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A07739 Summary:

BILL NOA07739
 
SAME ASSAME AS S01571
 
SPONSORSimon
 
COSPNSRBurdick, McDonald, Sillitti, 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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A07739 Actions:

BILL NOA07739
 
06/06/2023referred to judiciary
01/03/2024referred to judiciary
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A07739 Memo:

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.
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A07739 Text:



 
                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.
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