Requires the joint commission on public ethics to develop and maintain an ethics training course for members and staff of the legislature; requires members of the legislature to successfully complete the course

1 Co-sponsor

• José M. Serrano

BILL NUMBER:S5325A

Title of bill

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring the joint commission on public ethics to develop and maintain an ethics training course for members and staff of the legislature; and to amend the legislative law, in relation to requiring all members of the legislature to successfully complete the ethics training course on an annual basis

Purpose

Requires the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) to develop an maintain an ethics training course for Members and Staff of the Legislature and to require all Members and staff of the Legislature to successfully complete the ethics training course on an annual basis.

Summary of provisions

Section One of the bill amends subdivision 9 of section 94 of the Executive Law to add a new paragraph (o) to state that JCOPE shall develop and maintain an ethics training course for member and staff of the Legislature, Such course shall be designed to help legislators and staff in understanding and complying with current ethical and campaign finance requirements under state law, legislative rules and federal law. The course shall be made to members and staff of the Legislature and to the general public on the Internet and shall include training materials and exercises to be completed as part of the course and shall include provisions for verifying when a legislator has successfully completed key training exercises.

Section Two of the bill as a new section, 81, to the Legislative Law to state that each member of the Legislature shall annually complete the ethics training course developed by JCOPE, successfully complete the key training exercise of the course and verify completion on his or her annual legislative financial disclosure form.

Newly elected legislators shall complete the ethics training course within seven days of being sworn into office.

Failure to comply shall be a class A misdemeanor and shall be punishable by a fine of $5,000.

Existing law

Currently there is no ethics training requirement for Members and staff of the Legislature

Justification

Recent events have once again highlighted the troubling prevalence of public corruption in New York State government. While several states require mandatory ethics training for state legislators, New York does not. This legislation will insure that Member of the New York State legislators receive annual ethics training. Failure to complete the annual training is a Class A misdemeanor and a fine of up to $5,000.

Legislative history

New bill.

Fiscal implications

To be determined

Effective date

This act shall take effect on January 1, 2015