Senate Bill S572

                                BILL NUMBER:S572

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 the law for state legislators and legislative
employees who have been designated as policy makers and who wish to,
either directly or indirectly, help to hire their relatives in the
same legislative chamber as the one 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 two 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 is 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 hire 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 who 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 preventing any connections whatsoever
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:

2010 - S.6160 REFERRED TO FINANCE

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect on the 90th day after it shall have become
law.