State Comptroller Legislation Would Address Local Government Ethics

Both houses of the Legislature have introduced the Comptroller’s legislation (A.10512/S.7539), to would update and enhance General Municipal Law Article 18, which governs local government ethics enforcement.

The bill would require local governments with more than 50,000 residents to have its own board of ethics; smaller municipalities would have the option of subjecting itself to the jurisdiction of the county board of ethics.

Where a local government adopts a local ethics code, it must be posted to the local government’s web site (if one exists), it must be reviewed biennially, must be distributed “promptly after adoption” to all officers and employees; and written acknowledgment of receipt of the local ethics code must be filed with the local government’s clerk or secretary.

Members of a local ethics board would be required to undergo training on ethics and conflicts of interest.  Local ethics codes would have to provide standards of conduct regarding nepotism.

Finally, the Comptroller proposes revising state law to provide that local ethics codes can be more stringent than state law.

This is not a new effort on the Comptroller’s part.  A March 2010 report by the Office of State Comptroller’s Division of Local Government & School Accountability looked at 31 local governments throughout the state, and found that “gaps exist in local officials’ awareness of and compliance with the provisions of their municipalities’ codes of ethics.”

It also follows the state Attorney General’s look at local government ethics and enforcement (read my prior blog post here).

Similar legislation was approved by the State Senate in 2010, but died in the Assembly.

I recently served on the Town of Bethlehem’s “Ethics Advisory Group,” where I worked with six fellow Bethlehem residents to make recommendations to the Bethlehem Town Board on updating and improving the town’s ethics code.  Read our April 2012 report presentation to the Town Board.