STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2736 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 27, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, LAVINE, L. ROSENTHAL, DICKENS, SEAWRIGHT, COLTON, GALLAGHER, BURDICK, KELLES, SAYEGH, WOERNER, SEPTIMO, SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to providing for the declination of a designation as a candidate or nomination for a party position under special circumstances The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The election law is amended by adding a new section 6-159 2 to read as follows: 3 § 6-159. Special circumstance declination. 1. Notwithstanding the date 4 specified in the notice required pursuant to section 6-144 of this arti- 5 cle, a person designated as a candidate for nomination or for party 6 position, or nominated for an office, may, in a certificate signed and 7 acknowledged by him or her, and filed no later than three business days 8 before the certification of the ballot for an election, decline the 9 designation or nomination only under the following extraordinary circum- 10 stances: 11 (a) the person has received a diagnosis of a life-threatening illness; 12 (b) the person has been indicted for a crime; or 13 (c) the person has resigned the office for which they are nominated or 14 designated to run for re-election, for any reason. 15 2. The provisions of this article regarding filling a vacancy when a 16 designation or nomination is declined shall apply following the creation 17 of vacancy due to special circumstances as herein provided, except that 18 the certificate of substitution shall be received by the appropriate 19 board of elections not later than two business days after such declina- 20 tion is received by the board. 21 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD05710-01-3