Committee on Open Government

notice

The Committee on Open Government (COOG) issued the following statement regarding Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2022 relating to the New York State budget for the 2022-2023 state fiscal year.

“Included in the bill is Part WW, an amendment to the Open Meetings Law to make permanent (until July 1st, 2024) the expanded use of videoconferencing by public bodies to conduct open meetings, in very limited circumstances, regardless of a declaration of emergency. COOG staff is currently reviewing the details of the bill and will provide written guidance regarding its requirements as soon as possible. Until then, however, it is important to note that the law permits public bodies to continue to hold remote meetings in the same manner as described in Chapter 1 of the Laws of 2022 for a period of 60 days after its effective date, or until June 8, 2022.”

COOG has also put together a Question-and-Answer document with identified areas of the law that may require clarification.