Cuomo Signs Bill Making Records Publicly Available Prior to Meetings

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

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 website 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.

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.

According to Levittown Superintendent of Schools Dr. James Grossane, the Levittown School District is already in compliance with these laws. They make agendas available on their website before meetings, and they also provide a binder containing the documents they discuss to the public at board meetings. (For example, the board is currently going through the process of reviewing the district policy manual. Every part of the manual that is discussed at a meeting is available for the public to review themselves in the binder.)