BILL NUMBER: S9150
SPONSOR: TEDISCO
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public officers law, in relation to voting by the
senate on nominations of the governor
 
PURPOSE:
To provide greater transparency in New York State Senate confirmations
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
§ 1. Section 7 of the public officers law, as amended by chapter 230 of
the laws of 1949, is amended to read as follows:
2. Each appointment subject to this section shall be voted on individ-
ually; nominations may not be considered, confirmed or rejected as a
slate or group. All votes shall be conducted with a roll call vote with
each senator's vote noted on the record.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The New York State Senate has a constitutional role to provide "advice
and consent" on many of the Governor's appointments, including top exec-
utive officials and judges, and it does so through a structured commit-
tee and floor-vote process, however appointees are all too often voted
on as a slate, and in all cases, bereft of a roll call vote on the
record.
For the purposes of confirmation, both the United State Senate and the
New York City Council require members to vote on individual nominees,
and these votes are on the record, accessible to the voting public.
This legislation provides greater transparency to the process.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become' a law and shall apply to nominations made on and after such
effective date. 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 effective date.

Statutes affected:
S9150: 7 public officers law