BILL NUMBER: S7252

SPONSOR: KAMINSKY
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the public officers law and the civil
rights law, in relation to prohibiting persons from holding public
office or positions of political party leadership when convicted of
certain felonies

 
PURPOSE:

Prohibits certain people from holding public office or positions of
political party leaderships.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 The public officers law is amended by adding a new section 3-d
to read as follows:

§ 3-d. Restriction upon holding public office; felony conviction. 1. No
person shall be capable of holding a civil office or a position of lead-
ership in a political party for a period of ten years if he or she has
              

been convicted of any felony under article one hundred forty-five, one
hundred fifty five, one hundred seventy, one hundred seventy-five, one
hundred ninety five, two hundred, two hundred ten, or two hundred
fifteen of the penal law.

2. No person shall be capable of joining a political party for period of
five years following the completion of any sentence for a felony
conviction under article one hundred forty-five, one hundred fifty five,
one hundred seventy, one hundred seventy-five, one hundred ninety five,
two hundred, two hundred ten, or two hundred fifteen of the penal law,
regardless of whether he or she obtained a certificate of relief of
disabilities from the division of criminal justice services.

§ 2. Subdivision 1 of section 79 of the civil rights law, as amended by
chapter 687 of the laws of 1973, is amended to read as follows:  Except
as provided in subdivision two a sentence of imprisonment in a state
correctional institution for any term less than life or a sentence of
imprisonment in a state correctional institution for an indeterminate
term, having a minimum of one day and a maximum of natural life,
forfeits all the public offices, and suspends, during the term of the
sentence all the civil rights, and all private trusts, authority, or
powers of, or held by, the person sentenced, and forfeits the right to
hold public office or a position of leadership in a political party for
a period of 10 years following the completion of any sentence for a
felony conviction under article one hundred forty-five, one hundred
fifty five, one hundred seventy, one hundred seventy-five, one hundred
ninety five, two hundred, two hundred ten, or two hundred fifteen of the
penal law, regardless of whether he or she obtained a certificate of
relief of disabilities from the division of criminal justice services.

§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

 
EXISTING LAW:

There is no current law that will address this behavior.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

We have seen in the past and, unfortunately will continue to see poli-
tical parties being manipulated by people who get themselves into lead-
ership positions for the purpose of personal gain.

This type of individual has been using political parties for his/her own
self serving reasons long before any of us were elected to public
office. Most notable was that of Tammany Hall between 1850, and lasting
till 1932 when Franklin Roosevelt stripped the Tammany Organization of
federal funding. We may not have an organization demonstrating
corruption of that scale in New York State today, but corruption in
political parties still exist none the less.

People join various political parties and regardless of which party
joined they expect their leadership do the right thing. They look
forward to the leadership putting the party's best interest ahead of
their own. They would like to win elections but they want to do it
through hard work. They do not want leadership that has been found
misrepresenting the party's interest with the leaderships personal
interest. When personal interest collides with the party's interest
corruption always raises its ugly head. There must be no other option
but to cut it off.

This legislation does exactly that. This legislation removes the ability
of those people that would manipulate, intimidate and / or coerce
members of any political party into supporting them for the purpose of
remaining in those positions. This legislation in place tells the party
members, "If leadership has broken the law, then that leadership has no
right to represent the parties best interest". This legislation helps to
stop the cronyism from spreading and sends a message loud and clear that
regardless of party affiliation this type of behavior will not be toler-
ated in any community within the borders of New York State. This legis-
lation prevents any technicality or mechanism currently in place from
skirting the law and removes the individual from that position.

Finally, it shows the public that the New York State Legislature takes
seriously the trust they, the voters, have given us to protect the
rights of individuals and our communities.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2013-14, Latimer - REFERRED TO INVESTIGATIONS AND GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
2015-16, Latimer - REFERRED TO INVESTIGATIONS AND GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
(S 547)
2017, Latimer - REFERRED TO INVESTIGATIONS AND GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
(S.1961)

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill will take effect immediately.