On December 21, 2021, Governor Hochul signed into law Chapter 684 of the New York Laws of 2021 (Senate Bill S7079/Assembly Bill A7637), which among other things, puts into place certain training requirements for board members.
 
Effective immediately, the law requires every board member to complete a minimum of two hours of training, in person or virtually, as HPD may deem appropriate on the financial oversight, account ability and fiduciary responsibilities of a board member.  For those directors elected after the effective date of this law, they must complete this course within the first year of his/her term and at least once every three years thereafter.  For those directors elected prior to the effective date of this law, the course must be completed within one year of the effective date and at least once every three years thereafter.
 
In addition to the aforementioned course, the law also requires, effective immediately, that every board member complete a training course, in person or virtually, as HPD may deem appropriate, to acquaint himself/herself with the powers, functions and duties of a board of directors of a Mitchell-Lama cooperative.  Once again, for those directors elected after the effective date of this law, they must complete this course within the first year of his/her term and at least once every three years thereafter; and for those directors elected prior to the effective date of this law, this course must be completed within one year of the effective date and at least once every three years thereafter.  The law does not mandate any minimum amount of hours for this training – neither two hours nor otherwise.
 
Compliance with the aforementioned training requirements must be documented by each director by filing a certificate of completion of such courses on a form to be promulgated by HPD.  Such form is to be filed with the secretary of the co-op and maintained by the secretary as a corporate record, to be distributed annually to the shareholders.
 
The form must also be filed with the secretary of the co-op upon a director’s intention to seek re-election to the position.  Sixty days prior to any scheduled election of members of the board of directors, the secretary of the co-op shall furnish HPD with a list of all incumbent directors indicating which individuals have submitted such certificates.  This sixty day advance notice to HPD is problematic since most candidates for election, including those incumbents for re-election, are not known until around thirty days in advance of the proposed election.  It is unclear whether failure to complete the courses in a timely manner and/or failure to timely submit the certificates would prohibit an incumbent from running for re-election.
 
The training is to be provided by HPD at no costs to all attendees and it will be interesting over the next few months to see how HPD develops the curriculum.