On Wednesday, June 11, 2014, one of the first pieces of legislation Assemblyman Hevesi (D-Queens) authored as Chair of the Oversight, Analysis and Investigation Committee passed in both the Assembly and Senate. The bill will be forwarded to the Governor’s office to be signed into law.

Assembly bill A.7187 repeals reporting requirements and several other provisions pertaining to The Board of Railroad Commissioners and its related proceedings. The initial enabling legislation and the overall practices of this board are outdated, having faded in practice at the end of the 19th Century. The bill also repeals the provisions of the general municipal law with regard to the temporary state commission on local government ethics and its reporting requirements. The commission sunset in 1993; however, legal references and cross-references have left these reporting requirements scattered throughout the general municipal law, resulting in various agencies and commissions having to still abide by these defunct requirements.

This bill is the first change in law emerging from an ongoing legislative initiative that is specifically aimed at making government more efficient. The New York State Assembly Committee on Oversight, Analysis and Investigation, in coordination with other standing committees, is undertaking a comprehensive review of tens of thousands of reporting requirements currently written into every area of New York State Law. The purpose of this extensive review is to enhance government efficiency. Hevesi’s staff is actively looking to eliminate unnecessary reporting requirements and, by extension, some other statutorily required activities by various agencies, municipalities, and other political subdivisions that no longer serve the purpose for which they were originally placed into statute. This bill is the first in what is projected to be a very long series of repealer bills that address these superfluous sections of law.