Cuomo Signs Bill Making Records Publicly Available Prior to Meetings

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the A72-B/S3255-B bill last Thursday, sponsored by New York State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, to increase transparency and civic participation in the process of government.

So how will this affect your access to documents the Malverne or West Hempstead school boards or village board will be voting on?

According to nysenate.gov , this law "Requires records, including a proposed resolution, law, rule, regulation, policy or amendment thereto, scheduled to be presented and discussed by a public body at an open meeting be made available for review to the public; requires such records be made available on the agency's Web site if it is regularly updated and they utilize a high speed internet connection."

As a result of the law, which amends the public officers law, members of the public will have access to documents before scheduled open meetings of public bodies, such as school boards, state agencies, and village, town and city boards. To comply with the new provisions, copies of records must be made available to the public prior to or at the meeting for a reasonable fee, or by posting them online prior to the meeting. The amendment authorizes an agency to determine when and what may be “practicable” in making records available.

According to a release from Paulin, "This measure of transparency will serve to increase the involvement of the public, as well as reduce the need for Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests, which can be costly for state agencies to process."

"It is an important law, because offering the public the opportunity to more effectively participate in the process helps elected bodies conduct fair evaluations," Paulin said.

John Hogan, superintendent of the West Hempstead school district said the administration is familiar with the new legislation.

"We don't see it as being a big issue for us," Hogan said, explaining that the district has already taken measures to make documents and information more accessible to the public. For instance, right now the district places copies of all the dockets, contracts and other materials the school board will be voting on inside a binder or "board book," which is set out on a table at each meeting for residents to view. Since the district regularly updates its Web site, under the new law, which takes effect next month, they will also be required to post documents the board will be voting on to the site prior to the meetings. 

"As we go along we will get better at it," he added.

The Malverne school district currently does not provide copies of the records its school board will be voting on to the public, but that will change when the law takes effect Feb. 2.

Lisa Ridley, the district's clerk, said print-out copies of these documents will be made available to residents at upcoming board meetings. She wasn't aware of any plans to also post these records to the Web.

"We're not going to run off hundreds of copies [of a document] and have no one ask for it," says Teresa Emmel, clerk and treasurer for the village of Malverne.

Citing the section of the law that says documents must be made available "upon request," Emmel says the village will do "whatever it can to comply" with the law but doesn't anticipate that it will drastically alter its current procedure for accessing records. Right now, the public can access the village's records by requesting them at Village Hall and paying a nominal fee. 

"We are a small village and one person wears many hats," Emmel said. "We don't have one person assigned to publications."

For this reason, the village, unlike the local school districts, does not post meeting agendas and minutes to its Web site and Emmel says, it would be a "hardship" if they were suddenly required to do so.

"It's more work," she says.