Prohibits members of the legislature from obtaining funding through state grants or member items and subsequently providing such funding to any business entities or not-for-profit entities in which such officials, members, domestic partners or certain relatives hold official or legal positions.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5491
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 13, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LEVENBERG -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the public officers law, in relation to prohibiting
members of the legislature from obtaining funding and providing such
funds to any business entity or not-for-profit entities in which such
officials, members, domestic partners or certain relatives hold offi-
cial or legal positions
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 18 of section 73 of the public officers law, as
2 amended by section 5 of part CC of chapter 56 of the laws of 2015, is
3 amended and renumbered subdivision 19 and a new subdivision 18 is added
4 to read as follows:
5 18. No statewide elected official or member of the legislature shall
6 obtain any funding through state grants or member items, and subsequent-
7 ly provide such funds to any corporation, partnership, limited liability
8 corporation, other business entity or not-for-profit entity in which
9 such official, member or any relative by blood, marriage or adoption of
10 such official or member, domestic partner or a person working in the
11 employ of such member holds an official or legal position, including but
12 not limited to working on an unpaid, volunteer basis.
13 19. In addition to any penalty contained in any other provision of
14 law, any person who knowingly and intentionally violates the provisions
15 of subdivisions two through five, seven, seven-a, eight, twelve or four-
16 teen through [seventeen] eighteen of this section shall be subject to a
17 civil penalty in an amount not to exceed forty thousand dollars and the
18 value of any gift, compensation or benefit received in connection with
19 such violation. Assessment of a civil penalty hereunder shall be made by
20 the state oversight body with jurisdiction over such person. A state
21 oversight body acting pursuant to its jurisdiction, may, in lieu of a
22 civil penalty, with respect to a violation of subdivisions two through
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07651-01-3
A. 5491 2
1 five, seven or eight of this section, refer a violation of any such
2 subdivision to the appropriate prosecutor and upon such conviction such
3 violation shall be punishable as a class A misdemeanor.
4 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
