COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION JOINT WITH THE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY
MINUTES: February 27, 2006
LEGISLATION MEMBERS: Chair: Young; Legislators: Stewart-Cousins, Oros, Burrows, Myers, Bronz, Rogowsky, Abinanti
IN ATTENDANCE: CEO: B. Randolph, A. Neuman; CA: E. Cipollo, L. Trentacoste, Stacey Dolgin-Kmetz; BOL: P. Ochacher, S. Bass, B. Bochow, M. Amodio; GUESTS: R. MacLaughlin, J. Cohen, M. Davies; PRESS: L. Anderson
With a quorum present, the Committee on Legislation was called to order at 1:39 p.m.
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE STATEMENT FOR MEMBERS OF VOLUNTARY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS
Perry Ochacher gave a brief overview of the amendment to the Ethics Law regarding requirements of the financial disclosure statements for voluntary boards and commissions. He talked about the justification of the bill and who will be impacted. This applies to members of voluntary boards and commissions not to paid employees or elected officials. It was stated that some people have declined serving because the current form is too cumbersome. The goal is to revise the form to get the most essential information which complies with state law.
Mark Davies expressed his support for the amended disclosure form currently before the committee with a few changes. He suggested to not change “under the age of 18” to “minor” because many people believe that a minor is anyone under the age of 21. Mr. Davies recommended the language to read, “under the age of 21.” He thought it was a mistake to exclude the disclosure of gifts. Gifts are a major issue and are not onerous to report. The issue of whether gifts received by spouses of people who serve on volunteer boards should be excluded from disclosure was discussed (Davies written comments on file).
Jeff Cohen chair of the County Board of Ethics (BOE) stated, the Ethics Board believes that the Legislature needs to revise the current code of ethics in its entirety and not be changed piecemeal. He suggested that a person be required to report their home address on the new disclosure form. Mr. Cohen believes that the individual and their spouse be required to disclose gifts of a minimum of $75. There is a meeting of the BOE on March 7th and asked that a staff person be available to attend the meeting to discuss the legislation further.
There was a conversation about whether disclosure forms could be copied for the public to view and what information can be didacted.
We will have a more specific discussion and overview of the legislation at a future meeting. Legislator Rogowsky will meet with Mr. Ochacher and revise the form before coming back to committee.
(Burrows, Abinanti) move to adjourn The Committee on Legislation. Motion passed 8-0. Committee on Legislation adjourned at 2:23 p.m.
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