N.Y. Public Authorities Law § 6: Powers and duties of the authorities budget office

§ 6. Powers and duties of the authorities budget office. 1. The

authorities budget office shall:

(a) conduct reviews and analysis of the operations, practices and

reports of state and local authorities to assess compliance with the

provisions of this chapter and other applicable provisions of law;

(b) maintain a comprehensive inventory of state and local authorities

and subsidiaries and the annual reports of such state and local

authorities as defined in section twenty-eight hundred of this chapter;

(c) verify the existence of all authorities listed in state law;

(d) review the potential for consolidation or name change of certain

authorities;

(e) assist state and local authorities in improving management

practices and the procedures by which the activities and financial

practices of state and local authorities are disclosed to the public;

(f) make recommendations to the governor, the temporary president of

the senate, the speaker of the assembly and the chairs and ranking

minority members of the following committees: the senate finance

committee, the assembly ways and means committee, the senate committee

on corporations, authorities and commissions and the assembly committee

on corporations, authorities and commissions and authority board members

concerning opportunities to improve the performance, reporting,

reformation, structure and oversight of state and local authorities;

(g) provide such additional information and analysis as may be

reasonably requested by the legislature and state comptroller;

(h) promulgate regulations to effectuate the purposes of this title

and title one of this article, and article nine of this chapter,

relating to the statutory responsibilities of the authorities budget

office;

(i) develop and issue, after consultation with the office of the

attorney general, a written acknowledgement that a board member must

execute at the time that the member takes and subscribes their oath of

office, or within sixty days after the effective date of this paragraph

if the member has already taken and subscribed his or her oath of

office, in accordance with subdivision one of section twenty-eight

hundred twenty-four of this chapter;

(j) develop a comprehensive definition of public authorities including

a consolidated listing by class and name;

(k) standardize content and format of state and local authority annual

reports;

(l) assess individual authorities and based upon their ability and

resources, set a date by which changes made pursuant to this title shall

be implemented;

(m) issue recommendations to the legislature and governor on setting

debt limitations for authorities without statutorily required debt

limits;

(n) make recommendations to the legislature and governor with respect

to options for, and whether there should be, compensation for boards of

directors; and

(o) review the potential for and make recommendations to the

legislature and governor regarding change in the terms of office of

public authorities board members.

2. The authorities budget office shall have the authority to:

(a) request and receive from any state or local authority, agency,

department or division of the state or political subdivision such

assistance, personnel, information, books, records, other documentation

and cooperation as may be necessary to perform its duties;

(b) enter into cooperative agreements with other government offices to

efficiently carry out its work and not duplicate resources;

(c) receive and act upon complaints or recommendations from the public

or other persons or entities regarding any authority covered by this

title;

(d) initiate formal investigations in response to complaints or

appearances of non-compliance by an authority;

(e) issue subpoenas pertaining to investigations which such office is

authorized to conduct under this title, for the purposes of effectuating

the powers and duties of this title;

(f) publicly warn and censure authorities for non-compliance with this

title, and to establish guidelines for such actions;

(g) recommend to the entity that appointed the officer or director

suspension or dismissal of officers or directors, based on information

that is, or is made, available to the public under law;

(h) report suspected criminal activities to the attorney general and

other prosecutorial agencies;

(i) compel any authority which is deemed to be in non-compliance with

this title and title one of this article or article nine of this chapter

to submit to the authorities budget office a detailed explanation of

such failure to comply; and

(j) commence a special proceeding in supreme court, when it does not

receive from a state or local authority upon request information, books,

records or other documentation necessary to perform its duties, seeking

an order directing the production of the same.

3. The reports and non-proprietary information received by and

prepared by the authorities budget office shall be made available to the

public, to the extent practicable, through the internet.