N.Y. General Municipal Law § 810: Additional definitions

§ 810. Additional definitions. As used in sections eight hundred

eleven and eight hundred twelve of this article:

1. The term "political subdivision" shall mean a county, city, town or

village having a population of fifty thousand or more and shall include

a city with a population of one million or more.

2. The term "local elected official" shall mean an elected official of

the political subdivision, except judges or justices of the unified

court system.

3. The term "local officer or employee" shall mean the heads (other

than local elected officials) of any agency, department, division,

council, board, commission, or bureau of a political subdivision and

their deputies and assistants, and the officers and employees of such

agencies, departments, divisions, boards, bureaus, commissions or

councils who hold policy-making positions, as annually determined by the

appointing authority and set forth in a written instrument which shall

be filed with the appropriate body during the month of February; except

that the term "local officer or employee" shall not mean a judge,

justice, officer or employee of the unified court system. Members,

officers, and employees of each industrial development agency and

authority established by this chapter or created by the public

authorities law shall be deemed officers or employees of the county,

city, village, or town for whose benefit such agency or authority is

established or created.

4. The term "state agency" shall mean any state department, or

division, board, commission, or bureau of any state department, any

public benefit corporation, public authority or commission at least one

of whose members is appointed by the governor, or the state university

of New York or the city university of New York, including all their

constituent units except community colleges and the independent

institutions operating statutory or contract colleges on behalf of the

state.

5. The term "spouse" shall mean the husband or wife of the reporting

individual unless living separate and apart from the reporting

individual with the intention of terminating the marriage or providing

for permanent separation or unless separated pursuant to: (a) a judicial

order, decree or judgment, or (b) a legally binding separation

agreement.

6. The term "local political party official" shall mean:

(a) any chairman of a county committee elected pursuant to section

2-112 of the election law, or his or her successor in office, who

received compensation or expenses, or both, from constituted committee

or political committee funds, or both, during the reporting period

aggregating thirty thousand dollars or more;

(b) that person (usually designated by the rules of a county committee

as the "county leader" or "chairman of the executive committee") by

whatever title designated, who pursuant to the rules of a county

committee or in actual practice, possesses or performs any or all of the

following duties or roles, provided that such person received

compensation or expenses, or both, from constituted committee or

political committee funds, or both, during the reporting period

aggregating thirty thousand dollars or more:

(i) the principal political, executive and administrative officer of

the county committee;

(ii) the power of general management over the affairs of the county

committee;

(iii) the power to exercise the powers of the chairman of the county

committee as provided for in the rules of the county committee;

(iv) the power to preside at all meetings of the county executive

committee, if such a committee is created by the rules of the county

committee or exists de facto, or any other committee or subcommittee of

the county committee vested by such rules with or having de facto the

power of general management over the affairs of the county committee at

times when the county committee is not in actual session;

(v) the power to call a meeting of the county committee or of any

committee or subcommittee vested with the rights, powers, duties or

privileges of the county committee pursuant to the rules of the county

committee, for the purpose of filling an office at a special election in

accordance with section 6-114 of the election law, for the purpose of

filling a vacancy in accordance with section 6-116 of such law or for

the purpose of filling a vacancy or vacancies in the county committee

which exist by reason of an increase in the number of election districts

within the county occasioned by a change of the boundaries of one or

more election districts, taking effect after the election of its

members, or for the purpose of determining the districts that the

elected members shall represent until the next election at which such

members of such committee are elected; provided, however, that in no

event shall such power encompass the power of a chairperson of an

assembly district committee or other district committee smaller than a

county and created by the rules of the county committee, to call a

meeting of such district committee for such purpose;

(vi) the power to direct the treasurer of the party to expend funds of

the county committee; or

(vii) the power to procure from one or more bank accounts of the

county committee the necessary funds to defray the expenses of the

county committee; and

(c) the city, town or village chairman or leader of a city, town or

village committee of a party as the term party is defined in section

1-104 of the election law, but only with respect to a city, town or

village having a population of fifty thousand or more, and only if such

chairman or leader received compensation or expenses, or both, from

constituted committee or political committee funds, or both, during the

reporting period aggregating thirty thousand dollars or more. The term

chairman or leader is intended to refer to the person who performs the

functions and duties of the chief official of a party in the city, town

or village by whatever title designated.

The terms "constituted committee" and "political committee", as used

in this subdivision six, shall have the same meanings as those contained

in section 14-100 of the election law.

7. The term "relative" shall mean such individual's spouse, child,

stepchild, stepparent, or any person who is a direct descendant of the

grandparents of the reporting individual or of the reporting

individual's spouse.

8. The term "unemancipated child" shall mean any son, daughter,

stepson or stepdaughter who is under age eighteen, unmarried and living

in the household of the reporting individual.

9. The term "appropriate body" or "appropriate bodies" shall mean the

board of ethics for the political subdivision.

10. The term "regulatory agency" shall have the same meaning as

ascribed to such term by subdivision one of section seventy-three of the

public officers law.

11. The term "ministerial matter" shall have the same meaning as

ascribed to such term by subdivision one of section seventy-three of the

public officers law.

12. The term "local agency" shall mean:

(a) any county, city, town, village, school district or district

corporation, or any agency, department, division, board, commission or

bureau thereof; and

(b) any public benefit corporation or public authority not included in

the definition of a state agency.