Assembly BillIntroduced
A 3995: Amends the list of persons eligible to succeed the governor in the event that the governor is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office of governor as a result of an attack or a natural or peacetime disaster and the lieutenant governor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly are unable to discharge such duties.
What A 3995 does, verified January 8, 2026
The Unforeseen Circumstances Act aims to provide a process for succession in the office of governor in the state of New York. If the governor's office becomes vacant due to an attack or disaster, and multiple officials are unable to take over, a designated state official will act as governor. The order of succession is as follows: the Attorney General, Comptroller, Commissioner of Transportation, Commissioner of Health, and other relevant state officials. This act takes effect immediately.
Bill journey
1IntroducedCurrent
2In CommitteePending
3First Chamber FloorPending
4Second ChamberPending
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: referred to governmental operations (2026-01-07)Alert me
Author and sponsors
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| Jan. 07, 2026 | referred to governmental operations |
| Jan. 30, 2025 | referred to governmental operations |
Latest bill textIntroduced version, January 30, 2025 · 308 words
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3995 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 30, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BORES -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations AN ACT to amend the New York state defense emergency act, in relation to persons eligible to succeed the governor The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "unfore- 2 seen circumstances act". 3 § 2. Section 5 of article 1-A of chapter 784 of the laws of 1951 4 constituting the New York state defense emergency act, as amended by 5 chapter 420 of the laws of 1968, is amended to read as follows: 6 § 5. Persons eligible to succeed governor. If, as a result of an 7 attack or a natural or peacetime disaster, the office of governor 8 becomes vacant and each of the lieutenant governor, the temporary presi- 9 dent of the senate and the speaker of the assembly is unable to 10 discharge the powers and duties of the office of governor or is absent 11 from the state, then the officer of the state who is (a) highest in 12 order of the following list, (b) not otherwise unable to discharge such 13 powers and duties, and (c) not absent from the state, shall act as 14 governor: attorney general, comptroller, commissioner of transporta- 15 tion, commissioner of health, commissioner of [commerce] economic devel- 16 opment, [industrial] commissioner of labor, [chairman] chairperson of 17 the public service commission, [secertary] secretary of state. 18 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD04313-01-5
Text of A 3995 as introduced, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions