Review of the Public Integrity Reform Act of 2011, Part 1: The Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE)

Now that the Governor has approved the new ethics law (Chapter399 of the Laws of 2011), I will posting more in-depth explanations of the various parts of the bill.

Today:  The Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE)

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE)

Perhaps the most significant change arising out of the 2011 Public Integrity Reform Act is the elimination of the Commission on Public Integrity (CPI), which will be replaced by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics Enforcement (JCOPE).  The CPI was created in 2007 through the merger of the State Ethics Commission with the Lobbying Commission.

Now that the bill has been signed into law, the CPI no longer has any authority to provide advisory opinions, investigate or otherwise enforce the law.  The CPI has transferred all of its records to the Inspector General, and its approximately 60 open investigations have been “frozen” until JCOPE is up and running.

JCOPE will begin its operations on December 13, 2011, at which time the CPI will completely cease to exist.

Like the CPI, JCOPE will have jurisdiction over political party chairs, executive branch employees, as well as lobbyists and clients.  But it will also have investigatory jurisdiction over legislators or employees of the Legislature.  The Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC) will remain in place, though with only limited enforcement authority.

JCOPE will consist of 14 members to be appointed as follows:

  • 6 by the Governor and Lieutenant Governor (3 of whom must be from the other major political party);
  • 3 by the Senate Majority Leader;
  • 3 by the Assembly Speaker;
  • 1 by the Senate Minority Leader;  and
  • 1 by the Assembly Minority Leader.

The Governor will designate JCOPE’s chair, while the Commission will appoint an Executive Director.

The new law grants — for the first time — officials appointed by a Governor a role in overseeing ethical compliance by legislators and staff.  If JCOPE finds ethical violations relating to legislators or legislative employees, it must publicly issue findings to the Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC), which will have the ability to impose penalties on legislators and staff.

Any potential violations of federal or state criminal laws must be referred to the appropriate prosecutor for further action.

The new law also requires legislators who have law practices or business interests to disclose the names of their clients who have business before the state.  It also requires much more disclosure of outside business interests by lawmakers, and requires lawmakers to report any business relationships they have with lobbyists.  Financial disclosure statements filed with JCOPE will be posted on the Internet and the monetary amounts reported by the filer will no longer be redacted.

And for those in the business of advocacy in Albany — the new law also requires that any person who is registered as a lobbyist to take an online ethics training course at least once every three years.