Expands the training time for local municipalities in relation to the open meetings law

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Shelley Mayer says this is needed

The Open Meetings Law governs the accessibility of meetings held by public bodies in New York State, ensuring that members of the public may attend, watch, and otherwise follow the decision making of these bodies. As the legislative declaration for the Open Meetings Law (Section 100 of the Public Officers Law) acknowledges, public access to meetings is vital to the continued functioning of our democracy: "The people must be able to remain informed if they are to retain control over those who are their public servants. It is the only climate under which the commonweal will prosper and enable the governmental process to operate for the benefit of those who created it." Despite the strong safeguards contained in the Open Meetings Law, many citizens complain of inaccessible government meetings and report what they believe are violations of the law. The Committee of Open Government warned in their 2023 Annual Report that "compliance failures," among other challenges, were "contributing to a growing sense among New York- ers that some government bodies are emboldened to ignore their Open Meetings, FOIL, and other transparency responsibilities." Changing requirements have certainly added complexity for local governments attempting to comply with the Open Meetings Law over the last few years. The Open Meetings Law was partially suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic2 and subsequent changes have temporarily allowed hybrid meet- ings through July 1, 2024.3 This bill seeks to improve compliance with the requirements of the Open Meetings Law by ensuring that key local government entities receive annual training on their obligations under the Open Meetings Law. This training will close any knowledge gaps, ensuring that lack of compliance is not due to ignorance. This bill builds on existing training requirements for certain local government entities established by chapter 662 of the laws of 2006. Under these requirements members of all county boards of appeal, and city (excluding New York City), town, and village planning boards and boards of appeal must complete a minimum of 4 hours of training per year relevant to their roles. This bill would require each subject entity to complete an additional hour of training per year on compliance with the Open Meetings Law provided by the Committee on Open Government or anoth- er appropriate entity. While these requirements do not apply to every public body -- of which there are thousands in New York State -- they will make a meaningful difference to citizens who expect their local governments to meet basic standards of accessibility and transparency.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.