NY State Senate Bill 2021-S990

Senate Bill S990

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Repeals provisions of law restricting public access to records of the joint commission on public ethics and the legislative ethics commission

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Ethics And Internal Governance Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to ethics and internal governance
Jan 06, 2021	referred to ethics and internal governance

2021-S990 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Ethics And Internal Governance
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Rpld §94 sub 19, Exec L; rpld §80 sub 12, Leg L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2015-2016: S3241
2017-2018: S81
2019-2020: S445

2021-S990 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Repeals provisions of law restricting public access to records of the joint commission on public ethics and the legislative ethics commission.

2021-S990 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S990

SPONSOR: HOYLMAN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to repeal subdivision 19 of section 94 of the executive law and
subdivision 12 of section 80 of the legislative law, relating to records
that are available for public inspection

 
PURPOSE:

To require the Joint Commission on Public Ethics and the Legislative
Ethics Commission to comply with the requirements of the Freedom of
Information Law (FOIL) and the Open Meetings Law.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill repeals subdivision 19 of section 94 of the Execu-
tive Law.

Section 2 of the bill repeals subdivision 12 of section 80 of the Legis-

lative Law.

Section 3 of the bill is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Under existing law, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) and
the Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC) are expressly exempted from the
requirements of government transparency laws, including the Freedom of
Information Law (FOIL) and the Open Meetings Law.

This bill would subject JCOPE and the LEC to FOIL and the Open Meetings
Law, allowing more transparency and access to information about the
state's ethics watchdogs. FOIL and the Open Meetings Law contain suffi-
cient protections to keep investigations and investigation-related
activities exempt from public disclosure. The existing law is unneces-
sarily restrictive, and runs counter to the idea of open government.

In a February 2015 report, JCOPE included a specific legislative recom-
mendation to consider whether its current exemption from FOIL and the
Open Meetings Law should be modified to increase the transparency of
JCOPE's operations, while still protecting the integrity of JCOPE's
sensitive compliance and investigative functions.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.0445 of 2019-2020(Hoylman): Died in Finance

A.5663 of 2019-2020(Rozic): Died in Governmental Operations

S.0081 of 2017-2018(Hoylman): Died in Finance

A.3618 of 2017-2018(Rozic): Died in Governmental Operations

S.3241 of 2015-2016(Hoylman): Died in Finance

A.9504 of 2016(Rozic):Died in Governmental Operations

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Minimal.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall become
law.

2021-S990 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    990
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 6, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. HOYLMAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Ethics and Internal Gover-
   nance
 
 AN ACT to repeal subdivision 19 of section 94 of the executive  law  and
   subdivision  12  of  section  80  of  the legislative law, relating to
   records that are available for public inspection
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision  19  of  section  94  of the executive law is
 REPEALED.
   § 2. Subdivision 12 of section 80 of the legislative law is REPEALED.
   § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
 have become a law.
 
 
 
 
 
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD03339-01-1

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