Senate Bill S6160

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S6160

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the public officers law, in relation to state
legislative ethics


 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF THE BILL :
This bill further strengthens existing anti-nepotism prohibitions that
currently exist in Law for state legislators and legislative employees
who have been designated as policy makers who wish to, either directly
or indirectly, help to hire their relatives in the same legislative
chamber that they are a member of.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :
Section 1: Amends the Public Officers Law Section 73 (the section that
regulates business and professional activities by legislative
personnel) to add new subdivisions (14-a) and (14-b).

New subdivision 14-a adds new prohibitions that apply exclusively to
state legislators or legislative employees who have been designated as
policy makers. Under current law, a state legislator or legislative
employee may not participate in any decision to hire, promote,
discipline or discharge a relative within the State Legislature (the
current law). The underlying assumption being that the state
legislator may not be directly involved in such decision.  This bill
              

adds a new subsection to also prohibit state legislators and
legislative staff who are policy makers from having any knowledge of
such hire or helping to process the paperwork for such hire in any way
for relatives in the same legislative chamber. With this provision, a
state legislator who even knows that a relative is being hired within
the State Legislature (the chamber in which the regulated party works
also) will be culpable of an act of nepotism.  This significantly
expands the prohibition against nepotism and hopefully will actively
encourage legislators not to indirectly encourage the hiring of their
relatives.

New subdivision 14-b requires that all members of the legislature and
legislative employees must disclose on their financial disclosure
statements the names of all of their relatives who are employed in the
Legislature.  This amendment is made so that even for legislative
employees that are not policy makers, there will be a disclosure of
their other relatives who are employed in the State Legislature.

Section 2: Amends Public Officers Law section 74(3) to add additional
standards to the Code of Ethics. Section 74(3) (d) is amended so that
no officer or employee of a state agency, member of the legislature or
legislative employee should attempt to use their official position to
secure unwarranted privileges or exemptions for their relatives.

 JUSTIFICATION :
Recent events have created a desire in the public and within the State
Legislature to ensure that ethics oversight of the State Legislature
is independent, transparent and accountable to the general public.
This bill imposes additional ethical standards on state legislators
and legislative employees to have no connection what so ever between
their positions of authority and the hiring of their relatives in the
State Legislature. Instituting this new ethical standard should remove
any chance of even the perception by the general public that there is
a breach of the code of ethics by state legislators or legislative
staff.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
New bill.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :
None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on January 1, 2010.