Requires MTA officers and employees to report serious misconduct to the MTA inspector general

Section 2 provides for an effective date on the sixtieth day after the bill becomes law.

Existing law

Currently, Executive Law §55 imposes a duty upon every state officer or employee of an agency or public authority under the jurisdiction of the New York State Inspector General (OSIG) to promptly report to the State Inspector General serious misconduct by another officer or employee related to his office or employment, or by a person having business dealings with any such agency or authority, related to those dealings. The MTA does not fall within the jurisdiction of the OSIG, however, and MTA officers and employees currently have no similar statutory duty to report. This bill, which is substantially similar to EL § 55, would impose such a duty.

Legislative history

This is a new bill.

Statement in support

The MTA transportation system is one of the largest in the world. The MTA has nearly 70,000 officers and employees. Its capital budget alone is more than $25 billion, making it one of the largest employers of construction contractors in the nation.

The MTAIG was created by Public Authorities Law §1279 in 1983. Included among the MTAIG's functions, powers and duties is the ability to "receive and investigate complaints from any source or upon his own initiative concerning alleged abuses, frauds and service deficiencies..." relating to the MTA and its agencies (e.g. the Long Island Rail Road, Metro North Railroad, the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority and the New York City Transit Authority), and "to make available to appropriate law enforcement officials information and evidence which relate to criminal acts that he may obtain in carrying out his duties." Over the years, the MTAIG has seen numerous instances in which MTA employees knew of misconduct but failed to report it to the MTAIG.

Despite the cost to the public of the serious misconduct in question, the reluctance of officers and employees to report misconduct, and the potential deterrent and investigative value of a large internal reporting pool, MTA officers and employees are currently not legally required to report information concerning such misconduct to the MTAIG. By contrast, when the office of the State Inspector General was codified under the Executive Law in 2006, years after the enactment of PAL §1279 creating the Office of the MIA Inspector General, one of the features of the new statute was EL § 55, which required every state officer and employee of an agency or public authority under the jurisdiction of the State Inspector General to promptly report serious misconduct relating to his or her agency or authority.

This bill is would update the Public Authorities Law to impose upon MTA officers and employees a reporting requirement similar to that now imposed on officers and employees of state agencies and authorities under the jurisdiction of the State Inspector General.

Fiscal impact

This bill would have no fiscal impact.

Effective date

This bill would become effective on the sixtieth day after it becomes law.