Assembly Speaker Announces Changes to Assembly’s Sexual Harassment Policies, Practices

In the wake of the JCOPE report that criticizing him for approving confidential settlements with women who accused ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez of sexual harassment and for not referring the initial complaint to a legislative ethics committee (read more in this prior post), Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver apologized and took responsibility for the mistakes, and promised to set up an independent process for handling future harassment allegations.

Moving forward, an independent investigator will handle sexual harassment complaints. This person or entity will be independent of the Speaker, his staff and the Assembly Majority.  Any Assembly member or staff supervisor who learns of sexual harassment will now have a duty to report it to the independent investigator, and failure to do so will result in a sanction.  Finally,

Read the Speaker’s press release regarding reforming the Assembly’s sexual harassment policies, and read Speaker Silver’s press conference remarks here.

Read news coverage in the Wall Street Journal, the Daily News, the Times Union and the NY Post.