ALBANY, NY (Oct. 16, 2026) — New York State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Westchester) and state Sen. James Skoufis (D-Orange) announced that the Legislature passed two bills designed to expand government transparency, including legislation requiring certain nonprofit corporations affiliated with local governments to comply with the state’s Freedom of Information Law and Open Meetings Law.
The measures, announced June 16, seek to close gaps in public access to government-related activities and financial disclosures involving candidates for state office.
“Government works best in the open,” Paulin said. “These bills close loopholes that have kept too much of our government’s business out of public view.”
The first measure, Assembly Bill A.173/Senate Bill S.6165, would subject local development corporations and certain other nonprofit corporations to public-records and open-meeting requirements.
Local development corporations, or LDCs, are nonprofit entities frequently used by municipal and county governments to finance development projects, provide loans, support small businesses and undertake other public-purpose activities.
Although they perform functions associated with government and may use public resources, their nonprofit status can place them outside transparency requirements that ordinarily apply to government agencies.
According to Paulin’s office, the New York State Comptroller has warned that local governments sometimes use LDCs to circumvent transparency and public scrutiny requirements.
Under the legislation, covered entities would be required to comply with FOIL and the Open Meetings Law, including opening meetings to the public, providing access to records, livestreaming proceedings and maintaining online video recordings for at least five years.
The bill also includes additional oversight provisions affecting the formation and operation of certain government-affiliated nonprofits.
Which Organizations Would Be Covered?
The legislation would expand the definition of local authorities under New York’s Public Authorities Law to include certain nonprofit corporations affiliated with local governments.
Covered organizations would include local development corporations, government-affiliated nonprofits, industrial development agencies, land banks, subsidiaries and affiliates of public authorities, and certain nonprofits authorized to issue tax-exempt debt or provide tax exemptions in connection with development projects.
The legislation also establishes criteria for determining government affiliation, including whether municipal officials appoint a majority of an organization’s directors, control the selection of its leadership, serve as its chief executive or provide administrative support through government employees.
Business improvement districts (BIDs) are expressly excluded from the legislation’s expanded definitions of local authorities. However, that exclusion does not necessarily exempt them from transparency requirements under existing state law.
In a July 13, 2016 advisory opinion involving the Batavia Business Improvement District, the New York State Committee on Open Government concluded that BIDs are subject to the Freedom of Information Law and that the boards of their district management associations are subject to the Open Meetings Law.
The committee based its conclusion on Article 19-A of the General Municipal Law, which governs business improvement districts, and the definitions of public corporations and public bodies under state law.
The opinion, identified as OML-AO-5508 and FOIL-AO-19452, concluded that BID management association board meetings must comply with the Open Meetings Law.
The advisory opinion is not a binding court ruling, but it establishes the committee’s interpretation that public access to BID records and board meetings is a legal obligation rather than a voluntary courtesy.
The legislation’s exclusion of BIDs from its expanded local-authority definitions therefore does not resolve or eliminate their existing obligations under FOIL and the Open Meetings Law.
The Assembly passed the measure March 31, and the Senate approved it June 1 by a vote of 37-23.