BILL NUMBER: S4301
SPONSOR: PARKER
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public housing law and the public authorities law,
in relation to the New York city housing authority
 
PURPOSE OF BILL:
To impose certain governance and reporting requirements on the New York
City Housing Authority.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends the public housing law relating to the
members of the New York City Housing authority ("NYCHA") to specify
certain duties of such members, including requiring them to apply their
fiduciary duties in the best interest of the NYCHA, its mission and its
residents.
The section also requires the establishment of a training program for
board members regarding their legal, fiduciary and ethical responsibil-
ities as directors of the NYCHA.
Section two of the bill amends the public housing law relating to powers
and duties of the NYCHA and imposes additional responsibilities on the
NYCHA, including:
1. Establish guidelines for the disposal of personal and real property
of NYCHA. The bill includes standards for disposing of real property at
below fair market value;
2. Requires the development of a public system to track capital
projects, disposition projects and maintenance and repair projects
3. Prepare and make available publicly an annual independent audit
report and other reports, including a list of all real property be long-
ing to NYCHA and of dispositions of real property;
4. Requires NYCHA to describe any government assistance to be received
by the private parties to the transaction and to provide an analysis
comparing the value received by NYCHA on a disposition with the value
that a private party would receive for similar property;
5. Establish a "whistleblower" program;
6. Require members, officers and employees of the NYCHA to document any
contact with lobbyists;
7. Establish an office of inspector general reporting to the NYC Depart-
ment of Investigations;
8. Provides for a process to ensure that federal funds allocated for
resident assistance are actually expended;
9. Requires NYCHA to comply with the NYC building code, and require the
City to enforce the code against NYCHA buildings and structures;
10. Allow NYCHA to contract with DASNY to construct, reconstruct, reno-
vate or rehabilitate NYCHA buildings and structures.
Section four sets forth the severability clause. Section five sets forth
the effective date of the bill.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
In 2005 and 2009, the state of New York enacted comprehensive legis-
lation to improve the practices of, and increase oversight over, the
state's public authorities. As entities that are mostly publicly funded
and are created to provide an important public service or good, public
authorities needed to operate with more accountability and transparency.
NYCHA is a publicly-funded public authority that provides essential and
basic functions and services for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.
As such, the State legislature believes that NYCHA should be held to
same laws and standards that are currently imposed on all other New York
state public authorities. It is in the best interest of the public to
ensure that NYCHA functions as an open, transparent and accountable
public authority.
 
PRIOR SENATE LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: S6835 - REFERRED TO HOUSING, CONSTRUCTION AND COMMUNITY DEVEL-
OPMENT
2021-22: S5424 - REFERRED TO HOUSING, CONSTRUCTION AND COMMUNITY DEVEL-
OPMENT
2017-18: S5042 - Referred to finance
2015-16: S.2470 - REFERRED TO HOUSING, CONSTRUCTION AND COMMUNITY DEVEL-
OPMENT
2013-14: S.4231A - AMEND AND COMMIT TO HOUSING, CONSTRUCTION AND COMMU-
NITY DEVELOPMENT
 
BUDGET IMPLICATIONS:
This bill will not result in any additional costs to the State. The New
York City Housing Authority might see some additional costs for func-
tions related to increased transparency, accountability, greater public
involvement, additional public meetings and reports, and increased costs
for establishing a tracking system for capital projects, and for mainte-
nance and repair projects.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
on or before such date.

Statutes affected:
S4301: 402 public housing law, 1678 public authorities law