Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (I, D, WF-Sag Harbor) announced an Assembly agreement with the governor to reform ethics laws in state government. The deal would increase disclosure requirements for outside income, strip pensions from corrupt officials, clarify and strengthen the ban on the personal use of campaign funds, increase disclosure of independent expenditures and reform the per diem payment system for legislators.

Increasing disclosure of outside income

Under the two-way agreement, public officials would be required to disclose outside income earned from practicing various licensed professions, including law, from whom they receive it, the actual services performed to receive the income, and whether there is any connection to the state government or the office that they hold or their public duties. Specifically:

• All public officials would need to disclose the nature of each source of outside compensation in excess of $1,000;
• No legislator, legislative employee or state officer could receive any kind of compensation, directly or indirectly, in connection with a pending bill or resolution;
• All public officials who are licensed professionals and who personally provide services (such as lawyers and real estate brokers) and receive compensation from a client/customer in excess of $5,000 would have to disclose the name of the client/customer, the services rendered, the amount of compensation and whether the services were related to governmental action. Certain sensitive activities would be exempted from client disclosure such as child custody cases, preparation of wills, matrimonial proceedings, cases involving minors, bankruptcies and criminal proceedings and residential home closings; and
• Current disclosure laws regarding clients with matters before state agencies and clients referred by lobbyists would be expanded.

The agreement would also amend the law to allow prosecution for the filing of fraudulent financial disclosure statements with intent to deceive without referral from the Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Additionally, the Lobbying Law would be expanded to cover lobbying of municipalities that have a population of 5,000 or more – current law is set at municipalities with populations of 50,000 or more.

Stripping pensions from corrupt officials

The Assembly Majority’s agreement with the governor would apply New York’s pension forfeiture law to all public officials who are convicted of public corruption, including those who entered the retirement system before enactment of the pension forfeiture law in 2011. The law allows a judge to protect an innocent spouse and dependents and goes into effect after a second passage of a constitutional amendment by the legislature and voter approval in 2017.

“Officials who are convicted of corruption should not have taxpayers pay for their retirement,” Assemblyman Thiele said. “If you violate the public trust, you should lose your public pension. It’s as simple as that.”

Strengthening the ban on using campaign funds for personal use

The agreement also would enact new measures to clarify the law and strengthen the ban on using campaign funds for personal use. The law would include an illustrative list of prohibited uses that are unrelated to a campaign or the holding of a public office, including residential home purchases, mortgage payments, rent, clothing, tuition payments, salaries for individuals not performing work related to a campaign for public office, admissions to sporting events, fines and penalties, and dues for country clubs and health clubs.

Increasing campaign finance disclosure

In another effort to shine light on campaign spending, the deal would further expand the requirement for disclosing independent expenditures. Specifically, the new law would cover independent expenditures on communications made within 60 days before a general or special election, and 30 days before a primary election, that reference a clearly identified client. The agreement also clarifies that enforcement of independent expenditures rules are handled by the new chief enforcement counsel at the state Board of Elections.

The Assembly Majority continues to support additional ethics reforms already included in the executive budget, including closing of the LLC loophole and further regulation of political action committees (PACs) and independent expenditure groups.

“Full disclosure of independent expenditures would give voters a better idea of who is really behind the campaign messages they see,” Assemblyman Thiele said. “Candidates shouldn’t be able to hide behind shadowy organizations that are funding vicious attack ads.”

Reforming the per diem payment system for legislators

To ensure the integrity of the per diem payment system for legislators, which covers their food and lodging costs while in Albany, the agreement establishes a new set of verification requirements:

• To ensure an official is where he or she claims to be, the Legislature will install an electronic “swipe card” system that verifies personal attendance of legislators at the Capitol;
• The Speaker of the Assembly will develop and implement policies to verify attendance at official events and establish standards and limits for reimbursable events;
• Reimbursement amounts will continue to be governed by IRS rates; and
• The Legislature will post on publicly accessible websites legislators’ reimbursement and travel records.