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A02236 Summary:

BILL NOA02236
 
SAME ASNo Same As
 
SPONSORSimon
 
COSPNSRBurdick, Hevesi, Davila
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd §211, Judy L
 
Requires the ethics commission of the unified court system to post each state-paid judge's annual financial disclosures on the ethics commission's public website for five years beginning with filings made on January 1, 2018.
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A02236 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A2236
 
SPONSOR: Simon
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the judiciary law, in relation to requiring the ethics commission of the unified court system to post judges' annual financial disclosures on the commission's website   PURPOSE: To ensure that financial disclosures filed by state-paid judges and justices are posted for public review on the ethics commission website.   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1 amends subdivision 4 of section 211 of the judiciary law by adding a new subsection (b) which states that financial disclosures and amendments that are required to be filed by any state-paid judge or justice shall be posted on the ethics commission for the unified court system's website for public review. The statements shall be posted with- in 30 days of receipt of the statement, or 10 days of receipt of an amendment. Section 2 sets the effective date.   EXISTING LAW: Click here   JUSTIFICATION: Financial disclosure statements filed by state-paid judges and justices are not currently readily accessible for the public. Under current law, those wishing to inspect judicial financial disclosure forms must first file a written request for public inspection. This request is to be filed "in a timely manner determined by the needs of the inspector, the number of statements requested, and the workload of the Ethics Commis- sion staff at the time of the request." Review of the documents are to be done by email, regular mail, or at the Ethics Commission office, and office inspections must be scheduled during business hours. This is in contrast to the public inspection process for elected officials' finan- cial disclosure forms, which are available online for at least five years and within 30 days of receipt by the ethics commission, and are currently posted for every year from 2013 to present. It is imperative that the public have access, in a timely and convenient manner, to financial disclosure information of our judges and justices. Such forms provide important information about possible affiliations and financial interests. This bill improves transparency by setting the same public inspection requirements for judges and justices' financial disclosures as it does for other elected officials.   LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2023-24: A7739 Simon -referred to judiciary 2022: Died in Rules   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None   LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.
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