Prohibits persons from holding public office or positions of political party leadership for a period of ten years when convicted of certain felonies

Summary of provisions

Section 1. The public officers law is amended by adding a new section 3-d to read as follows:

§ 3-d. Restriction upon holding public office; felony conviction. 1. No person shall be capable of holding a civil office or a position of leadership in a political party for a period of ten years if he or she has been convicted of any felony under article one hundred forty-five, one hundred fifty five, one hundred seventy, one hundred seventy-five, one hundred ninety five, two hundred, two hundred ten, or two hundred fifteen of the penal law.

2. No person shall be capable of joining a political party for period of five years following the completion of any sentence for a felony conviction under article one hundred forty-five, one hundred fifty five, one hundred seventy, one hundred seventy-five, one hundred ninety five, two hundred, two hundred ten, or two hundred fifteen of the penal law, regardless of whether he or she obtained a certificate of relief of disabilities from the division of criminal justice services.

§ 2 Subdivision 1 of section 79 of the civil rights law, as amended by chapter 687 of the laws of 1973, is amended to read as follows:

Except as provided in subdivision two a sentence of imprisonment in a state correctional institution for any term less than life or a sentence of imprisonment in a state correctional institution for an indeterminate term, having a minimum of one day and a maximum of natural life, forfeits all the public offices, and suspends, during the term of the sentence all the civil rights, and all private trusts, authority, or powers of, or held by, the person sentenced, and forfeits the right to hold public office or a position of leadership in a political party for a period of 10 years following the completion of any sentence for a felony conviction under article one hundred forty-five, one hundred fifty five, one hundred seventy, one hundred seventy-five, one hundred ninety five, two hundred, two hundred ten, or two hundred fifteen of the penal law, regardless of whether he or she obtained a certificate of relief of disabilities from the division of criminal justice services.

§ 3.This act shall take effect immediately.

Existing law

There in no current law that would allow for this to happen.

Justification

We have seen in the past and, unfortunately will continue to see political parties being manipulated by people who get themselves into leadership positions for the purpose of personal gain.

This type of individual has been using political parties for his/her own self serving reasons long before any of us were elected to public office. Most notable was that of Tammany Hall between 1850, and lasting till 1932 when Franklin Roosevelt stripped the Tammany Organization of federal funding. We may not have an organization demonstrating corruption of that scale in New York State today, but corruption in political parties still exist none the less.

People join various political parties and regardless of which party joined they expect their leadership do the right thing. They look forward to the leadership putting the party's best interest ahead of their own. They would like to win elections but they want to do it through hard work. They do not want leadership that has been found misrepresenting the party's interest with the leaderships personal interest. When personal interest collides with the party's interest corruption always raises its ugly head. There must be no other option but to cut it off.

This legislation does exactly that. This legislation removes the ability of those people that would manipulate, intimidate and / or coerce members of any political party into supporting them for the purpose of remaining in those positions. This legislation in place tells the party members, " If leadership has broken the law, then that leadership has no right to represent the parties best interest". This legislation helps to stop the cronyism from spreading and sends a message loud and clear that regardless of party affiliation this type of behavior will not be tolerated in any community within the borders of New York State. This legislation prevents any technicality or mechanism currently in place from skirting the law and removes the individual from that position.

Finally, it shows the public that the New York State Legislature takes seriously the trust they, the voters, have given us to protect the rights of individuals and our communities.

Legislative history

None

Fiscal implications

None.

Local fiscal implications

None.

EFFECTIVE DATE

This bill will take effect immediately.