BILL NUMBER: S3310A
SPONSOR: SKOUFIS
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public officers law, the public authorities law and
the general municipal law, in relation to prohibiting certain persons
from receiving compensation for legal fees, consulting, or other work
performed for an industrial development agency, an economic assistance
corporation, or from a state or local authority
 
PURPOSE:
To prohibit statewide elected officials, state officers and employees,
members of the legislature, legislative employees, political party
chairman and municipal officers from receiving compensation from indus-
trial development agencies (IDAs) and local economic assistance corpo-
rations (LDCs) via outside employers and consulting companies.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends the Public Officers Law to prohibit state-
wide elected official, state officer or employee, member of the legisla-
ture, legislative employee or political party chairman who owns or
controls a certain percentage of a corporation or limited liability
company from receiving compensation for consulting or legal services
from a state or local authority.
Section 2 of the bill makes a conforming amendment to the Public Author-
ities Law reflecting the same prohibitions.
Section 3 of the bill makes a conforming amendment to general municipal
law reflecting the same prohibitions for municipal officers.
Section 4 sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
This legislation arises in response to an instance wherein a local
elected official collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in consult-
ing fees from local industrial development agencies (IDAs) and local
economic assistance corporations (LDCs) via outside employers and
consulting companies, which resulted in a Justice Department indictment
on eight criminal counts. Even the Comptroller has encountered difficul-
ty in auditing IDAs' and LDCs' finances. These obstacles to basic trans-
parency demonstrate these entities' power and the potential for miscon-
duct with respect to the expenditure of public dollars.
The current system seems to allow for a preference in appointments of
those consultants or attorneys who are politically connected, as opposed
to suitably qualified to advise the IDAs on issues that impact taxpayers
in the jurisdiction. The members of the IDA are authorized to hire
consultants to advise them in their decision-making capacity. When those
consultants or attorneys have conflicts of interest and/or are not the
best qualified candidate for the job, an injustice occurs that must be
rectified.
To address this issue, this legislation prohibits public officeholders
at local and state levels from collecting consulting fees from state and
local authorities either directly or through companies in which they
control 10% or more.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2019-20: S07555, Committed to Rules
2021-22: 501543, Passed Senate
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
No negative impact anticipated. EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take
effect immediately, and apply to contracts entered into on or after such
effective date.

Statutes affected:
S3310: 2825 public authorities law, 2825(1) public authorities law, 801 general municipal law
S3310A: 2825 public authorities law, 2825(1) public authorities law, 801 general municipal law