“The comprehensive reforms detailed by Governor Cuomo are vital measures needed to restore the public’s trust. We need to tackle public corruption in state government, strengthen our electoral process to get more New Yorkers involved in state government, and provide for public funding of campaigns to help ensure the real power is with hardworking New Yorkers. For example, I agree with the Governor that any public official who knows of but fails to report corruption should be guilty of a misdemeanor.”

“With the Assembly, working in partnership with the Governor, I believe these reforms will give New Yorker’s a government that is honest and open, and working in the best interests of the people we represent.”

“I further believe that in order to tackle this problem fully, we need reform of the process for addressing complaints of sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination. We need a statute that creates an independent body for handling such complaints, like the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, that covers all branches of State government, State agencies, and local government. Speaker Silver has called for, at a minimum, changing the Assembly’s rules in that regard, which is a major step forward. But we need a law, not just a policy, which guarantees independent review for every employee of State or local government.”