Ethics Review Commission Releases Final Report

The New York Ethics Review Commission, which is tasked with reviewing and evaluating the activities and performance of the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) and the Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC), has released its final report and recommendations.

The Review Commission was established as part of the 2011 ethics overhaul, the Public Integrity Reform Act (PIRA). Its charge was to review and evaluate the activities and performance of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics and the Legislative Ethics Commission, and to make recommendations to the Governor and State Legislature.

The Review Commission looked at a number of issues relating to JCOPE, including governance and operations; complaint review and enforcement; transparency and openness; management and staffing; interpretive guidance provided to public servants; training; and technology.

The Review Commission finds – without making any “prescriptive recommendation” – that JCOPE is too large at 14 members, saying that “a smaller body may enable JCOPE to function more nimbly and effectively.” It also recommends that JCOPE’s individual appointing authorities should choose candidates who will act independently, and that JCOPE’s enabling statute be amended to eliminate the “minority veto” provision that allows two legislative commissioners to block certain investigations.

The Commission also finds that JCOPE and the LEC undertake an internal review “and attempt to develop policies as to when voluntary disclosures of certain information (salary rosters and budgets for example) might be appropriate.” It also recommends that JCOPE’s “advice” and “enforcement” staffs should be separated “to spur more individuals under the jurisdiction of JCOPE to seek advice without feeling such requests could become the unwarranted subject of an investigation or enforcement activity. “

Read news coverage of the Review Commission’s report from Capitol Confidential, State of Politics, Politics on the Hudson and Politico NY.