2023 New York Laws › STL - State › Article 8 - Assembly and Senate Districts of the State › Title 3 - Miscellaneous › 128 - Saving Clause.

§ 128. Saving clause. a. If the districts described in this article do
not  carry  out the purposes thereof, because of unintentional omission;
duplications;  overlapping  areas;  erroneous  nomenclature;   lack   of
adequate maps or descriptions of political subdivisions, wards, or other
divisions  thereof,  or of their boundary line; street closings, changes
in names of streets, or other changes of public  places;  alteration  of
the  boundary  or  courses  of  waters or waterways, filling in or lands
under water, accretion or other changes in shorelines; or alteration  of
courses,   rights  of  way,  or  lines  of  public  utilities  or  other
conditions, then the state board of elections, at  the  request  of  any
person  aggrieved  thereby,  or any candidate affected thereby shall, by
order, correct such  omissions,  overlaps,  erroneous  nomenclature,  or
other  defects  in  the description of districts so as to accomplish the
purposes and objectives of this article.
b. In promulgating such orders,  the  state  board  of  elections,  in
addition  to  achieving  equality  in  the  population  of districts and
insuring that all areas of  the  state  are  completely  and  accurately
encompassed  in  such  districts,  shall  be  guided  by  the  following
standards:
(1) Gaps in the description of any district shall be  completed  in  a
manner  which  results in a total description of that district consonant
with the description of adjacent districts and in complete contiguity of
districts.
(2) Areas of the state included within the descriptions of  more  than
one  district  shall  be  allocated  to  the  district having the lowest
population.
(3) Areas of the state not included within  the  descriptions  of  any
district  shall  be allocated to the adjacent district having the lowest
population.
(4) In the event that the area subject  to  corrected  description  or
allocation   as  provided  in  paragraph  one,  two  or  three  of  this
subdivision is of  such  size  or  contains  such  population  that  its
inclusion  as  a  unit  in  any  district  would  result  in substantial
disparity in the size, shape or population of such  district,  then  the
state  board  of  elections may allocate portions of such area to two or
more districts.
(5) In any allocation of  area  or  correction  of  descriptions  made
pursuant to this section, the state board of elections shall, consistent
with the foregoing standards, preserve the contiguity and compactness of
districts and avoid the unnecessary division of political subdivisions.
c.  Copies  of  such  orders  shall  be  filed  by  the state board of
elections in its own office and in the office of the affected boards  of
election.    A  copy of each such order shall also be filed by the state
board with the legislative bill drafting commission to facilitate it  in
performing  its functions under section seventy-b of the public officers
law. In addition, a copy of such order shall be served upon  the  person
or  candidate, if any, who instituted the application for such an order.
The state board of elections may adopt reasonable rules  regulating  the
procedure  for  applications for orders under this section in the manner
of serving and filing any notice or copy of orders relating thereto.
d. Upon the filing of such an order, the description of  any  affected
district  shall  be deemed to have been corrected in the manner provided
in such order to  the  full  extent  as  if  such  correction  had  been
contained in the original description set forth in this article.
e.  In  furtherance of effectuating the provisions of subdivision d of
this section, the legislative bill  drafting  commission,  upon  receipt
from  the  state  board of elections of an order promulgated pursuant to
subdivision b of this section, and upon the approval  of  the  temporary

president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly, shall cause the
description  of  a senate district or assembly district altered pursuant
to any such order to be revised accordingly within its data base of  the
laws  of  the  state  of  New  York so that such altered district may be
contained in a publication of the state law and be  certified  to  as  a
correct  transcript of the text of law relating thereto such district in
the manner authorized by section seventy-b of the public officers law.