Ten Years In, JCOPE and Its Future
New York State’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics (“JCOPE”) is charged with administering, interpreting, and enforcing the State’s ethics and disclosure laws for elected state officials in the executive and legislative branches and their employees, as well as for lobbyists. At its creation in 2011, JCOPE was touted as an independent monitor that would help maintain integrity in state government. While undertaking substantial work over the past ten years, including a major overhaul of lobbying regulations and investigations of elected officials, JCOPE has been embroiled in political controversies. The commission has also operated for more than two years now without the full complement of 14 members, resulting in deadlocked votes between the gubernatorial and legislative appointees. Can structural reforms reinvigorate JCOPE for the next decade or must JCOPE go the way of its predecessors and be disbanded?
Moderator:
Eleanor Randolph, Longtime Journalist and former Member of NYTimes Editorial Board
Speakers:
John Albert, Bolton St. Johns
Richard Briffault, Joseph P. Chamberlain Professor of Legislation, Columbia Law School, and former Chair, New York City Conflicts of Interest Board
Hon. Liz Krueger, New York State Senate, Chair, Finance Committee
Hon. Jo Anne Simon, New York State Assembly, Co-Chair, NYS Legislative Ethics Commission
Monica Stamm, General Counsel, New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics
Sponsoring Committee:
Government Ethics and State Affairs, Edward L. Murray, Chair
Co-Sponsoring Associations:
Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity, Columbia Law School
Citizens Union
Committee to Reform the State Constitution
Common Cause/New York
League of Women Voters of the State of New York
New York Public Interest Research Group
Reinvent Albany
Related Reports:
Support for the Creation of a NYS Government Integrity Commission (Sponsored by Senator Liz Krueger & Assembly Member Robert Carroll)
Preventing Sexual Harassment in State Government – 2019 NYS Executive Budget
