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.
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.
