Bill Text: NY A04592 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Enacts the New York state thruway authority accountability act; names the commissioner of DOT as chair of the thruway authority board; directs the commissioner of DOT to submit a plan to merge the thruway authority into the department of transportation.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 18-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-04 - referred to corporations, authorities and commissions [A04592 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-A04592-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          4592

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 4, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  BARCLAY,  McDONOUGH,  BLANKENBUSH, DiPIETRO,
          HAWLEY,  PALMESANO,  BRABENEC,  SMULLEN,  WALSH,  MILLER,   MANKTELOW,
          JENSEN,  GALLAHAN, DeSTEFANO, LEMONDES, TAGUE -- Multi-Sponsored by --
          M. of A. ANGELINO, K. BROWN -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions

        AN ACT to amend the public authorities law and the  transportation  law,
          in  relation to enacting the New York state thruway authority account-
          ability act

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  This act shall be known and be may cited as the "New York
     2  state thruway authority accountability act".
     3    § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 352 of the public  authorities  law,  as
     4  amended  by  chapter  766  of  the  laws  of 2005, is amended to read as
     5  follows:
     6    1. (a) A board to be known as "New York state  thruway  authority"  is
     7  hereby created. Such board shall be a body corporate and politic consti-
     8  tuting a public corporation. It shall consist of seven members appointed
     9  by  the  governor by and with the advice and consent of the senate. [The
    10  members first appointed shall serve for terms ending three, six and nine
    11  years, respectively from January first next  succeeding  their  appoint-
    12  ment.  Provided,  however,  that two board members first appointed on or
    13  after the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand five
    14  which amended this subdivision shall serve an initial term of two years;
    15  provided further that two other board  members  first  appointed  on  or
    16  after the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand five
    17  which  amended  this  subdivision  shall  serve an initial term of three
    18  years. Their successors shall be appointed for terms of nine years each.
    19  A member to be designated as chairman in his or  her  appointment  as  a
    20  member  shall  be chairman of such board until his or her term as member
    21  expires.] The commissioner of transportation  shall  be  designated  and

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05095-01-5
        A. 4592                             2

     1  serve  ex-officio as the chair of the board until the end of the term of
     2  the governor  by  whom  they  were  appointed  and  their  successor  is
     3  appointed  and has qualified. The [chairman] chair and the other members
     4  shall  serve  without additional salary or other compensation, but shall
     5  be entitled to reimbursement for their  actual  and  necessary  expenses
     6  incurred in the performance of their official duties.
     7    (b)  Notwithstanding  any  other provision of law or the provisions of
     8  any appointment by the governor, the terms of  all  members  serving  as
     9  such  as  of  March  thirty-first,  two  thousand twenty-five, or on the
    10  effective date of this paragraph, whichever date is later,  shall  imme-
    11  diately  terminate,  except  that  such  members shall continue to serve
    12  until their successors are appointed and have qualified.
    13    (c) Any member appointed shall have experience in one or more  of  the
    14  following  areas: transportation, business management, finance, account-
    15  ing or management of large capital projects.
    16    (d) Two members of the board appointed on or after  April  first,  two
    17  thousand  twenty-five,  shall  be appointed to terms of three years; two
    18  other members of the board shall be appointed to terms  of  four  years;
    19  and  two members of the board shall be appointed to terms of five years,
    20  provided, however, that such members shall continue to serve  after  the
    21  end  of their terms until their successors are appointed and have quali-
    22  fied, and provided further that notwithstanding the term  to  which  any
    23  such member shall have been appointed such a continuation of the term of
    24  a member shall not require confirmation by the senate.
    25    §  3.  Section 11 of the transportation law, as amended by chapter 460
    26  of the laws of 1971, is amended to read as follows:
    27    § 11. Department of transportation; commissioner. There  shall  be  in
    28  the  state  government  a department of transportation.  The head of the
    29  department shall be the commissioner of  transportation,  who  shall  be
    30  appointed  by  the  governor,  by and with the advice and consent of the
    31  senate, and hold office until the end of the term  of  the  governor  by
    32  whom  [he] such commissioner was appointed and until [his] their succes-
    33  sor is appointed and has qualified.
    34    The commissioner of transportation  shall  have  sole  charge  of  the
    35  administration of the department and the New York state thruway authori-
    36  ty  established  pursuant  to  title  nine  of article two of the public
    37  authorities law. The commissioner of transportation  shall  serve  as  a
    38  member  and chair of the thruway authority board established pursuant to
    39  section three hundred fifty-two of the public authorities law.
    40    § 4. The transportation law is amended by adding a new section  23  to
    41  read as follows:
    42    §  23.  New York state thruway authority administration and oversight.
    43  1. The commissioner shall  establish a plan to merge the  operations  of
    44  the  thruway  authority  with  that  of  the  department and consolidate
    45  services where appropriate, provided that no employee of  the  authority
    46  or  the  department  shall be terminated as a consequence of the merger.
    47  The commissioner shall submit a report to the governor  and  legislature
    48  within  one  hundred  twenty days of the effective date of this section.
    49  The report shall be submitted to the temporary president of the  senate,
    50  the  speaker  of  the  assembly,  the minority leader of the senate, the
    51  minority leader of the assembly, the chair and ranking  minority  member
    52  of  the  senate finance committee, the chair and ranking minority member
    53  of the assembly ways and means committee, the chairs and ranking minori-
    54  ty members of the senate  and  assembly  corporations,  authorities  and
    55  commissions  committees,  and the chairs and ranking minority members of
    56  the senate and assembly transportation committees.
        A. 4592                             3

     1    2. (a) The commissioner shall, within sixty days of the effective date
     2  of this section, and every  three  years  thereafter,  contract  with  a
     3  certified  public  accounting  firm for the provision of an independent,
     4  comprehensive, forensic audit of the thruway authority. Such audit shall
     5  be  performed  in accordance with generally accepted government auditing
     6  standards.
     7    (b) The certified independent public  accounting  firm  providing  the
     8  independent,  comprehensive,  forensic  audit  of  the thruway authority
     9  shall be prohibited from providing audit services if the lead or coordi-
    10  nating audit partner, having primary responsibility for  the  audit,  or
    11  the  audit  partner  responsible  for reviewing the audit, has performed
    12  audit services for the authority within any of the ten  previous  fiscal
    13  years of the authority.
    14    (c)  The  certified  independent  accounting firm performing the audit
    15  pursuant to this section shall be prohibited from performing any non-au-
    16  dit services for the authority contemporaneously with the audit.
    17    (d) It shall  be  prohibited  for  the  certified  independent  public
    18  accounting  firm  to  perform  any  audit service if the chief executive
    19  officer, comptroller, chief financial officer, chief accounting  officer
    20  or  any  other person serving in an equivalent position in the authority
    21  was an employee, consultant or independent contractor of that  certified
    22  independent  public  accounting firm and participated in any capacity in
    23  the audit of the authority at any time in the past.
    24    (e) The certified independent public  accounting  firm  contracted  to
    25  perform  the  independent,  comprehensive, forensic audit of the thruway
    26  authority shall, within one year of  the  initiation  of  the  contract,
    27  report  its  findings,  conclusions and recommendations to the governor,
    28  the state comptroller, the temporary president of the senate, the speak-
    29  er of the assembly, the minority leader  of  the  senate,  the  minority
    30  leader  of  the  assembly,  the chair and ranking minority member of the
    31  senate finance committee, the chair and ranking minority member  of  the
    32  assembly  ways  and  means  committee,  the  chairs and ranking minority
    33  members of the senate and the  assembly  corporations,  authorities  and
    34  commissions  committees,  and the chairs and ranking minority members of
    35  the senate and the assembly transportation committees.
    36    § 5. Section 360 of the public authorities law, as amended by  section
    37  8  of  part  TT of chapter 54 of the laws of 2016, is amended to read as
    38  follows:
    39    § 360. Operation and maintenance. Operation  and  maintenance  by  the
    40  authority of any thruway section or connection or any part thereof or of
    41  a  highway  connection  of  which  it  has assumed jurisdiction shall be
    42  performed (a) by the use  of  authority  forces  and  equipment  at  the
    43  expense  of the authority or by agreement at the expense of the state or
    44  other parties;  (b)  by  contract  with  municipalities  or  independent
    45  contractors;  (c) at the request of the [authority] commissioner, by the
    46  [commissioner and his subordinates in the department  of  transportation
    47  as agents for,] authority and at the expense of the authority, or (d) by
    48  a combination of such methods.
    49    §  6. Section 363 of the public authorities law, as amended by chapter
    50  766 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows:
    51    § 363. Annual report. The authority shall submit to the  governor,  to
    52  the  [legislature,  to] speaker of the assembly, the temporary president
    53  of the senate, the minority leader of the senate, the minority leader of
    54  the assembly, the senate finance committee, the assembly ways and  means
    55  committee,  the  comptroller  and  to  the  director of the budget on or
    56  before the first day of February of each year a detailed report  setting
        A. 4592                             4

     1  forth  its  [operations  and]  fiscal  transactions during the preceding
     2  calendar year with a statement of its financial condition as of the  end
     3  of  such  year  and  a statement of all receipts and expenditures during
     4  such  year.  Such  report shall include detailed information relating to
     5  additional expenditures incurred by the authority as  a  result  of  the
     6  amendments  made to subdivision four of section three hundred fifty-nine
     7  of this [chapter] title pursuant to the chapter of the laws of  nineteen
     8  hundred ninety-two which enacted this sentence.
     9    §  7.  Section 14 of the transportation law is amended by adding a new
    10  subdivision 13-a to read as follows:
    11    13-a. As part of the department's annual budget  request,  to  include
    12  any  requests for thruway authority toll increases and justification for
    13  such increases.
    14    § 8. This act shall take effect immediately.