Bill Text: NY S06197 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: Provides that certain local elections outside of New York City shall be in an even-numbered year.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-05-27 - PRINT NUMBER 6197D [S06197 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S06197-Amended.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         6197--C

                               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 -- committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee  --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended,  ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

        AN  ACT  to amend the election law, the town law and the village law, in
          relation to moving certain elections to even-numbered years

          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

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08253-12-2
        S. 6197--C                          2

     1  county  committee  of each party in which nominations in any village are
     2  made at a primary election shall file with the board  of  elections,  at
     3  least  one  week  before the first day to file designating petitions for
     4  such  primary  elections, a list of the name and address of the chairman
     5  of the village committee or the village election chairman in  each  such
     6  village.  Such  village chairman shall have general party responsibility
     7  for the conduct of the village caucus or primary  election.  Such  nomi-
     8  nations  shall be made not more than fifty-six, nor less than forty-nine
     9  days prior to the date of the village election.
    10    § 2. Paragraphs a and b of subdivision 1  of  section  15-104  of  the
    11  election  law, paragraph a as amended by chapter 248 of the laws of 1983
    12  and paragraph b as amended by chapter 565  of  the  laws  of  1998,  are
    13  amended to read as follows:
    14    a. The general village election shall be held on the [third Tuesday in
    15  March  except in any village which presently elects, or hereafter adopts
    16  a proposition to elect, its officers on a  date  other  than  the  third
    17  Tuesday  in  March] Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday in November
    18  in an even-numbered year except in any village which as of the effective
    19  date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand twenty-two that  amended
    20  this paragraph elects its officers on a date not in November.
    21    [b. In any village in which the general village election, or a special
    22  village  election for officers pursuant to this chapter, is scheduled to
    23  be held on the third Tuesday of March, for any year in which the  seven-
    24  teenth day of March shall fall on such Tuesday, the board of trustees of
    25  such  village shall provide, by the resolution prescribed by paragraph b
    26  of subdivision three of this section, that such election shall  be  held
    27  on  the  eighteenth  day of March. Any provision of a resolution adopted
    28  pursuant to this subdivision shall not  otherwise  alter  the  political
    29  calendar for any such election, which shall continue to be computed from
    30  the  third  Tuesday of March. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivi-
    31  sion five of this section, any provision of a resolution adopted  pursu-
    32  ant  to  this  subdivision  shall be effective only if such provision is
    33  specifically published as provided by this section.]
    34    § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 6-200 of the election law, as  added  by
    35  chapter 359 of the laws of 1989, is amended to read as follows:
    36    1. This title applies to all general and special village elections for
    37  officers  which are conducted by the board of elections [on a date other
    38  than the date of the general election] and all the  provisions  of  this
    39  chapter, not inconsistent with this title, shall apply.
    40    § 4. Section 80 of the town law is amended to read as follows:
    41    §  80.  Biennial town elections. [Except as otherwise provided in this
    42  chapter, a] A biennial town election for the election of  town  officers
    43  and  for  the  consideration of such questions as may be proposed by the
    44  town board or the duly qualified electors, pursuant to the provisions of
    45  this chapter, shall be held on the Tuesday  next  succeeding  the  first
    46  Monday in November of every [odd-numbered] even-numbered year. All other
    47  town  elections  are  special elections. A town election or special town
    48  election held pursuant to this chapter, shall be construed as a  substi-
    49  tute,  for  a town meeting or a special town meeting heretofore provided
    50  to be held by law, and a reference in any  law  to  a  town  meeting  or
    51  special  town meeting shall be construed as referring to a town election
    52  or special town election.
    53    § 5. Subdivision 4 of section 17-1703-a of the village law,  as  added
    54  by  chapter 960 of the laws of 1977 and the opening paragraph as amended
    55  by chapter 30 of the laws of 2013, is amended to read as follows:
        S. 6197--C                          3

     1    4. In any case in which the proposition provided  for  in  subdivision
     2  one of this section shall have resulted in favor of the local government
     3  operating  principally  as a town, then, at the regular village election
     4  next ensuing, all offices to be filled thereat shall be filled for terms
     5  to  end at the conclusion of the then current calendar year. The term of
     6  office of each other elected  village  office  shall  also  end  at  the
     7  conclusion  of said then current calendar year, notwithstanding that any
     8  such term of office originally extended beyond such date. The offices of
     9  supervisor, four town councilmen and two town justices shall  be  filled
    10  by  election  as  hereinafter  provided at the November general election
    11  next following the effective date of the creation of such town or  anne-
    12  xation  of  such  territory; all other town offices shall be appointive.
    13  The election of the supervisor, councilmen and  justices  shall  be  for
    14  terms of office as follows:
    15    (a)  If  such election is held in [an odd-numbered] the same year as a
    16  regular village election, then the term of office for  supervisor  shall
    17  be the term regularly provided by law; the terms of office for two coun-
    18  cilmen  shall  be  the terms regularly provided by law and the terms for
    19  the other two councilmen shall be two years  each;  the  term  for  each
    20  justice shall be the term regularly provided by law. Upon the expiration
    21  of  the  two  year  term for councilmen as above provided, the terms for
    22  such offices shall be as regularly provided by law.
    23    (b) If such election is held in [an even-numbered] a  year  without  a
    24  regular  village  election, then the term of office for supervisor shall
    25  be one year; the terms of office for councilmen shall be  one  year  for
    26  two  councilmen  and  three  years  for the other two councilmen and the
    27  terms of office for each justice shall be for the remainder of the  then
    28  unexpired  terms.  Thereafter,  each office shall be filled for the term
    29  regularly provided by law.
    30    § 6. Subdivision 11 of section 7-104 of the election law, as added  by
    31  chapter 411 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:
    32    11.  [The  offices  appearing  on  all  ballots shall be listed in the
    33  customary order] (a) The offices appearing on all ballots shall be list-
    34  ed in the order of precedence, as  applicable  to  the  offices  up  for
    35  election in any given year, as follows: electors for president and vice-
    36  president  of  the  United States, governor and lieutenant governor, New
    37  York state comptroller, New York state attorney general,  United  States
    38  senator, member of the house of representatives, New York state senator,
    39  member of the New York state assembly. Any office which is not listed in
    40  this  paragraph  shall  not appear on the ballot in a position before or
    41  ahead of an office which is listed.
    42    (b) Immediately following the offices in paragraph (a) of this  subdi-
    43  vision, all other offices shall be placed upon the ballot in the custom-
    44  ary  order;  provided,  further, that partisan offices regardless of the
    45  size of the constituency shall be listed before or ahead of  nonpartisan
    46  offices  and  all candidates for judicial offices shall follow all other
    47  partisan offices.
    48    § 7. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law or of any other
    49  general, special or local law, all elections of any position of a county
    50  elected official, town elected official, or  village  elected  official,
    51  except a village elected official who is elected on a date not in Novem-
    52  ber,  shall  occur  on  the  Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday in
    53  November. All such elections shall occur in an even-numbered year.
    54    § 8. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law or of any other
    55  general, special, or local law, a county elected official, town  elected
    56  official,  or  village  elected  official,  with  exception of a village
        S. 6197--C                          4

     1  elected official who is elected on a date  not  in  November,  presently
     2  elected  and  serving  their  term as of the enactment of this act shall
     3  complete their full term as established in local law.
     4    §  9.    Any  county,  town, or village official that is elected in an
     5  odd-numbered year after the effective date  of  this  act,  excluding  a
     6  village elected official who is elected on a date not in November, shall
     7  have  their term expire as if such official were elected at the previous
     8  general election held in an even-numbered year; provided however  in  no
     9  event shall such expiration occur later than December 31 of such follow-
    10  ing  year.  Such  term  shall  be applicable to any general, special, or
    11  local law pertaining to term  limits.  Nothing  in  this  section  shall
    12  prohibit  a  county, town, or village from enacting a local law to alter
    13  or permit alteration of an official's term limit.
    14    § 10. Severability. If any provision of this act is  held  invalid  or
    15  ineffective  in  whole or in part or inapplicable to any person or situ-
    16  ation, such invalidity or holding shall not affect, impair or invalidate
    17  other provisions or applications of this act that can  be  given  effect
    18  without  the  invalid provision or application, and all other provisions
    19  thereof shall nevertheless be separately and  fully  effective,  and  to
    20  this end the provisions of this act are declared to be severable.
    21    § 11. This act shall take effect immediately.