ARTICLE XIII
PUBLIC OFFICERS
[Oath of office; no other test for public office]
Section 1. Members of the legislature, and all officers, executive and judicial, except such inferior officers as shall be by law exempted, shall, before they enter on the duties of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of New York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of ……, according to the best of my ability;” and no other oath, declaration or test shall be required as a qualification for any office of public trust, except that any committee of a political party may, by rule, provide for equal representation of the sexes on any such committee, and a state convention of a political party, at which candidates for public office are nominated, may, by rule, provide for equal representation of the sexes on any committee of such party. (Amended by Constitutional Convention of 1938 and approved by vote of the people November 8, 1938.)
[Duration of term of office]
§2. When the duration of any office is not provided by this constitution it may be declared by law, and if not so declared, such office shall be held during the pleasure of the authority making the appointment. (Formerly §3 of Art. 10. Renumbered by Constitutional Convention of 1938 and approved by vote of the people November 8, 1938. Formerly §6, renumbered §2 without change by amendment approved by vote of the people November 6, 1962; former §2 repealed by same amendment.)
[Vacancies in office; how filled; boards of education]
§3. The legislature shall provide for filling vacancies in office, and in case of elective officers, no person appointed to fill a vacancy shall hold his or her office by virtue of such appointment longer than the commencement of the political year next succeeding the first annual election after the happening of the vacancy; provided, however, that nothing contained in this article shall prohibit the filling of vacancies on boards of education, including boards of education of community districts in the city school district of the city of New York, by appointment until the next regular school district election, whether or not such appointment shall extend beyond the thirty-first day of December in any year. (Formerly §5 of Art. 10. Renumbered by Constitutional Convention of 1938 and approved by vote of the people November 8, 1938. Formerly §8, renumbered §3 without change by amendment approved by vote of the people November 6, 1962; former §3 repealed by same amendment. Amended by vote of the people November 8, 1977; November 6, 2001.)
[Political year and legislative term]
§4. The political year and legislative term shall begin on the first day of January; and the legislature shall, every year, assemble on the first Wednesday after the first Monday in January. (Formerly §6 of Art. 10. Renumbered and amended by Constitutional Convention of 1938 and approved by vote of the people November 8, 1938. Formerly §9, renumbered §4 without change by amendment approved by vote of the people November 6, 1962; former §4 repealed by same amendment.)
[Removal from office for misconduct]
§5. Provision shall be made by law for the removal for misconduct or malversation in office of all officers, except judicial, whose powers and duties are not local or legislative and who shall be elected at general elections, and also for supplying vacancies created by such removal. (Formerly §7 of Art. 10. Renumbered by Constitutional Convention of 1938 and approved by vote of the people November 8, 1938. Formerly §10, renumbered §5 without change by amendment approved by vote of the people November 6, 1962; former §5 repealed by same amendment.)
[When office to be deemed vacant; legislature may declare]
§6. The legislature may declare the cases in which any office shall be deemed vacant when no provision is made for that purpose in this constitution. (Formerly §8 of Art. 10. Renumbered by Constitutional Convention of 1938 and approved by vote of the people November 8, 1938. Formerly §11, renumbered §6 without change by amendment approved by vote of the people November 6, 1962; former §6 repealed by same amendment.)
[Compensation of officers]
§7. Each of the state officers named in this constitution shall, during his or her continuance in office, receive a compensation, to be fixed by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which he or she shall have been elected or appointed; nor shall he or she receive to his or her use any fees or perquisites of office or other compensation. (Formerly §9 of Art. 10. Renumbered and amended by Constitutional Convention of 1938 and approved by vote of the people November 8, 1938. Formerly §12, renumbered §7 without change by amendment approved by vote of the people November 6, 1962; former §7 repealed by same amendment; further amended as §12 by vote of the people November 5,1963; further amended by vote of the people November 6, 2001.)
[Election and term of city and certain county officers]
§8. All elections of city officers, including supervisors, elected in any city or part of a city, and of county officers elected in any county wholly included in a city, except to fill vacancies, shall be held on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in November in an odd-numbered year, and the term of every such officer shall expire at the end of an odd-numbered year. This section shall not apply to elections of any judicial officer. (New. Added by amendment approved by vote of the people November 2, 1965.)
[No sections 9-12; former 9-12 renumbered 4-7]
[Law enforcement and other officers]
§13. (a) Except in counties in the city of New York and except as authorized in section one of article nine of this constitution, registers in counties having registers shall be chosen by the electors of the respective counties once in every three years and whenever the occurring of vacancies shall require; the sheriff and the clerk of each county shall be chosen by the electors once in every three or four years as the legislature shall direct. Sheriffs shall hold no other office. They may be required by law to renew their security, from time to time; and in default of giving such new security, their offices shall be deemed vacant. The governor may remove any elective sheriff, county clerk, district attorney or register within the term for which he or she shall have been elected; but before so doing the governor shall give to such officer a copy of the charges against him or her and an opportunity of being heard in his or her defense. In each county a district attorney shall be chosen by the electors once in every three or four years as the legislature shall direct. The clerk of each county in the city of New York shall be appointed, and be subject to removal, by the appellate division of the supreme court in the judicial department in which the county is located. In addition to his or her powers and duties as clerk of the supreme court, he or she shall have power to select, draw, summon and empanel grand and petit jurors in the manner and under the conditions now or hereafter prescribed by law, and shall have such other powers and duties as shall be prescribed by the city from time to time by local law.
(b) Any district attorney who shall fail faithfully to prosecute a person charged with the violation in his or her county of any provision of this article which may come to his or her knowledge, shall be removed from office by the governor, after due notice and an opportunity of being heard in his or her defense. The expenses which shall be incurred by any county, in investigating and prosecuting any charge of bribery or attempting to bribe any person holding office under the laws of this state, within such county, or of receiving bribes by any such person in said county, shall be a charge against the state, and their payment by the state shall be provided for by law.
(c) The city of New York is hereby vested with power from time to time to abolish by local law, as defined by the legislature, the office of any county officer within the city other than judges, clerks of counties and district attorneys, and to assign any or all functions of such officers to city officers, courts or clerks of counties, and to prescribe the powers, duties, qualifications, number, mode of selection and removal, terms of office and compensation of the persons holding such offices and the employees therein, and to assign to city officers any powers or duties of clerks of counties not assigned by this constitution. The legislature shall not pass any law affecting any such matters in relation to such offices within the city of New York except on message from the governor declaring that an emergency exists and the concurrent action of two-thirds of the members of each house, except that existing laws regarding each such office shall continue in force, and may be amended or repealed by the legislature as heretofore, until the power herein granted to the city has been exercised with respect to that office. The provisions of article nine shall not prevent the legislature from passing general or special laws prescribing or affecting powers and duties of such city officers or such courts or clerks to whom or which functions of such county officers shall have been so assigned, in so far as such powers or duties embrace subjects not relating to property, affairs or government of such city. (Added by vote of the people November 5, 1963. Subdivisions (a), (b) and (c), formerly §§5, 6 and 8 of Art. 9. Subdivision (a) amended by vote of the people November 7, 1972; subdivision (a) further amended by vote of the people November 6, 1984; November 7, 1989; further amended by vote of the people November 6, 2001.)
[Employees of, and contractors for, the state and local governments; wages, hours and other provisions to be regulated by legislature]
§14. The legislature may regulate and fix the wages or salaries and the hours of work or labor, and make provisions for the protection, welfare and safety, of persons employed by the state or by any county, city, town, village or other civil division of the state, or by any contractor or subcontractor performing work, labor or services for the state or for any county, city, town, village or other civil division thereof. (New. Added by amendment approved by vote of the people November 5, 1963.)