Bill Text: NY S01490 | 2009-2010 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Allows open meetings to be photographed, broadcast and recorded by audio or video means subject to reasonable rules governing the location of equipment and personnel.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-01-06 - REFERRED TO INVESTIGATIONS AND GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS [S01490 Detail]

Download: New_York-2009-S01490-Introduced.html

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                           S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
       ________________________________________________________________________
                                         1490
                              2009-2010 Regular Sessions
                                   I N  S E N A T E
                                   February 2, 2009
                                      ___________
       Introduced  by  Sens.  DeFRANCISCO, GOLDEN, GRIFFO, SEWARD -- read twice
         and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
         on Investigations and Government Operations
       AN ACT to amend the public officers law, in relation to open meetings of
         public bodies
         THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
       BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
    1    Section  1.  Legislative findings. It is the policy of this state that
    2  all public business "be performed in an open and public manner and  that
    3  the  citizens  of  this  state  be  fully  aware and able to observe the
    4  performance of public officials and attend and listen  to  the  deliber-
    5  ations  and decisions that go into the making of public policy". (Public
    6  Officers Law, S 100) However, because most citizens are unable to attend
    7  first-hand the meetings of public bodies, they  rely  upon  the  printed
    8  press  and  broadcast  media  to  act  as their agent in seeking out and
    9  communicating these events.  Advances in technology now  allow  meetings
   10  to  be  photographed, broadcast and recorded in a non-disruptive manner,
   11  and these advances should be utilized to give effect to  the  policy  of
   12  open and public governmental proceedings.
   13    S 2. Section 103 of the public officers law is amended by adding a new
   14  subdivision (d) to read as follows:
   15    (D)  1.  ANY MEETING OF A PUBLIC BODY THAT IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC SHALL
   16  BE OPEN TO BEING PHOTOGRAPHED, BROADCAST OR RECORDED BY AUDIO  OR  VIDEO
   17  MEANS. AS USED HEREIN THE TERM "BROADCAST" SHALL ALSO INCLUDE THE TRANS-
   18  MISSION OF SIGNALS BY CABLE.
   19    2.  A PUBLIC BODY MAY ADOPT RULES REASONABLY GOVERNING THE LOCATION OF
   20  EQUIPMENT AND PERSONNEL USED TO PHOTOGRAPH, BROADCAST OR RECORD A  MEET-
   21  ING SO AS TO CONDUCT ITS PROCEEDINGS IN AN ORDERLY MANNER.
   22    S  3.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
   23  have become a law.
        EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                             [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                  LBD03448-01-9