New York, NY – Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D,WF – Flushing) has introduced legislation that would ensure adequate female representation and appointments of commissioners to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ). The legislation follows an announcement made earlier this week by Governor Cuomo and the New York State Council on Women and Girls agenda to increase the number of women on state boards. Rozic has also introduced a separate bill that would ensure public authorities statewide, including industrial development agencies and local development corporations, are gender balanced.

Rozic has reached out to lawmakers in the New Jersey State Legislature to partner on the legislation. Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt (D) will be introducing similar legislation in the State Assembly. Senator Weinberg (D) is expected to carry in the State Senate.

“Following stories about the lack of diversity on the Port Authority’s Board of Commissioners in 2016, I decided to take an in depth look into women’s leadership positions across state boards,” said Assemblywoman Rozic. “Since then, three women have been appointed to PANYNJ’s board but New York has a long way to go in closing the gender leadership gap. I applaud Governor Cuomo for including this issue among his priorities this year and look forward to increased diversity on our public boards.”

“Since its establishment, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Board of Commissioners has been disproportionately comprised of white males. This is unacceptable in this day and age, and we must do more to foster diversity and promote equal representation within our public institutions,” said New Jersey Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt. “That is why I am partnering with Assemblywoman Nily Rozic in sponsoring legislation that will ensure equal gender representation on the PANYNJ Board.”

The Rozic bill would direct appointing powers, including the governors of New York and New Jersey, to make appointments of commissioners that ensure that women comprise fifty percent of appointed commissioners. Although women make up more than half of New York’s population, they constitute approximately 21.7% of positions on local development corporations, 20.26% of industrial development agencies, and 20.9% of other LDCs and state public authorities, according to public data compiled by the New York State Authorities Budget Office in 2015.

Currently, the PANYNJ is led by a board of twelve commissioners. As of July 2017, three of them are women. No public state board in New York consists of a majority of women. While gender quota directives are more common to increase women’s leadership on corporate boards in the private sector, their implementation has been proven successful in closing the leadership gap.