Assembly Passes Major Ethics Overhaul

Measure increases transparency, accountability of elected officials, lobbyists, campaigns

January 20, 2010

Albany – Assemblymember Kevin Cahill (D-Ulster, Dutchess) announced the passage of major ethics reform in the New York State Assembly. The reform bill (A9544) creates an autonomous, fixed-term investigative body to oversee legislative ethics, requires greater disclosure from lobbyists, restores an independent lobbying commission and provides greater information regarding legislators' outside sources of income. Additionally, the bill creates a body within the New York State Board of Elections to enforce campaign finance laws.

“Ethics reform is crucial to restoring the public’s trust in state government” said Assemblymember Cahill.” We must continuously strive to increase accountability of elected officials, agencies and lobbyists. There is more work to be done.”

Assemblymember Cahill noted he has championed significant ethics reforms for public officials, government employees and lobbyists. These laws include closing the “revolving door” by prohibiting former legislative employees from directly lobbying the Legislature for two years, bans on gifts and honoraria, anti nepotism prohibitions for hiring and reforms of the state election system. He has also voted for public financing of elections and introduced a bill this session that will restrict the use of campaign money for personal purposes.

“Unfortunately, the actions of some individuals have cast a shadow over us all.” said Assemblymember Cahill “Comprehensive ethics and lobbying reform will help keep Albany accountable to the people who sent us here and weed out those who may be taking advantage of the system."

A Senate companion bill (S 6457) was being debated at the time of this release. These bills strengthen current ethics law by dividing the Legislative Ethics Commission into a compliance and investigative arm, and replacing the Commission on Public Integrity by a six-member board to oversee ethics compliance in the executive branch. The legislation would also reinstate an independent state commission on lobbying and increase disclosure requirements for lobbyists who have business relationships with public officials. Legislators would also be required to reveal in greater detail their sources of outside income.

Provisions of A9544

This legislation would restore an independent state commission on lobbying that would consist of six commissioners: two appointed by the governor and one by each of the legislative leaders. Each appointee would serve for a fixed four-year term.

The legislation would:

• Require that the chair and vice-chair be elected by the majority of members of the commission;
• Require that an executive director be appointed by a majority vote of the members for a three-year term; and
• Further define a “widely attended event” as a gathering related to the attendee’s duties or responsibilities in which at least 25 people are invited or expected to attend, not including individuals from the government entity in which the public officer serves; and
• Add new language to define “nominal food and beverages” as that valued under $10.

Executive Ethics and Compliance Commission

Currently, the Commission on Public Integrity oversees ethics compliance by the executive branch. The agreed-upon ethics reform legislation would replace this body and create a six-member Executive Ethics and Compliance Commission (EECC), made up of two appointees each by the governor, the comptroller and the attorney general. The members would appoint an executive director, who would serve a three-year term and could only be removed by a majority vote of the board.

Additionally, this legislation would:

• Prevent individuals from serving as EECC appointees for five years after working as an executive officer, legislative officer, executive or legislative branch employee or lobbyist in either New York State or other jurisdictions;
• Require the EECC to review all financial disclosure statements to ensure that each is complete;
• Mandate that financial disclosure statements of elected officials be posted on the EECC website; and,
• Institute a review process whereby either random reviews would be conducted by the EECC, or all members of a class-- statewide elected officials, commissioners and deputy commissioners, and other state officers and employees, legislators and legislative staff-- would be subject to review.

Joint Legislative Commission on Ethics Standards and the Legislative Office of Ethics Investigation

The ethics reform legislation introduced today would separate the Legislative Ethics Commission into two bodies.

The first, the Joint Legislative Commission on Ethics Standards (JLCES), would be the ethics compliance arm. Legislative leaders would appoint two members each, including four legislators and four non-members. This body would be responsible for conducting ethics training and education for legislative staff, issuing advisory opinions and imposing penalties for violations of the public officers’ law.

The legislation would:

• Prevent individuals from serving as JLCES appointees for five years after working as legislative officer, legislative employee or lobbyist in either New York State or other jurisdictions, excluding the four legislators serving on the board;
• Require the JLCES to review all financial disclosure statements to ensure that each is complete;
• Mandate that financial disclosure statements of elected officials be posted on the JLCES website; and,
• Institute a review process whereby either random reviews would be conducted by the JLCES, or all members of a class-- statewide elected officials, commissioners and deputy commissioners, and other state officers and employees, legislators and legislative staff-- would be subject to review.

The second body, the Legislative Office of Ethics Investigation (LOEI) would also be governed by an eight-member board. Each legislative leader would have two appointees, and legislators and legislative staff would be prohibited from serving on the board.

This body would:

• Receive complaints about ethics violations from the public and referrals of cases for investigation from the JLCES and the Senate and Assembly Standing Committees on Ethics, and complaints about ethics violations from the public;
• Send final reports to the JLCES; and
• Publicize reports in which cases are not dismissed or in dismissals when that decision is inconsistent with the decision of the JLCES.

The legislation would also require the appropriate legislative oversight body to conduct a hearing on the effectiveness of these provisions within six months of the sunset date of the legislation.

Financial Disclosure

This bill would increase financial disclosure requirements by splitting an existing category into two new categories on financial disclosure forms. The first would cover amounts between $250,000 and $1 million; the other would cover amounts of $1 million or more.

Additionally, the legislation would:

• Remove the provisions of current law that make categories of value confidential;
• Require additional disclosure with respect to consulting services, business before the state and licensed professions; and
• Clarify language to indicate that deferred compensation plans must be disclosed.

Ethics Reports

Under this legislation, the Committee on Open Government would prepare an annual report summarizing the actions of the JLCES, LOEI, EECC, the State Commission on Lobbying and the Senate and Assembly Standing Committees on Ethics.

Campaign Finance

To promote increased enforcement of campaign finance reform laws, the legislation creates an enforcement unit within the New York State Board of Elections (BOE) and mandates that at least 35 percent of the board’s annual budget be dedicated to the unit. Additionally, it expands the jurisdiction of the enforcement unit and promotes the independence of the enforcement counsel by making the office a four-year term. The legislation also promotes compliance with campaign finance laws by increasing current penalties and creating new penalties for violations, and requires greater disclosure and transparency of campaign finance information.

The legislation would:

• Require three of the four BOE commissioners to vote to stop an investigation by the enforcement counsel, rather than requiring, as current law does, three votes to begin an investigation;
• Mandate that all votes to stop an investigation or to act on the recommendation of the enforcement counsel after an investigation occur in public;
• Add an additional campaign finance filing for candidates and political committees during the legislative session and increase the penalty for failure to file from $500 to $1,000;
• Create a substantial penalty of up to $10,000 for the failure to file required statements three or more times in an election cycle;
• Create a new penalty for accepting an excess contribution. In addition to returning the excess, a candidate or committee could be fined an amount equal to two times the excess plus a civil penalty up to $10,000;
• Define and require independent expenditures to identify the source of a political communication and penalize violators up to $1,000 or the cost of the independent expenditure, whichever is greater;
• Mandate that independent expenditures on communications opposing or supporting a candidate or ballot initiative in excess of $1,000 be subject to the same filing requirements currently in place for candidates and political committees;
• Prohibit a person, campaign committee or political party from falsely identifying the source of a political communication; and
• Require itemization of candidate and political committee credit card payments and other like payments.

What's New