Enacts the "ethics in state government now act"

Section 2: Amends Legislative Law section 80 to institute significant reforms to the Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC). Those Reforms are as follows:

1) Legislative Law Section 80(1) - The LEC is reconstituted so that no currently sitting legislators can be part of the Commission's Board. Under current law, 4 legislators are appointed to the Commission by the four respective legislative leaders, and 5 additional members, who are private citizens, are also appointed by the same legislative leaders. The cochairmen are selected respectively by the Assembly Speaker and Senate Majority Leader. Under this bill, the four legislative leaders from the majority and minority would select 4 private citizens to sit on the Commission. In addition, the Governor, Attorney General, State Comptroller, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeal, and Chairman of the Commission on Public Integrity (CPI) would all designate one member of the newly constituted Board. This means that legislators will no longer be able to or be forced to sit in judgment of their legislative colleagues or legislative staff. Newly appointed members should, by virtue of their education and training, have experience in the following disciplines, legislative, judicial, administrative, professional ethics, business, legal and academic.

2) Legislative Law Section 80(2) - The Chairperson of the Commission, while still selected by the Senate President and Assembly Speaker, would need to be chosen from the five board members that were picked by the Governor, Attorney General, State Comptroller, Court of Appeals, or CPI, not those members that were selected by legislative leaders. The Commission will truly become an independent body whose operations will be far more open to the public. This is because its leadership shall come from outside of the environment of the State Legislature.

3) Legislative Law Section 80(7)(c) is amended to require that the Commission shall operate pursuant to the State Administrative Procedure Law (SAPA), and promulgate its rules according to all of the due process and open government principles contained in that act. In addition, public hearings conducted by the LEC shall be in accordance with the due process procedures contained in SAPA article 3, with the understanding that certain hearings, will not be open to the public to reflect concerns about the privacy interests of those subject to the hearings in question. Further, pursuant to SAPA, all LEC rulemakings, including its procedures for operation, must be promulgated in a manner so that the public can comment on proposed LEC rules before they are adopted and filed with the Secretary of State. 4) Legislative Law Section 80(7)(h) is amended so that LEC staff, in addition to Commission members, are allowed to review all financial disclosure statements filed by members of the legislature.

5) Legislative Law Section 80(7)(i) and (j) are deleted. Paragraph (i) allows regulated parties to request and receive permission from the Commission to delete from public view those items disclosed to the Commission that had "no material bearing on the discharge of the employees duties". Paragraph (j) permitted the Commission delete or not disclose information on the business activities of the regulated person's spouse or unemancipated children.

6) Legislative Law Section 80(7)(o) is revised so that certain relevant, but up to now confidential information about the activities of the Commission, may be presented in the Commission's Annual Report. This provision shall help to open up to the public the workings of the Commission.

7) Legislative Law Section 80(8) - Reiterates that the LEC Executive Director and staff may inspect all financial disclosure statements filed by state legislators and legislative staff. In addition, the Commission and its staff may reexamine previously submitted financial disclosure statements within the past five years if new information has come to light that may reveal a possible violation or violations of the State's Ethics Laws.

8) Legislative Law Section 80(9) is amended so that there is a specific time line in which all persons under the jurisdiction of the LEC must file their financial disclosure statements. Further, if the time line is not satisfied, the Commission may prosecute such violators.

9) Legislative Law Section 10 is amended to establish a solid time line in which the Commission must act upon complaints that are submitted to this body: a) by private citizens of potential violations of the Ethics Laws, b) about acts or information it receives from outside sources that reveals a violation of the Ethics Laws, or c) information it receives from the CPI or law enforcement agencies of potential violations of the Ethics Laws. Under current law, there is no procedure or time frame for processing such complaints, therefore, some of these complaints may not have been investigated in timely manner or not at all.

10) Legislative Law section 11 is amended to increase the penalties for violation of Public Officers Law 74(3) (a), (e), or (g) to no more than $ 10,000. Under current law, the civil penalty for violations of (a), (e), or (g) are merely the value of the gift or compensation that was illegally received by the assailant. Further, under current law, most violations of the Ethics law are civil in nature, even if the party is convicted of stealing or misappropriating public property or had violated the public trust. This bill allows for criminal penalties for such violations, and thereby allows the Attorney General or local District Attorney to prosecute these activities as crimes with punishments of fines or jail time. Also, the Commission, in establishing its hearing rules, needs to abide by the principles of SAPA article 3, but can deviate to some extent, due to the unique situations that can occur in the State Legislature and due to the privacy considerations of those being examined.

Section 3: Amends the Public Officers Law Section 73 (the section that regulates business and professional activities by legislative personnel) to add a new subsection (14-a). This section adds new prohibitions that apply exclusively to state legislators or legislative employees who are policy makers. Under this amendment, no state legislator or legislative employee who is a policymaker may not only not participate in any decision to hire or promote a relative within the State Legislature (the current law), but it will also prohibit such hires of their relatives if they have any knowledge of such hire or helped to process the paperwork for such hire in any way for relatives in the same legislative chamber. With this provision, a state legislator who even knows that a relative is being hired within the State Legislature (the chamber in which the regulated party works also) will be culpable of the crime of nepotism. This significantly expands the prohibition against nepotism and hopefully will actively encourage legislators not to indirectly encourage the hiring of their relatives.

Section 4: Amends Public Officers Law section 74(3) to add additional standards to the Code of Ethics. One provision, (3) (a) requires that an individual who is to be retained by the State Legislature, must leave his or her other employment if there may reasonably be a conflict of interest or such other employment may impair their independence of judgment. Also, section 74(3) (g) is amended so that a member of the legislature or legislative employee should abstain from making personal investments in businesses that he or she has reason to believe they will be involved in decisions that affect that business.

Justification

Recent events have created a desire in the public and within the State Legislature to ensure that ethics oversight of the State Legislature is independent, transparent and accountable to the general public. The current embodiment of the Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC) needs to be reformed so that none of its commission members are sitting legislators who must then sit in judgment of their fellow legislators or legislative staff. In addition the LEC needs additional powers to investigate possible violations the State's Ethics Laws and a better ability to coordinate its law enforcement activities with the Commission on Public Integrity, the NYS Attorney General and local District Attorneys.

Legislative history

New bill.

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on January 1, 2010.