Does away with the legislative ethics commission and transfers certain duties to the joint commission on public ethics; repealer

Section 2 of the bill amends section 94 of the executive law, as amended by section 6 of part A of chapter 399 of the laws of 2011 by making various changes to the joint commission on public ethics (JCOPE) including the following:

o reduces the size of the commission from 14 to 5 members all of whom must be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the legislature, without regard to political affiliation, from a list to be provided by a nominating panel described below;

o the governor will be required to create a nominating panel for potential member nominees that will consist of the following parties or their designees: the chief judge of the court of appeals; the president of the New York state bar association; and the executive director of the not-for-profit organization, common cause;

o three members of the commission shall constitute a quorum;

o former authority of the legislative ethics commission is transferred to JCOPE including the authority to provide advice and ethics training, to administer and enforce annual financial disclosure requirements, to enforce the ethics laws and to impose sanctions, including civil fines, upon legislators and staff; to investigate legislators and staff, hold due process hearings on possible violations, issue public reports with findings of fact, conclusions of law and penalties to be imposed, and to create and maintain a publicly accessible website.

Sections 3 through 12 of the bill make various technical changes to the legislative and public officers laws as a result of the repeal of Article 5 and transfer of Legislative Ethics Commission authority to JCOPE including provisions relating to financial disclosure requirements, transfer of records, continuity of authority, unfinished business, etc.

Section 13 of the bill sets forth an effective date of January 1, 2014 provided, however, that the amendments to paragraph (1-1) of subdivision 9 and subparagraph 1 of paragraph (a) of subdivision 19 of section 94 of the executive law made by section two

of this act, shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as subdivision 3 of section 22 of part A of chapter 399 of the laws of 2011 takes effect.

Justification

In recent months there have been many high-profile cases involving misconduct of elected officials that has done little to diminish the horrible history of official misconduct and dysfunction that is the hallmark of New York State government

Although the creation of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics(JCOPE) was a much heralded change in the ethics laws, the actual result was less impressive due to the existence of two separate commissions both responsible for implementing the states ethics law. In addition, JCOPE's original composition of 15 members appointed through a political affiliation process hinders the commissions ability to be a non-partisan arbiter of the state's ethics laws. This was proven to be true in August 2012 following one of the first major ethical scandals since JCOPE's creation when the state assembly entered into a private settlement agreement in response to allegations of sexual misconduct against one of its prominent members.

In order to make meaningful and effective change to the implementation of the state's ethics laws, it is necessary to have only one state ethics commission that is comprised of 5 members who are appointed through an apolitical process and whose own ethics are unquestioned.

Legislative history

New Bill.

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

The act shall take effect on January 1, 2014 provided, however, that the amendments to paragraph (i-1) of subdivision 9 and subparagraph 1 of paragraph (a) of subdivision 19 of section 94 of the executive law made by section two of this act, shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as subdivision 3 of section 22 of part A of chapter 399 of the laws of 2011 takes effect.