NY State Senate Bill 2017-S1452

Senate Bill S1452

2017-2018 Legislative Session

Relates to the removal of certain pension and retirement benefits from persons convicted of certain felonies

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Judiciary Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 12, 2018	to attorney-general for opinion
Jan 03, 2018	referred to judiciary
Feb 10, 2017	opinion referred to judiciary
Jan 13, 2017	to attorney-general for opinion
Jan 09, 2017	referred to judiciary

2017-S1452 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Judiciary
Law Section:: Constitution, Concurrent Resolutions to Amend
Laws Affected:: Amd Art 5 §7, Constn
Versions Introduced in 2015-2016 Legislative Session:: S6769

2017-S1452 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to the removal of certain pension and retirement benefits from persons convicted of certain felonies.

2017-S1452 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S1452

 TITLE OF BILL :  CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY
proposing an amendment to section 7 of article 5 of the constitution,
in relation to removal of pension and retirement benefits from persons
convicted of certain felonies

 PURPOSE :

To remove certain pension and retirement benefits from persons
convicted of certain felonies.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of this bill amends section 7 of article 5 of the
Constitution, by adding language specifying that any elected official
who is convicted of a felony offense against public administration
that occurred during his or her time in office shall forfeit rights to
his or her benefits subsequent to the criminal conduct for which such
elected official was convicted.

Section 2 of this bill states that the amendment be referred to the
first regular legislative session convening after the next succeeding
general election of members of the assemble, and, in conformity, with
section 1 of article 19 of the constitution, be published for 3 month
previous to the time of such election.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Currently, a former elected official sitting in prison for a felony
act committed while he or she was in office can still apply for and
receive his or her pension checks. In recent cases, the pension
payouts to former State Assembly and Senate members convicted of a
felony could cost New York State taxpayers millions of dollars. This
is a waste of taxpayer money and does little to disincentivize those
looking to use their political office for personal gain.

This bill would propose a constitutional amendment specifying that any
elected official convicted of a felony offense against public
administration that occurred during his or her time in office shall
forfeit rights to his or her benefits subsequent to the time at which
the criminal conduct for which the elected official was convicted
occurred.

More than half the states across the country have passed
pension-forfeiture related bills for public officials and Gov. Andrew
Cuomo recently expressed his support for a pension-forfeiture
constitutional amendment in his 2016 State of the State Address.
Further, a Quinnipiac University poll conducted in March 2015 found
that 76 percent of state voters polled said that elected officials
should lose their retirement benefits if convicted of a felony.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New Bill. Similar Legislation in 2015: S.4611(Budget) - passed Senate
/ A.6722 (Buchwald) - referred to Assembly Judiciary Committee.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

Savings to the State to the extent it enables the state pension fund
to not have to make certain payments.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Resolved (if the Assembly concur), that the amendment shall be
referred to the first regular legislative session convening after the
next succeeding general election of members of the assemble, and, in
conformity, with section 1 of article 19 of the constitution, be
published for 3 month previous to the time of such election.

2017-S1452 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1452
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              January 9, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  AVELLA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
 
             CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY
 
 proposing an amendment to section 7 of article 5 of the constitution, in
   relation to removal of pension and retirement  benefits  from  persons
   convicted of certain felonies
 
   Section 1. Resolved (if the Assembly concur) , That section 7 of arti-
 cle 5 of the constitution be amended to read as follows:
   §  7.  After  July  first,  nineteen  hundred forty, membership in any
 pension or retirement system of the state or of a civil division thereof
 shall be a contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not  be
 diminished or impaired. ANY ELECTED OFFICIAL WHO IS CONVICTED OF A FELO-
 NY OFFENSE AGAINST PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION THAT OCCURRED DURING HIS OR HER
 TIME IN OFFICE SHALL FORFEIT RIGHTS TO HIS OR HER BENEFITS SUBSEQUENT TO
 THE CRIMINAL CONDUCT FOR WHICH SUCH ELECTED OFFICIAL WAS CONVICTED.
   §  2.  Resolved (if the Assembly concur), That the foregoing amendment
 be referred to the first regular legislative session convening after the
 next succeeding general election of members of  the  assemble,  and,  in
 conformity  with  section  1  of  article  19  of  the  constitution, be
 published for 3 months previous to the time of such election.
 
 
 
 
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD89021-01-7

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