Relates to conflicts of interest of municipal officers and employees and codes of ethics; repealer

Section two of this bill amends section 801 of the General Municipal Law to prohibit a municipal officer or employee whose service to a municipality includes rendition of professional services requiring admission to the practice of law from having an interest in any contract for rendition of legal services to the municipality, and from compensating any person or organization from his or her personal resources to render legal services to the municipality.

Section three of this bill adds a new section 803-a to the General Municipal Law to prohibit a municipal officer or employee from acting in relation to certain matters in which he or she has an interest.

Section four of this bill amends paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 806 of the General Municipal Law to: (a) require municipal codes of ethics to provide standards for the use of public resources for personal or private purposes, nepotism, and circumstances requiring recusal and abstention; (b) allow such code to prohibit contracts or conduct that is either expressly or by implication permitted by section 802 or section 805-a of the General Municipal Law; and (c) require the governing body of a municipality that adopts a code of ethics to biennial review and, if necessary, update its code of ethics.

Section five of this bill amends subdivision 2 of section 806 of the General Municipal Law to require: (a) a code of ethics or amendment thereto to be distributed promptly after adoption to every officer or employee of a municipality; (b) a complete and current copy of a municipality's code of ethics to be distributed to every officer and employee of the municipality promptly following such person's election or appointment and at least once every five years; and (c) every municipal officer or employee who receives a code of ethics or amendment thereto to promptly acknowledge in writing that he or she has received and read it.

Sections six and seven of this bill amend subdivision 3 of section 806 of the General Municipal Law to eliminate obsolete filing requirements and references to the former temporary state commission on local government ethics.

Section eight of this bill amends section 808 of the General Municipal Law to: (a) require every (i) county, (ii) city, town and village having a population of 50,000 or more, and (iii) BOCES to have a board of ethics; (b) authorize all other municipalities to establish their own board of ethics or to participate in a cooperative board of ethics; (c) provide that where a municipality, other than a school district, has not exercised the option to establish its own board of ethics or to participate in a cooperative board of ethics, the county board of ethics would serve as the municipality's board of ethics; (d) provide generally that where a school district has not exercised the option to establish its own board of ethics or to participate in a cooperative board of ethics, the BOCES board of ethics would serve as the school district's board of ethics; ( e) enhance the independence of boards of ethics by requiring local governments to establish a term of office for the members of the board; (t) require training for members of boards of ethics on the law relating to conflicts of interest and ethics; (g) clarify that a municipality's board of ethics has responsibility for collecting, reviewing and enforcing requirements related to annual financial disclosure statements; (h) authorize boards of ethics to investigate complaints made by citizens and to impose civil penalties for violations of the conflicts of interest law and code of ethics; and (i) authorize boards of ethics to conduct ethics training for local officers and employees.

Section nine of this bill amends subdivision 9 of section 810 of the General Municipal Law to delete obsolete references to the former temporary state commission on local government ethics in the definition of the term "appropriate body," and to define that term as meaning the board of ethics of a municipality or political subdivision.

Section ten of this bill amends paragraphs (c) and (d) of subdivision 1 of section 811 of the General Municipal Law to revise or delete references to the former temporary state commission on local government ethics.

Sections eleven and twelve of this bill amend paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 and paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 812 of the General Municipal Law to remove obsolete references to the former temporary state commission on local government ethics.

Section thirteen of this bill repeals section 813 of the General Municipal Law which relates to the former temporary state commission on local government ethics.

Section fourteen of this bill amends section 13 of chapter 946 of the laws of 1964 to permit local codes of ethics to be more stringent than article 18 of the General Municipal Law.

Section fifteen of this bill requires the governing board of any municipality which on the effective date of this act has a board of ethics, but has not established a term of office for the members of such board, to establish a term of office for the members of such board to commence on a date no later than January 1,2012, and provides that on such date the positions on such board of ethics shall be deemed vacant.

Section sixteen of this bill establishes that any person serving as a member of a local board of ethics on the effective date of this act shall successfully complete the training course required by this act within one year of the effective date of this act.

Section seventeen of this bill establishes that this act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law; provided, however that paragraph (d) of

subdivision 1 of section 808 of the general municipal law , as added by section eight of this act, shall take effect January 1, 2012.

Justification

At a time when public integrity and ethics are at the forefront of concern in the State, it is appropriate to recommit efforts to ensure that local government officials adhere to high standards of conduct. Indeed, many leading authorities, bar associations, and public interest groups have long called for amendments to the statewide law governing conflicts of interest on the part of municipal officials. The current statute governing local officials' conduct, General Municipal Law Article 18, was enacted in 1964 and establishes statewide rules, applicable outside of the City of New York, relating to interests in contracts, gifts, the disclosure and use of confidential information, and appearances before municipal agencies. It also requires most municipalities to supplement the statewide rules through the adoption of a code of ethics setting f011h standards of conduct for their officers and employees. Despite the high aspirations for those laws, the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) has identified through its advisory opinion function ways in which the law can be improved. OSC has also found through its audits and surveys of local governments that knowledge and understanding and, consequently, compliance with conflicts of interest and ethics requirements may not be as high as desired. This legislation would address these concerns by strengthening current law in a number of ways. For example, this legislation would prohibit municipal officers and employees from acting in relation to certain matters in which they or their spouses have an interest, expand the issues required to be addressed in local codes of ethics to include matters such as nepotism, and enlarge the role of local boards of ethics by authorizing them to investigate taxpayer complaints, requiring them to oversee and enforce local annual financial disclosure filing requirements, and permitting them to provide training to municipal officers and employees on conflicts of interest and ethics. The cumulative effect of these changes would be to enhance local government officials' capacity to do their work with the highest degree of integrity and ethics.

The Comptroller urges passage of this legislation.

Effective date

The first of January next succeeding the date it shall have become a law, with provisions.