Relates to the ethical standards of officers or employees of a state agency, members of the legislature and legislative employees with regard to engaging in acts of discrimination, sexual harassment or creating a hostile workplace.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6201A
SPONSOR: Kelles TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public officers law and the executive law, in
relation to standards for ethics for certain public officers and employ-
ees
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To clarify that the ethical duties required under Public Officers Law
include not engaging in acts of unlawful discrimination such as sexual
harassment
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of this bill amends paragraph d of subdivision 3 of
Section 74 of the Public Law (POL) to clarify that the code of ethics in
POL 74 bars acts of harassment or discrimination. This amendment would
have the practical effect of clarifying that COELIG is authorized to
investigate claims of sexual harassment by state officers upon referral,
as they already routinely do.
Section two of this bill adds a new paragraph (g) to subdivision 8 of
section 94 of the Executive Law to clarify that this clarification of
COELIG's scope does not trigger a requirement for COELIG to create an
all new workplace training on unlawful discrimination. This training is
already administered to state officers subject to POL but by the NYS
Governor's Office of Employer Relations (GOER) and not COELIG, so this
amendment provides that COELIG can exempt certain material from the
training that it otherwise creates for state officers if such material
is already being covered elsewhere.
Section three of this bill sets the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Albany's reputation of discrimination and harassment illustrates how
inadequate our systems are in preventing and responding to misconduct.
This legislation amends the Public Officers Law to make clear that acts
of discrimination and harassment are a violation.
This bill will clarify that the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in
Government (COELIG) is able to hold public officers accountable for
sexual harassment and other workplace discrimination, an offense that
they already routinely investigate to issue findings of substantiation
or lack thereof and recommend disciplinary action where needed. In clar-
ifying COELIG's current scope, this bill will discourage adverse parties
from suing to litigate the question of whether or not sexual harassment
is a Public Offiers Law violatoin and thus subject to COELIG jurisdic-
tion.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024: A9279 - referred to Governmental Operations
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have
become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6201--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 27, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. KELLES, GONZALEZ-ROJAS -- read once and referred
to the Committee on Governmental Operations -- recommitted to the
Committee on Governmental Operations in accordance with Assembly Rule
3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the public officers law and the executive law, in
relation to standards for ethics for certain public officers and
employees
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph d of subdivision 3 of section 74 of the public
2 officers law, as amended by section 7 of part K of chapter 286 of the
3 laws of 2016, is amended to read as follows:
4 d. No officer or employee of a state agency, member of the legislature
5 or legislative employee should use or attempt to use [his or her] their
6 official position to secure unwarranted privileges or exemptions for
7 [himself or herself] themself or others, including but not limited to,
8 the misappropriation to [himself, herself] themself or to others of the
9 property, services or other resources of the state for private business
10 or other compensated non-governmental purposes, or engaging in acts of
11 unlawful discrimination, including but not limited to, making unwelcome
12 sexual advances, or requests for sexual favors, or engaging in any
13 verbal, non-verbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature or that
14 creates a hostile, intimidating, or offensive workplace or suffering or
15 permitting others to do so in the workplace or at workplace-related
16 events.
17 § 2. Subdivision 8 of section 94 of the executive law is amended by
18 adding a new paragraph (g) to read as follows:
19 (g) In the discretion of the commission, the training developed and
20 administered in accordance with this subdivision shall not be required
21 to include or cover material that is the subject of other mandatory
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07290-03-6
A. 6201--A 2
1 training administered regularly to the individuals subject to the
2 provisions of this section.
3 § 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
4 have become a law.
