Bob Hennelly of WNYC as usual has it right that the Public Authorities Reform Act will change the way public authorities do business.
Here’s his piece on WNYC:
NEW YORK, NY December 12, 2009 —Governor Paterson has signed a bill into law that will significantly change the way the State’s 700 independent authorities operate. WNYC’s Bob Hennelly has this report.
The new law covers the MTA, the Thruway Authority and hundreds of smaller entities that have racked up more than $150 billion in debt. Under the law the authorities will be subject to fiscal oversight by a newly created independent Authorities Budget Office. The bill’s prime sponsors Assemblyman Richard Brodsky and Senator Bill Perkins say board members who run the authorities will now be prohibited from taking actions or awarding contracts based on political considerations. Several high profile scandals prompted the legislative action… including the below market sale of parts of the Erie Canal, and massive cost overruns and corruption at the MTA.
For WNYC, I’m Bob Hennelly.
WNYC: Public Authorities Required to Open Books to Audits.
But we offer two caveats:
- Much depends on how the new regulatory entity is staffed, whether it has subpoena power, and other details which will, in effect, determine whether or not this new animal has teeth.
- Multi-state public authorities aren’t even subject to the NYS Freedom of Information Law.
- The Roosevelt Islander blog asks New York State Public Authorities Reform Act Passes Assembly – How Will It Impact Roosevelt Island?
The legislation apparently doesn’t resolve whether or not public authorities are subject to the New York State Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”). According to the Committee on Open Government, a little-known state agency which inteprets FOI law as it applies within New York State, the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority and the Fairport Central School District were subject to FOIL. Decision at: FOIL-AO-13336, April 24, 2002.
In 1993, the Committee on Open Government noted that the law did not apply to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Since the Port Authority is a bi-state entity operating in New York
and New Jersey, I do not believe that it is subject to the New
York, New Jersey or federal freedom of information statutes. In
short, a state cannot impose its laws beyond its borders, and it
has been held that the Freedom of Information Law does not apply to
a bi-state agency (see e.g., Metro-ILA Pension Fund v. Waterfront
Commission of New York Harbor, Sup. Ct., New York County, NYLJ,
December 16, 1986). However, I believe that the Port Authority has
adopted a policy on disclosure that is generally consistent with
the New York Freedom of Information Law.
Robert J. Freeman, Chairman, Committee on Open Government
