
2 section 2830 to read as follows:
3 § 2830. Program promoting women to state and local authority boards.
4 1. The legislature finds that there is a need to promote women for
5 recommendation and appointment to state and local authority boards in an
6 effort to reverse a long history of discrimination against women on
7 boards of public authorities. The program proposed by this section would
8 provide for the use of gender as a factor when making recommendations
9 and appointments to state and local authority boards. This section
10 serves to achieve the benefits that come with the important governmental
11 objective of attaining gender diversity on state and local authority
12 boards.
13 2. For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have
14 the following meanings, unless the context otherwise requires:
15 (a) "Gender balance" means providing women candidates with a prefer-
16 ence when appointing individuals to boards;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03891-04-4
S. 2921--B 2
1 (b) "Appointing power" means an individual or government or legisla-
2 tive body charged with the responsibility to recommend for appointment
3 or to appoint or reappoint a person or persons to the board of a state
4 or local authority;
5 (c) "Board" means the governing board or governing body or other such
6 governing entity of local and state authorities;
7 (d) "Preference" means the act of favoring one person over another
8 that is inversely proportional, provided however, such favoring shall
9 not be dispositive;
10 (e) "Inversely proportional" means the greater the percentage of women
11 on the board the lower the weight of the preference and the lower the
12 percentage of women on the board the greater the weight of the prefer-
13 ence.
14 3. (a) All appointive state and local authorities heretofore or here-
15 after established by law or resolution shall have recommendations for
16 appointments, or reappointments that are gender balanced as provided by
17 this section.
18 (b) To the extent practicable, persons shall be recommended for
19 appointment, appointed or reappointed to any state or local authority
20 only if that recommendation, appointment or reappointment is gender
21 balanced as provided by this section.
22 4. An appointing power shall make recommendations, appointments and
23 reappointments to state and local authorities created prior to, on or
24 after August first, two thousand twenty-four, in a manner which, to the
25 extent practicable, will ensure a gender balanced appointment or reap-
26 pointment for each public authority.
27 5. The appointing power shall undertake all efforts necessary to
28 obtain lists of names of qualified candidates to be recommended for
29 appointment to state and local authorities, in furtherance of the
30 advancement of the policy of this section to achieve gender balanced
31 appointments and reappointments to state and local authority boards
32 pursuant to subdivisions three and four of this section.
33 6. Multiple appointing powers charged with the recommendation,
34 appointment or reappointment of individuals to the same state or local
35 public authority shall consult each other in order to comply with the
36 requirements of this section.
37 7. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit an individ-
38 ual from completing a term for which the person was appointed, prior to
39 the effective date of this section.
40 8. Each state and local authority shall include the number of
41 appointed or reappointed board members in the last year, the number of
42 women board members appointed or reappointed in the last year, the
43 current number of board members on the board and the gender of such
44 board members in the annual report required pursuant to section twenty-
45 eight hundred of this article.
46 § 2. This act shall take effect August 1, 2024 and shall expire and be
47 deemed repealed August 1, 2034.
