SCIRB Statutes and Bylaws

1. The officers of the Spinal Cord Injury Research Board ("Board") shall be the Chair and Vice-Chair. The Chair is designated by the Governor. The Vice-Chair shall be selected by the Chair and shall serve for one year or until his or her successor has been selected.
2. The Chair may appoint a Board member to preside during the absence of the Chair and Vice-Chair from any meeting.

1. The officers of the Board shall perform the duties ordinarily associated with their respective offices.
2. The Chair shall be responsible for the general supervision of the work of the Board. The Chair shall represent the Board before the Governor, committees of the Legislature, or other public authorities, and may request any member or members to appear with him or her in his or her stead. The Chair shall preside at Board meetings.
3. The Vice-Chair, in the absence of the Chair, shall perform the duties of the Chair.

1. Code of Ethics - Members of the Board shall comply with Section 74 (Code of Ethics) of the Public Officers Law. No member of the Board should have any interest, financial or otherwise, direct or indirect, or engage in any business, transaction, or professional activity, or incur any obligation of any nature, which is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of his or her duties as a Board member. Members should exercise their duties and responsibilities as Board members in the public interest of the inhabitants of the State, regardless of their affiliation with, or relationship to, any institution, organization, facility, agency, program, activity, category of provider, or interest group. The principles that should guide the conduct of Board members include, but are not limited to, the following:
   1. A Board member should endeavor to pursue a course of conduct that shall not raise suspicion among the public that he or she is likely to be engaged in acts that are in violation of his or her trust as a Board member.
   2. No Board member should permit his or her employment to impair his or her independence of judgment in the exercise of his or her duties as a Board member.
   3. No Board member should disclose confidential information acquired by him or her in the course of his or her duties as a Board member, or by reason of his or her position as a Board member, nor use such information to further his or her personal interests.
   4. No Board member should use, or attempt to use, his or her position as a Board member to secure unwarranted privileges or exemptions for himself or herself or others.
   5. No Board member should engage in any transaction as a representative or agent of the State with any business entity in which he or she has a direct or indirect financial interest that might reasonably tend to conflict with the proper discharge of his or her duties as a Board member.
   6. A Board member should not make personal investments in enterprises which may be directly involved in decisions to be made by him or her as a Board member or which shall otherwise create substantial conflict between his or her duty as a Board member to act in the public interest and his or her private interest.
   7. To preserve the public trust, Board members are prohibited during the tenure of their appointment from applying for or receiving support from the Spinal Cord Injury Research Trust Fund under Section 251 of the Public Health Law, or from having any role or interest (other than routine professional and collegial interest in the success of their institution or department) in proposals submitted for consideration by, or in research or proposals supported by, the Spinal Cord Injury Research Trust Fund.
2. Conflict of Interest - Applications and other Pending Matters. This section applies both to activities of the full Board and its committees.
   1. Absolute Disqualifications: When a Board or committee member, or his or her family has an interest, financial or otherwise, whether as owner, officer, director, fiduciary, employee, colleague, consultant, or supplier of goods or services, in an entity, institution, organization, facility, agency or program (hereafter collectively referred to as “entity") whose application is before the Board or a committee of the Board for consideration or determination for a grant from the Spinal Cord Injury Research Trust Fund under Section 251 of the Public Health Law, that member shall (i) identify such interest to the Board or committee at any meeting when the application or request is to be considered, (ii) absent himself or herself from any portion of any meeting when such application is considered, and (iii) not participate in any vote of the Board or committee on such application. For purposes of this Article, "family" shall include a spouse, children, sibling, and any relative living in the member's household.
   2. Disclosure and Possible Disqualification: When a Board or committee member, or his or her family member has (i) any of the above-noted interests in an entity the status of which might reasonably be affected by another entity whose grant application is before the Board or a committee of the Board, or (ii) when a member has any other interest or association which might reasonably be construed as tending to embarrass the Board or elicit public suspicion that he or she might be engaged in acts in violation of his or her trust as a Board member, the member shall disclose such interest or association at the time the application or other matter is formally considered by the Board or committee, so that the Chair and, if necessary, the Board or committee can then determine whether the member’s participation in the discussion or the vote on the application by the Board or by the committee or on the other matter would be proper.
   3. Procedure: Prior to the discussion of a grant application, the Chair of the Board and the Chair of the Committee shall request that Board members and committee members disclose all actual or potential conflicts and, when appropriate, explain the conflicts. In the case of conflicts constituting Absolute Disqualifications, the members with such conflicts shall immediately leave the meeting and remain absent during the period when the application is under consideration. In the case of conflicts constituting possible disqualifications, the Chair of the Board or Committee shall rule upon such conflicts subject to appeal by motion to the Board or committee that may override the Chair's decision by the affirmative vote of a majority of those present, excluding those members who are the subject of the vote.
   4. Disclosure of Committee Interests to Board Meetings: When the Chair of any committee reports the Committee's deliberations and recommendations on a matter to the Board, the Committee Chair shall indicate in the report all interests or associations disclosed by the committee members and state how such members voted with respect to the committee's recommendations.
   5. Compliance with Public Officers Law: Members of the Board shall comply with Sections 74 and 78 of the Public Officers Law as amended and the following rules governing conflicts of interest: i. No member shall receive compensation in return for services rendered in relation to matters before any State agency if compensation is contingent upon action or failure to act by such State agency. ii. No member of the Board who is also associated with any firm or association in which he/she has a specific interest shall sell any goods or services valued in excess of $25 to any State agency unless pursuant to competitive bid. iii. No member of the Board shall accept any gift (in excess of $75) under circumstances in which it could reasonably be inferred that the gift was intended to influence him/her as a member of the Board. iv. Members of the Board shall avoid any action which might result in or create the appearance of a conflict of interest.
   6. Violation of Provisions: If any member knowingly and intentionally violates these provisions, the Board or its Chair shall refer the matter to the Commissioner of Health for appropriate action.

The Board shall request the Department of Health to designate a Department employee as the Board's Secretary.

The Secretary shall prepare and send official notices of actions of the Board and shall administer the daily business of the Board under the general direction of the Chair. The Secretary shall send a copy of the minutes of each meeting of the Board to each member of the Board ten business days prior to the next Board meeting. The minutes, as approved or corrected, shall serve as the official record of a meeting of the Board. Minutes shall be distributed or made available to the public after they have been approved by the Board. The Secretary shall make available records requested under the Freedom of Information Law and make announcements to the media and public of scheduled meetings as required by the Open Meetings Law.

1. The regular meetings of the Board shall be held at least two times per year but may be held more frequently as deemed necessary, subject to a call by the Chair or by request of a majority of the Board members, at a date, time and place approved by a majority of members, unless otherwise determined by the Board or by the Chair, who shall notify the Secretary at least ten business days in advance of the meeting.
2. Meeting Notification: The Secretary shall notify each Board member of Board meetings and shall send an agenda to his or her usual address not less than ten business days before the meeting.
3. Quorum: A majority (seven members) of the members of the Board (13 members) shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business or the exercise of any power or function of the Board and all matters requiring action shall be passed by a vote of a majority of the voting members of the Board. (A voting member abstaining from a vote shall be counted as present for the purpose of establishing a quorum.) Except as provided below, all meetings shall be conducted in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, and a record of each vote shall be maintained. The normal method of voting shall be by roll call. A roll call vote on any question shall be taken by ayes and noes, abstentions noted, and a record of how each member voted entered in the Minutes.
4. Open Meetings. Meetings of the Board shall be noticed and conducted in accordance with the requirements of Article 7 (Open Meetings Law) of the Public Officers Law. Such meetings shall be open to the public except when otherwise provided by law. Consistent with newly adopted provisions within Section 103-a(c) of the Open Meetings Law, the Board will allow any member with a disability (as defined by Section 292 of the Executive Law) to participate via videoconferencing because they cannot attend the in-person meeting. The member(s) will be considered present for the purposes of fulfilling the quorum requirements regarding videoconferencing, pursuant to Section 103-a(c) of the Open Meetings Law, at the meeting where other members and the public can attend. Guidelines for observers shall be adopted by the Board
5. Public Comment Period: At least some portion of every regular Board meeting shall be set aside for public comment.
6. Order of Business: The order of business may be altered at the Chair's discretion or upon the request of a Board member. A portion of each Board meeting shall be set aside for the development of an agenda for the next Board meeting.
7.  Absences: Any member, who fails to attend three consecutive meetings of the Board, unless excused by formal vote of the Board, shall be deemed to have vacated his or her position.

1. Standing Committees: There shall be the following Standing Committee: A Scientific Review Committee for the scientific and technical merit review of requests for proposals (grant applications). The Chair of the Board shall appoint the members of Standing Committee and designate its Chair. In appointing members to the Standing Committee, the Chair will, to the extent practicable, ensure that the Committee comprises national or international experts of the highest scientific and technical caliber appropriate to spinal cord injury-related research while minimizing the potential for real or apparent conflict of interest. The term of committee membership shall be three years from the date of appointment. The Chair of the Board shall prescribe duties of the Standing Committee with approval by a majority of Board members.
2. Ad hoc Committees: The Board may, at any time, appoint a special committee on any subject. All such special committees not previously discharged by the Board shall be considered discharged one year following their appointment, unless the Board shall move to continue them.
3. Committee Actions: All committee matters requiring action or a formal recommendation shall be passed by a vote of a majority of the members appointed to serve on the committee. When making a report to the Board, a committee should, in addition to reporting any recommendations of the majority of the committee, summarize any significant deliberations leading to such recommendations as well as opinions or recommendations of committee members who did not support the majority recommendations.

The Board shall establish merit review procedures to be used by the Scientific Advisory Committee which are modeled after the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation as appropriate to the granting mechanisms the Board establishes.

The official headquarters of the Board (at which the official copies of its Minutes, records, documents and other papers shall be kept) shall be at the offices of the Commissioner of Health at Albany, New York. The Secretary shall be responsible for the safekeeping of all Minutes, records, documents, correspondence and other items belonging to the Board. Every member of the Board and any other person duly authorized by a member shall have access at all times during the ordinary office hours of the Department of Health to all such Minutes, records, documents, correspondence and other items belonging to the Board; provided, however, that persons authorized by members shall not have access to records, documents, correspondence or other items that are exempt from disclosure or confidential under the Freedom of Information Law, the Personal Privacy Protection Law, or any other state or federal law. The Secretary shall designate some person to be in charge of all such Minutes, records, documents, correspondence and other items belonging to the Board during his or her absence from the office.

These Bylaws may be amended by the affirmative vote of the majority of the voting members of the Board at any regular or special meeting, provided that notice of the proposed amendment has been given at a prior meeting and that a copy of the proposed amendment has been sent by the Secretary to each member of the Board at least ten business days prior to the vote.