BILL NUMBER: S10639REVISED 6/3/26
SPONSOR: GIANARIS
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to the form of submission
and abstract for proposed amendments to the constitution
 
PURPOSE:
To authorize the legislature to determine the form in which a proposed
amendment to the constitution shall be submitted to the people.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends section 4-108 of the election law by
adding a new subdivision 8, which authorizes the legislature to deter-
mine the form in which a proposed amendment to the constitution shall be
submitted to the people, as well as the abstract thereof. The legisla-
ture, in determining the form of submission and abstract, shall use best
efforts to comply with plain language requirements and score at an
eighth grade reading level or below. Such form of submission and
abstract shall be transmitted by the state board of elections without
amendment or alteration.
Section two of the bill provides the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Ballot measures that propose amendments to the constitution offer a
unique opportunity for New York voters to directly shape the future of
their state. Given the importance of such proposals, it is in the
state's interest to present voters with the clearest and most accurate
description of what these proposals would actually do. Although the
legislature is tasked with drafting the legal text of the proposed
amendment itself - and is, thus, best suited to explain the meaning of
such text - the legislature does not currently have the authority to
offer its own plain language description to the voters. This bill would,
thus, authorize the legislature to determine the form in which a
proposed constitution amendment shall be submitted to the people.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all concur-
rent resolutions proposing amendments to the constitution that achieve
first passage by both houses of the legislature during the 2025-2026
legislative session and any agreed to by the legislature thereafter;
provided, however, that this act shall not apply to any concurrent
resolution proposing amendments to the constitution that achieved first
passage by both houses of the legislature during the 2023-2024 legisla-
tive session.

Statutes affected:
S10639: 4-108 election law