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: A7739
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:
2022: Died in Rules
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7739
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
June 6, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the judiciary law, in relation to requiring the ethics
commission of the unified court system to post judges' annual finan-
cial disclosures on the commission's website
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 211 of the judiciary law, as
2 amended by chapter 188 of the laws of 1990, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 4. (a) By September first, nineteen hundred eighty-eight, the chief
5 judge, after consultation with the administrative board, shall approve a
6 form of annual statement of financial disclosure which form shall apply
7 to all judges, justices, officers and employees of the courts of record
8 of the unified court system, who receive annual compensation at or above
9 the filing rate defined by paragraph (l) of subdivision one of section
10 seventy-three-a of the public officers law or are determined to hold a
11 policy-making position pursuant to the rules and regulations promulgated
12 pursuant to this subdivision. Such form of annual statement of financial
13 disclosure shall be substantially similar to the form set forth in
14 subdivision three of section seventy-three-a of the public officers law.
15 Within one year after approval of such form, the chief judge shall cause
16 the chief administrator of the courts to promulgate rules or regulations
17 which require every judge, justice, officer and employee of the courts
18 of record of the unified court system, who receives annual compensation
19 at or above the filing rate defined by paragraph (l) of subdivision one
20 of section seventy-three-a of the public officers law or is determined
21 to hold a policy-making position, to report the information required by
22 the approved form effective first with respect to a filing which shall
23 be required in nineteen hundred ninety-one (generally applicable to
24 information for the preceding calendar year) and thereafter, effective
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05621-01-3
A. 7739 2
1 for future annual filings. Such rules and regulations shall also provide
2 for the determination, by the appointing authority, of policy-makers who
3 shall be required to file the annual statement of financial disclosure
4 required by this subdivision. Any judge, justice, officer or employee of
5 the courts of record of the unified court system who, pursuant to such
6 rules or regulations, is required to file a completed annual statement
7 of financial disclosure and who makes such filing in accordance with the
8 requirements contained in such rules or regulations, shall be deemed to
9 have satisfied the requirements of any other law mandating the filing of
10 a completed annual statement of financial disclosure for the applicable
11 calendar year which might otherwise apply to such judges, justices,
12 officers or employees, and no duplicate filing shall be required on
13 account of any other such law, notwithstanding the provisions of such
14 other law.
15 (b) The ethics commission for the unified court system shall post on
16 its website for public review for at least five years beginning for
17 filings made on January first, two thousand eighteen, the annual state-
18 ment of financial disclosure and any amendments filed by each person
19 subject to the reporting requirements of this subdivision who is a
20 state-paid judge or justice, regardless of his or her annual rate of
21 compensation. Such statements shall be posted within thirty days of
22 receipt of such statement or within ten days of its receipt of an amend-
23 ment that reflects any corrections of deficiencies identified by the
24 commission or by the reporting individual after such individual's
25 initial filing. Except upon an individual determination by the commis-
26 sion that certain information may be deleted from a reporting individ-
27 ual's annual statement of financial disclosure, none of the information
28 in the statement posted on the commission's website shall be otherwise
29 deleted.
30 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
