NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5714
SPONSOR: Barclay TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the legislative law, in relation to creating an assembly
standing committee on ethics and guidance
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To establish the Assembly Standing Committee on Ethics and Guidance in
law and make the committee independent of the Speaker. This committee
will replace the current Standing Committee on Ethics and Guidance that
is established by the Rules of the Assembly. This legislation grants the
committee investigative and disciplinary authority and requires mandato-
ry reporting to the committee of any reported incidents of misconduct
and requires the committee to act on such complaints at their next meet-
ing.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Establishes the Assembly Standing Committee on Ethics and
Guidance in law and defines its functions and authority as follows:
Standing Committee on Ethics and Guidance Structure
*The eight member committee would be composed of four majority Members
appointed by the Speaker and four minority members appointed by the
Minority Leader.
*The Speaker and the Minority Leader would each choose a Co-chair among
the members of the committee.
*Members of the committee would serve a fixed two-year term concurrent
with their legislative term and could only be removed by a majority vote
of the committee for their own misconduct.
*The committee is required to meet at least bi-monthly or at additional
times as may be called by the Co-chairs, jointly, or by a consensus of
four members of the committee.
*The committee will be granted its own budget, lined out separately in
the annual Legislative Budget, in an amount deemed appropriate by an
agreement of the Co-chairs. Standing Committee on Ethics and Guidance
Functions The committee is required to: *Appoint an Executive Director
by a majority vote and appoint other necessary staff;
*Review all policies and rules of the Speaker and the Assembly in
relation to member and employee conduct and make suggestions for
improvements;
*Offer motions to amend or suspend the Assembly Rules;
*Adopt polices relating to conduct of members and employees of the
Assembly, including but not limited to ethics, sexual harassment and
fraternization with student interns;
*Develop and regularly update a course of instruction for member and
employee conduct;
*Prepare annual reports to the Speaker and the Minority Leader summariz-
ing the activities of the committee, including complaints made to the
committee and the status or resolution of those complaints; and
*Investigate complaints and impose disciplinary measures. Standing
Committee on Ethics and Guidance Investigative and Enforcement Authority
*This section requires mandatory reporting to the committee of any
formal or informal complaint of misconduct by members and employees,
within five days of such complaint, being made to Assembly counsel,
human resource or personnel office, or intake representatives, and
requires the committee to act on such complaint at their next meeting.
*Also, prohibits retaliatory personnel actions against committee members
for committee activities or against members or staff who make a report
to the committee.
The committee has the authority to:
*Initiate investigations on its own accord, by a majority vote, into any
possible violation by any member or employee of the rules or policies of
the Speaker or the Assembly or Public Officers Law or other law.
*Investigate complaints or defer complaints to the appropriate authority
by a majority vote of the committee.
*Notify individuals, in writing, who are the subject of a formal inves-
tigation and give them fifteen days to respond.
*Authorize the committee to impose penalties as provided for under law
or suggest censure, stripping members of leadership positions or expul-
sion as punishments.
Section 2. Requires equal allowance for majority and minority co-chairs
of the Assembly Standing Committee on Ethics and Guidance.
Section 3. Contains the severability clause. Section 4. Contains the
effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The current Assembly Standing Committee on Ethics and Guidance, like
other standing committees, is created in the Assembly Rules and
controlled by the Speaker. The Speaker's direct or indirect influence
over the current committee, by having the power to name the committee
chair and staff, leads to actual conflicts of interest or, at the very
least, perceived conflicts of interest. This legislation is necessary to
establish in law a more independent bipartisan ethics oversight commit-
tee in the New York State Assembly to protect the public's interest, not
political interest.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A7621 of 2013-14 Referred to Governmental Operations
A5291 of 2015-16 Held for consideration in Governmental Operations
A3315 of 2017-18 Held for consideration in Governmental Operations
A5208 of 2019-20 Held for consideration in Governmental Operations
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
Minimal
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5714
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 24, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BARCLAY, DiPIETRO, HAWLEY, MONTESANO, BYRNES,
MORINELLO, SALKA, LEMONDES, LAWLER, J. M. GIGLIO -- Multi-Sponsored by
-- M. of A. BROWN, DeSTEFANO, GALLAHAN, MANKTELOW -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the legislative law, in relation to creating an assembly
standing committee on ethics and guidance
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The legislative law is amended by adding a new section 68
2 to read as follows:
3 § 68. Assembly standing committee on ethics and guidance. 1. There is
4 established a standing committee in the assembly on ethics and guidance
5 which shall replace the standing committee on ethics and guidance as
6 established by the rules of the assembly. The committee shall consist of
7 an equal number of majority and minority members for a total of eight
8 members. The eight members shall be members of the assembly and
9 appointed as follows: four by the speaker of the assembly and four by
10 the minority leader of the assembly.
11 2. The committee shall serve as described in this section and have and
12 exercise the powers and duties set forth in this section only with
13 respect to members of the assembly and assembly employees.
14 3. Members of the assembly who serve on the committee shall each have
15 a two year term concurrent with their legislative terms of office.
16 4. Members of the committee may only be removed by a majority vote of
17 the committee solely for substantial neglect of duty, gross misconduct
18 in office, violation of the confidentiality restrictions in this
19 section, inability to discharge the powers or duties of office or
20 violation of this section, after written notice and opportunity for a
21 reply.
22 5. The speaker of the assembly and the minority leader of the assembly
23 shall each designate one member of the committee as a co-chairperson
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02914-01-1
A. 5714 2
1 thereof. The co-chairpersons shall receive compensation as provided for
2 in section five-a of this chapter.
3 6. The committee shall meet at least bi-monthly and at such additional
4 times as may be called for by the co-chairpersons jointly or any four
5 members of the committee.
6 7. Any vacancy occurring on the committee shall be filled within thir-
7 ty days by the appointing authority.
8 8. Five members of the committee shall constitute a quorum, and the
9 committee shall have power to act by majority vote of the total number
10 of members of the committee without vacancy.
11 9. The committee shall be funded separately from the assembly appro-
12 priations provided annually in an amount deemed appropriate by an agree-
13 ment of the co-chairs for the maintenance and operation of the commit-
14 tee. Such appropriation for the committee shall be specifically lined
15 out in the legislative budget. The executive director and employees of
16 the committee shall be considered as employees of the assembly for all
17 purposes.
18 10. The committee shall:
19 (a) appoint an executive director who shall act in accordance with the
20 policies of the committee, provided that the committee may remove the
21 executive director by a majority vote for neglect of duty, misconduct in
22 office, or inability or failure to discharge the powers or duties of
23 office;
24 (b) appoint such other staff as are necessary to assist it to carry
25 out its duties under this section;
26 (c) adopt, amend, and rescind policies, rules and regulations consist-
27 ent with this section to govern procedures of the committee;
28 (d) administer the provisions of this section;
29 (e) review all rules and policies of the speaker or the assembly
30 relating to conduct of members and employees of the assembly, including
31 but not limited to ethics, sexual harassment and fraternization with
32 student interns, and recommend to the speaker of the assembly and the
33 minority leader of the assembly any changes to such rules and policies
34 or offer motions to amend rules of the assembly, or offer motions to
35 suspend rules of the assembly, or adopt policies relating to conduct of
36 members and employees of the assembly, including but not limited to
37 ethics, sexual harassment and fraternization with student interns. Any
38 such policy relating to conduct of members and employees of the assembly
39 adopted by the committee shall be the policy of the assembly and subject
40 to the provisions of this section;
41 (f) develop and regularly update a course of instruction for all
42 members and employees of the assembly with regard to the laws and poli-
43 cies governing their conduct. The committee shall recommend to the
44 speaker of the assembly and the minority leader of the assembly a
45 conduct and ethics training plan for implementing and scheduling such
46 course of instruction for members, employees and newly-hired employees;
47 (g) prepare an annual report to the speaker of the assembly and the
48 minority leader of the assembly summarizing the activities of the
49 committee during the previous year and recommending any changes in the
50 laws governing the conduct of persons subject to the jurisdiction of the
51 committee, or the rules, regulations and procedures governing the
52 committee's conduct. Such report shall include: (i) a listing by
53 assigned number of each complaint including current status of each
54 complaint, (ii) where a matter was deferred, and (iii) where a matter
55 has been resolved, the date and nature of the disposition and any sanc-
A. 5714 3
1 tion imposed, subject to the confidentiality requirements of this
2 section; and
3 (h) investigate complaints and impose disciplinary measures against
4 members and employees found in violation of rules and policies of the
5 speaker or the assembly or the public officers law or other law.
6 11. Investigations, mandatory reporting of violations, and enforcement
7 authority:
8 (a) The committee shall have the authority, on its own accord, to
9 initiate by a majority vote an investigation into a possible violation,
10 by any member or employee of the assembly, of the rules or policy of the
11 speaker or the assembly or of the public officers law or other law.
12 (b) Any formal or informal complaint of a violation of rules and poli-
13 cies of the speaker or the assembly relating to conduct of members and
14 employees of the assembly or of a violation of the public officers law
15 or other law, must be reported to the committee within five days of such
16 complaint being made to counsel, office of human resources, office of
17 administration and personnel or intake representative.
18 (c) The committee shall review such complaint at the next meeting of
19 such committee and determine by majority vote whether to investigate
20 such complaint further, commence a full formal investigation of such
21 complaint or defer such complaint to the joint commission on public
22 ethics, the legislative ethics commission, or an appropriate prosecutor.
23 The staff of the committee shall provide to the members of the committee
24 prior to such vote information regarding the likely scope and content of
25 the investigation, and a subpoena plan, to the extent such information
26 is available.
27 (d) If the committee determines by majority vote that a full formal
28 investigation shall commence the committee shall notify the individual
29 in writing, describe the possible or alleged violation of rules and
30 policies of the speaker or the assembly related to conduct of members
31 and employees of the assembly or of a violation of the public officers
32 law or other law and provide the person with a fifteen day period in
33 which to submit a written response setting forth information relating to
34 the activities cited as a possible or alleged violation of such rules
35 and policies.
36 (e) The committee has the authority to conduct any inquiry pertinent
37 or material to the discharge of the functions, powers and duties imposed
38 by law; and through designated members of the staff, to subpoena
39 witnesses, administer oaths, take testimony and compel the production of
40 such books, papers, records and documents as may be relevant to any such
41 inquiry and investigation.
42 (f) If the committee determines at any stage that there is no
43 violation, it shall so advise the individual and the complainant, if
44 any. All of the foregoing proceedings shall be confidential.
45 (g) The jurisdiction of the committee when acting pursuant to this
46 section shall continue notwithstanding that a member of the assembly or
47 assembly employee separates from assembly service, provided that the
48 committee notifies such individual of the alleged violation of rules and
49 policies of the speaker or the assembly relating to conduct of members
50 and employees of the assembly or of a violation of the public officers
51 law pursuant to paragraph (c) of this subdivision within one year from
52 his or her separation from assembly service.
53 (h) If during the course of its investigation the committee deems that
54 a violation of rules and policies of the speaker or the assembly related
55 to conduct of members and employees of the assembly or a violation of
A. 5714 4
1 the public officers law or other law has occurred, the committee shall
2 notify the individual in writing.
3 (i) The committee shall have the authority to (i) recommend punish-
4 ments for violations of rules and policies of the speaker or the assem-
5 bly, or the public officers law or other law, including but not limited
6 to censure, stripping members of leadership positions or expulsion
7 pursuant to section three of this chapter and (ii) access penalties
8 pursuant to applicable law or rule.
9 (j) No member or employee of the assembly shall take any adverse
10 personnel action with respect to another member or employee of the
11 assembly in retaliation for his or her making a report to the committee,
12 or for his or her official duties as a member of the committee, concern-
13 ing conduct which he or she knows or reasonably believes to be a
14 violation of rules and policies of the speaker or the assembly or the
15 public officers law or other law.
16 (k) Notwithstanding the provisions of article six of the public offi-
17 cers law, the only records of the committee which shall be available for
18 public inspection and copying are:
19 (i) the terms of any settlement or compromise of a complaint or refer-
20 ral or report which includes a fine, penalty or other remedy reached by
21 the committee; and
22 (ii) all reports required by this section.
23 12. Notwithstanding the provisions of article seven of the public
24 officers law, no meeting or proceeding of the committee shall be open to
25 the public, except if expressly provided otherwise by this section or
26 the committee.
27 § 2. That portion of subdivision 1 of section 5-a of the legislative
28 law entitled "ASSEMBLYMEN SERVING IN SPECIAL CAPACITY", as amended by
29 section 3 of part XX of chapter 56 of the laws of 2009, is amended to
30 read as follows:
31 ASSEMBLYMEN SERVING IN SPECIAL CAPACITY
32 Chairman of assembly ways and means committee ................... 34,000
33 Ranking minority member of assembly ways and means
34 committee ...................................................... 20,500
35 Chairman of assembly judiciary committee ........................ 18,000
36 Ranking minority member of assembly judiciary
37 committee ...................................................... 11,000
38 Chairman of assembly codes committee ............................ 18,000
39 Ranking minority member of assembly codes
40 committee ...................................................... 11,000
41 Chairman of assembly banks committee ............................ 15,000
42 Ranking minority member of assembly banks committee .............. 9,500
43 Chairman of assembly committee on cities ........................ 15,000
44 Ranking minority member of assembly committee on cities .......... 9,500
45 Chairman of assembly education committee ........................ 18,000
46 Ranking minority member of assembly education committee ......... 11,000
47 Chairman of assembly health committee ........................... 15,000
48 Ranking minority member of assembly health committee ............. 9,500
49 Chairman of assembly local governments committee ................ 15,000
50 Ranking minority member of assembly local governments
51 committee ....................................................... 9,500
52 Chairman of assembly agriculture committee ...................... 12,500
53 Ranking minority member of assembly agriculture committee ........ 9,000
54 Chairman of assembly economic development, job creation,
A. 5714 5
1 commerce and industry committee ................................ 18,000
2 Ranking minority member of assembly economic development,
3 job creation, commerce and industry committee .................. 11,000
4 Chairman of assembly environmental conservation committee ....... 12,500
5 Ranking minority member of assembly environmental
6 conservation committee .......................................... 9,000
7 Chairman of assembly corporations, authorities
8 and commissions committee ...................................... 15,000
9 Ranking minority member of assembly corporations,
10 authorities, and commissions committee .......................... 9,500
11 Chairman of assembly correction committee ....................... 12,500
12 Ranking minority member of assembly correction committee ......... 9,000
13 Majority Chairman of assembly ethics and guidance
14 committee ...................................................... 12,500
15 [Ranking minority member of assembly ethics and guidance
16 committee ...................................................... 9,000]
17 Minority Chairman of assembly ethics and guidance
18 committee ...................................................... 12,500
19 Chairman of assembly governmental employees committee ........... 12,500
20 Ranking minority member of assembly governmental
21 employees committee ............................................. 9,000
22 Chairman of assembly governmental operations committee .......... 12,500
23 Ranking minority member of assembly governmental
24 operations committee ............................................ 9,000
25 Chairman of assembly housing committee .......................... 12,500
26 Ranking minority member of assembly housing committee ............ 9,000
27 Chairman of assembly insurance committee ........................ 12,500
28 Ranking minority member of assembly insurance committee .......... 9,000
29 Chairman of assembly labor committee ............................ 14,000
30 Ranking minority member of assembly labor committee .............. 9,000
31 Chairman of assembly racing and wagering committee .............. 12,500
32 Ranking minority member of assembly racing and wagering
33 committee ....................................................... 9,000
34 Chairman of assembly social services committee .................. 12,500
35 Ranking minority member of assembly social services
36 committee ....................................................... 9,000
37 Chairman of assembly small business committee ................... 12,500
38 Ranking minority member of assembly small business
39 committee ....................................................... 9,000
40 Chairman of assembly transportation committee ................... 15,000
41 Ranking minority member of assembly transportation
42 committee ....................................................... 9,500
43 Chairman of assembly veterans' affairs committee ................ 12,500
44 Ranking minority member of assembly veterans' affairs
45 committee ....................................................... 9,000
46 Chairman of assembly aging committee ............................ 12,500
47 Ranking minority member of assembly aging committee .............. 9,000
48 Chairman of the assembly alcoholism and drug abuse
49 committee ...................................................... 12,500
50 Ranking minority member of the assembly
51 alcoholism and drug abuse committee ............................. 9,000
52 Chairman of assembly committee on mental health,
53 mental retardation and developmental disabilities .............. 12,500
54 Ranking minority member of assembly committee on mental health,
A. 5714 6
1 mental retardation and developmental disabilities ............... 9,000
2 Chairman of assembly higher education committee ................. 12,500
3 Ranking minority member of assembly higher education
4 committee ....................................................... 9,000
5 Chairman of assembly real property taxation committee ........... 12,500
6 Ranking minority member of assembly real property
7 taxation committee .............................................. 9,000
8 Chairman of assembly election law committee ..................... 12,500
9 Ranking minority member of assembly election
10 law committee ................................................... 9,000
11 Chairman of assembly children and families committee ............ 12,500
12 Ranking minority member of assembly children
13 and families committee .......................................... 9,000
14 Chairman of assembly consumer affairs and protection
15 committee ...................................................... 12,500
16 Ranking minority member of assembly consumer affairs and
17 protection committee ............................................ 9,000
18 Chairman of the assembly energy committee ....................... 12,500
19 Ranking minority member of assembly energy committee ............. 9,000
20 Chairman of assembly tourism, parks, arts and sports development
21 committee ...................................................... 12,500
22 Ranking minority member of assembly tourism, parks, arts and
23 sports development committee .................................... 9,000
24 Chairman of assembly oversight, analysis and investigation
25 committee ...................................................... 12,500
26 Ranking minority member of assembly oversight,
27 analysis and investigation committee ............................ 9,000
28 Chairman of assembly office of state-federal relations .......... 12,500
29 Chairman of majority house operations ........................... 12,500
30 Chairman of minority house operations ............................ 9,000
31 Co-chairman of the administrative regulations review
32 commission ..................................................... 12,500
33 § 3. Severability clause. If any part or provision of this section or
34 the application thereof to any person is adjudged by a court of compe-
35 tent jurisdiction to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, such
36 judgment shall not affect or impair any other part or provision or the
37 application thereof to any other person, but shall be confined to such
38 part or provision.
39 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
