City Bar Supports Anti-Corruption Amendment to Replace JCOPE

The New York City Bar Association has long advocated reforms to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) to strengthen the administration and enforcement of New York State’s ethics laws. To this end, last month, the Association held a panel discussion with Senator Liz Krueger and Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, among others, to debate the future of JCOPE on its 10-year anniversary and to highlight the need for legislative action.

The City Bar supports the Anti-Corruption Amendment (A.1929/S.855), a proposal by Senator Liz Krueger and Assembly Member Robert Carroll that would replace JCOPE and the Legislative Ethics Commission with a New York State Government Integrity Commission. Members would be appointed to the Commission by all three branches of government, with the majority appointed by the judiciary, whose conduct would not be regulated by the Commission. The Commission would act by majority vote.

In light of recent events and as the Legislature takes a critical look at ethics reform, we offer the following resources about JCOPE and the proposed Commission:

• City Bar Memo in Support of the Creation of a NYS Government Integrity Commission (Reissued March 2021)
• Ten Years In, Is There Still Hope for JCOPE? (Feb. 2021) – In conjunction with the panel discussion, which can be viewed here, the City Bar issued this retrospective on JCOPE, highlighting its structural flaws and the need for reform.

More information regarding all of the City Bar’s work on JCOPE reform is here.