New York’s 150-year-old process to incorporate a village may be getting a 21st Century update. A bill authored by state Sen. James Skoufis and passed by the state Legislature would change provisions in the process.

“New York state was a very different place in the 1800s than it is in the year 2023," Skoufis said.

The changes include raising the number of residents needed for village incorporation from 500 to 2,000, a number suggested by an independent report by Pace University, which studied village incorporation law earlier this year.

“It requires an analysis on the financial sustainability, the taxation issues involved and whether this village can survive if and when it's created," Skoufis said.

These guardrails could help prevent dissolutions like that of Long Island’s Mastic Beach, a village that only lasted six years before financial issues sunk it.

The bill has passed the state Assembly and Senate, and awaits a potential signature from Gov. Kathy Hochul. If passed, it could have implications in the potential development of the proposed village of Seven Springs in the Hudson Valley.

Bill co-sponsor Assemblyman Chris Eachus said the incorporation of that village, which has sparked a court fight between the developers and town of Monroe, would need to go through further checks and balances if the bill is signed.

“In this particular case, you have to do what's good for the community," Eachus said. "And what's good for the community is exactly what we did. And again, I want to stress, it doesn't say you can't form a village anymore. It just puts very reasonable restrictions on what you need to have a village.”

Skoufis said the bill does not target Seven Springs or anyone else. He says it's a carefully thought out update that draws on research.

“No one can point to me or any other supporter of these bills and say, 'Oh, well, you're being arbitrary,'" he said. "No, we had professionals analyze this outdated law, and we're just using their recommendations to update the Village Incorporation Corporation statute. And that's where that stuff comes from.”

Skoufis previously attempted changing village incorporation code in 2019, but that bill failed.

This time, he said it has a better chance of passing, partly because Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins worked closely in crafting it.