Bill Text: NY A05591 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Changes the date fire district votes take place; gives the local board of elections control over fire district elections.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 6-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-07-16 - held for consideration in local governments [A05591 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A05591-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          5591
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    February 13, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced by M. of A. BRABENEC -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Local Governments
        AN  ACT  to amend the town law, in relation to changing the date of fire
          district votes
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 6 of section 175 of the town law, subdi-
     2  vision 1 as amended by chapter 334 of the laws of 2011 and subdivision 6
     3  as  amended  by  chapter 586 of the laws of 2004, are amended to read as
     4  follows:
     5    1. An annual election shall be held  in  each  fire  district  on  the
     6  [second]  first  Tuesday  next succeeding the first Monday in [December]
     7  November, except that in the Ocean Bay Park fire district,  the  Lonely-
     8  ville fire district, the Davis Park fire district, the Cherry Grove fire
     9  district,  the  Fair Harbor fire district and the Fire Island Pines fire
    10  district, Suffolk county, such annual election  shall  be  held  on  the
    11  second  Tuesday in July, [except that in the town of Salisbury, Herkimer
    12  county, such annual election shall be held on the Tuesday next  succeed-
    13  ing  the  first Monday in November from six o'clock in the morning until
    14  nine o'clock in the  evening  and]  except  that  in  the  Belfast  fire
    15  district,  Allegany  county,  such  annual election shall be held on the
    16  first Tuesday in December. The local board of elections  for  each  fire
    17  [commissioners] district shall give notice thereof by the publication of
    18  a  notice once in one or more newspapers having a general circulation in
    19  the district. The first publication of such notice  shall  be  not  less
    20  than  twenty-seven  days and not more than thirty-four days prior to the
    21  date of such election. Such notice shall specify the time when  and  the
    22  place where such election will be held, the officers to be elected ther-
    23  eat and their terms of office, and the hours during which the polls will
    24  be  open for the receipt of ballots. The [secretary of such] local board
    25  of elections for each fire district shall prepare the  ballots  for  all
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08066-01-9
        A. 5591                             2
     1  elections  of fire district officers and the polls shall remain open for
     2  the receipt thereof at all elections of fire district officers from  six
     3  o'clock  in  the [evening] morning until nine o'clock in the evening and
     4  such  additional  consecutive  hours prior thereto as the local board of
     5  elections for each fire [commissioners of such] district may have deter-
     6  mined and specified in the notice thereof. The local board of  elections
     7  for  each  fire [commissioners] district shall designate a resident fire
     8  district elector, who shall be a registered voter of the town, to act as
     9  chairman of any election of said district and shall designate  not  less
    10  than  two  nor more than four resident fire district electors, who shall
    11  be registered voters of the town  to  act  as  election  inspectors  and
    12  ballot  clerks  at  such  elections.  No  elective  officer  of the fire
    13  district shall serve as such chairman or as  an  election  inspector  or
    14  ballot  clerk.   The local board of elections for each fire [commission-
    15  ers] district may adopt  a  resolution  providing  that  such  chairman,
    16  election inspectors and ballot clerks shall be paid for their respective
    17  services  at  any such annual election or at any special election of the
    18  fire district. Such resolution, if adopted, shall fix the amount of such
    19  compensation, as follows: if the hours during which the  polls  will  be
    20  open  for  the  receipt of ballots are from six o'clock in the [evening]
    21  morning until nine o'clock in the evening, a sum not to  exceed  thirty-
    22  five  dollars  for  each  such official; if additional consecutive hours
    23  prior to six o'clock in the [evening] morning are determined and  speci-
    24  fied  in  the  notice of election, a sum not to exceed fifty dollars for
    25  each such official.
    26    6. If in any fire district the number of voters  is  so  great  as  to
    27  render it inexpedient or impossible to conduct the election at one poll-
    28  ing  place,  the  local board of elections for each fire [commissioners]
    29  district may divide  the  fire  district  into  election  districts  and
    30  provide  a  polling  place  for  each  such election district, provided,
    31  however, that the number of election  districts  in  any  fire  district
    32  shall  not  exceed  one  for  each  six  hundred electors plus one for a
    33  remaining fraction of six hundred. In such event, the  notice  specified
    34  in subdivision one of this section shall describe the election districts
    35  and  state where the polling places will be located, and the local board
    36  of elections for each fire [commissioners] district shall designate  not
    37  less  than  two  nor more than four resident fire district electors, who
    38  shall be registered voters of the town, to act  as  election  inspectors
    39  and  ballot  clerks  at  each  such  polling  place.  The local board of
    40  elections for each fire district [commissioners] may adopt a  resolution
    41  providing  that such election inspectors and ballot clerks shall be paid
    42  for their respective services at any such  annual  election  or  at  any
    43  special  election  of  the  fire  district. Such resolution, if adopted,
    44  shall fix the amount of such  compensation  as  follows:  if  the  hours
    45  during  which the polls will be open for the receipt of ballots are from
    46  six o'clock in the [evening] morning until nine o'clock in the  evening,
    47  a  sum  not  to  exceed  thirty-five dollars for each such official[; if
    48  additional consecutive hours prior to six o'clock  in  the  evening  are
    49  determined  and specified in the notice of election, a sum not to exceed
    50  fifty dollars for each such official]. No elective officer of  the  fire
    51  district shall serve as an election inspector or ballot clerk.
    52    §  2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
    53  ing the date on which it shall have become a law.