STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6197--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 14, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sens. SKOUFIS, BIAGGI -- read twice and ordered printed,
and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections --
recommitted to the Committee on Elections in accordance with Senate
Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the election law and the town law, in relation to
elections
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 6-202 of the election law, as
2 added by chapter 359 of the laws of 1989, is amended to read as follows:
3 1. Party nominations of candidates for village offices in any county
4 shall be made at a party caucus or at a primary election, as the rules
5 of the county committee, heretofore or hereafter adopted consistent with
6 the provisions of this chapter shall provide. If the rules of the county
7 committee of any political party provide that party nominations for
8 village offices of that party in any or all villages in the county shall
9 be made at a village primary election, such primary election shall be
10 held [forty-nine days prior to the date of the village election] the
11 first Tuesday after the second Monday in June before every general
12 election in an even-numbered year unless otherwise changed by an act of
13 the legislature. In the event a village elects its officers on a date
14 not in November, such primary election shall be held forty-nine days
15 prior to the date of the village election. In the event there is no
16 village committee with a chairman, the chairman of the county committee,
17 or such other person or body as the rules of such committee may provide,
18 shall designate an enrolled member of the party who is a qualified voter
19 of the village as the village election chairman. The chairman of the
20 county committee of each party in which nominations in any village are
21 made at a primary election shall file with the board of elections, at
22 least one week before the first day to file designating petitions for
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08253-08-2
S. 6197--A 2
1 such primary elections, a list of the name and address of the chairman
2 of the village committee or the village election chairman in each such
3 village. Such village chairman shall have general party responsibility
4 for the conduct of the village caucus or primary election. Such nomi-
5 nations shall be made not more than fifty-six, nor less than forty-nine
6 days prior to the date of the village election.
7 § 2. Paragraphs a and b of subdivision 1 of section 15-104 of the
8 election law, paragraph a as amended by chapter 248 of the laws of 1983
9 and paragraph b as amended by chapter 565 of the laws of 1998, are
10 amended to read as follows:
11 a. The general village election shall be held on the [third Tuesday in
12 March except in any village which presently elects, or hereafter adopts
13 a proposition to elect, its officers on a date other than the third
14 Tuesday in March] Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday in November
15 in an even-numbered year except in any village which as of the effective
16 date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand twenty-two that amended
17 this paragraph elects its officers on a date not in November.
18 [b. In any village in which the general village election, or a special
19 village election for officers pursuant to this chapter, is scheduled to
20 be held on the third Tuesday of March, for any year in which the seven-
21 teenth day of March shall fall on such Tuesday, the board of trustees of
22 such village shall provide, by the resolution prescribed by paragraph b
23 of subdivision three of this section, that such election shall be held
24 on the eighteenth day of March. Any provision of a resolution adopted
25 pursuant to this subdivision shall not otherwise alter the political
26 calendar for any such election, which shall continue to be computed from
27 the third Tuesday of March. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivi-
28 sion five of this section, any provision of a resolution adopted pursu-
29 ant to this subdivision shall be effective only if such provision is
30 specifically published as provided by this section.]
31 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 6-200 of the election law, as added by
32 chapter 359 of the laws of 1989, is amended to read as follows:
33 1. This title applies to all general and special village elections for
34 officers which are conducted by the board of elections [on a date other
35 than the date of the general election] and all the provisions of this
36 chapter, not inconsistent with this title, shall apply.
37 § 4. Section 80 of the town law is amended to read as follows:
38 § 80. Biennial town elections. [Except as otherwise provided in this
39 chapter, a] A biennial town election for the election of town officers
40 and for the consideration of such questions as may be proposed by the
41 town board or the duly qualified electors, pursuant to the provisions of
42 this chapter, shall be held on the Tuesday next succeeding the first
43 Monday in November of every [odd-numbered] even-numbered year. All other
44 town elections are special elections. A town election or special town
45 election held pursuant to this chapter, shall be construed as a substi-
46 tute, for a town meeting or a special town meeting heretofore provided
47 to be held by law, and a reference in any law to a town meeting or
48 special town meeting shall be construed as referring to a town election
49 or special town election.
50 § 5. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law or of any other
51 general, special or local law, all elections of any position of a county
52 elected official, town elected official, or village elected official,
53 except a village elected official who is elected on a date not in Novem-
54 ber, shall occur on the Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday in
55 November. All such elections shall occur in an even-numbered year.
S. 6197--A 3
1 § 6. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law or of any other
2 general, special, or local law, a county elected official, town elected
3 official, or village elected official, with exception of a village
4 elected official who is elected on a date not in November, presently
5 elected and serving their term as of the enactment of this act shall
6 complete their full term as established in local law.
7 § 7. Any county, town, or village official that is elected in an
8 odd-numbered year after the effective date of this act, excluding a
9 village elected official who is elected on a date not in November, shall
10 have their term expire as if such official were elected at the previous
11 general election held in an even-numbered year; provided however in no
12 event shall such expiration occur later than December 31 of such follow-
13 ing year. Such term shall be applicable to any general, special, or
14 local law pertaining to term limits. Nothing in this section shall
15 prohibit a county, town, or village from enacting a local law to alter
16 or permit alteration of an official's term limit.
17 § 8. Severability. If any provision of this act is held invalid or
18 ineffective in whole or in part or inapplicable to any person or situ-
19 ation, such invalidity or holding shall not affect, impair or invalidate
20 other provisions or applications of this act that can be given effect
21 without the invalid provision or application, and all other provisions
22 thereof shall nevertheless be separately and fully effective, and to
23 this end the provisions of this act are declared to be severable.
24 § 9. This act shall take effect immediately.