NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A402
SPONSOR: Davila TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public housing law, in relation to establishing
ethics requirements for certain resident councils
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This legislation would require that housing authorities provide ethics
training and create a conflict of interest form that all officers of the
resident councils need to complete. The housing authorities will make
the completed conflict of interest forms available to the public on its
website and redact any personal information from such conflict of inter-
est forms.
JUSTIFICATION:
In order to promote transparency and accountability inside the New York
resident councils' boards, it is necessary to create an ethics training
for the officers and a disclosure requirement that will make the public
know if the members of the resident councils have any conflict of inter-
ests that can affect the way they operate.
The disclosures by members of the council will provide assurances to the
residents that the councils in making their decisions are doing it in
the best interest of the residents of those developments rather than
their own or their employers/family/economic interests. Councils have a
lot of power, control and responsibility, and the better education and
transparency of both the officers and the residents will lead to
enhanced trust.
All decisions made by either the housing authorities or the resident
councils should be made with the best interest of the residents in mind
and the passage of this legislation will reinforce these goals.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A. 10450 of the 2023-2024 Legislative Session
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
Minimal.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
402
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DAVILA -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Housing
AN ACT to amend the public housing law, in relation to establishing
ethics requirements for certain resident councils
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public housing law is amended by adding a new section
2 62 to read as follows:
3 § 62. Resident councils; ethics. 1. For the purposes of this section,
4 the term "resident council" shall include any tenant associations, resi-
5 dent associations, or tenant councils.
6 2. In a city having a population of one million inhabitants or more, a
7 municipal housing authority shall develop an ethics plan and conflict of
8 interest form. Such authority shall promulgate rules and/or regulations
9 requiring that all officers of a resident council complete an ethics
10 training and file a completed conflict of interest form with such
11 authority. Such authority shall make all completed conflict of interest
12 forms available to the public on its website and shall redact any
13 personal information from such conflict of interest forms.
14 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00288-01-5
