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.
Last modified: February 3, 2019