Hearing Officer Recommends Fines After JCOPE Enforcement Hearings

The Times Union reports that the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) has held its first-ever enforcement hearings for entities that are alleged to have violated the state’s lobbying law.

The three entities were not represented at the hearing. The independent hearing officer recommended that the three entities — Blackboard, Inc., Community Redemption Center and YL Management, LLC – be subject to fines between $4,000 and $10,000 for their failure to file required lobbying reports.

While JCOPE has imposed fines on non-compliant entities some 50 times, this is the first time any of these matters have gone to the hearing stage. The hearing is the final step in the enforcement process before the Commission votes to accept or amend the hearing officer’s recommended sanction against the violator.