Senate Bill S7618

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S7618

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the public authorities law, in relation to requiring
MTA officers and employees to report serious misconduct to the MTA
inspector general


 PURPOSE OF THE BILL :

This bill would require officers and employees of the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority and its affiliated authorities (MTA) to
report promptly to the MTA Inspector General (MTAIG) fraud and other
serious misconduct by other MTA officers and employees, or by persons
having business dealings with the MTA.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of the bill would add a new Public Authorities Law (PAL) §
1279(8) to require officers and employees of the MTA and its
affiliated authorities to report to the MTAIG fraud and other serious
misconduct by other officers or employees relating to their office or
employment, or by persons having business dealings with the MTA,
relating to those dealings.

              

Section 2 provides for an effective date on the sixtieth day after the
bill becomes law.

 EXISTING LAW :

Currently, Executive Law §55 imposes a duty upon every state officer
or employee of an agency or public authority under the jurisdiction of
the New York State Inspector General (OSIG) to promptly report to the
State Inspector General serious misconduct by another officer or
employee related to his office or employment, or by a person having
business dealings with any such agency or authority, related to those
dealings. The MTA does not fall within the jurisdiction of the OSIG,
however, and MTA officers and employees currently have no similar
statutory duty to report. This bill, which is substantially similar to
EL § 55, would impose such a duty.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

This is a new bill.

 STATEMENT IN SUPPORT :

The MTA transportation system is one of the largest in the world. The
MTA has nearly 70,000 officers and employees. Its capital budget alone
is more than $25 billion, making it one of the largest employers of
construction contractors in the nation.

The MTAIG was created by Public Authorities Law §1279 in 1983.
Included among the MTAIG's functions, powers and duties is the ability
to "receive and investigate complaints from any source or upon his own
initiative concerning alleged abuses, frauds and service
deficiencies..." relating to the MTA and its agencies (e.g. the Long
Island Rail Road, Metro North Railroad, the Triborough Bridge and
Tunnel Authority and the New York City Transit Authority), and "to
make available to appropriate law enforcement officials information
and evidence which relate to criminal acts that he may obtain in
carrying out his duties." Over the years, the MTAIG has seen numerous
instances in which MTA employees knew of misconduct but failed to
report it to the MTAIG.

Despite the cost to the public of the serious misconduct in question,
the reluctance of officers and employees to report misconduct, and the
potential deterrent and investigative value of a large internal
reporting pool, MTA officers and employees are currently not legally
required to report information concerning such misconduct to the
MTAIG. By contrast, when the office of the State Inspector General was
codified under the Executive Law in 2006, years after the enactment of
PAL §1279 creating the Office of the MIA Inspector General, one of the
features of the new statute was EL § 55, which required every state
officer and employee of an agency or public authority under the
jurisdiction of the State Inspector General to promptly report serious
misconduct relating to his or her agency or authority.

This bill is would update the Public Authorities Law to impose upon
MTA officers and employees a reporting requirement similar to that now
imposed on officers and employees of state agencies and authorities
under the jurisdiction of the State Inspector General.

 FISCAL IMPACT :

This bill would have no fiscal impact.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This bill would become effective on the sixtieth day after it becomes
law.