Bill Text: NY S07580 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Provides for increased independence of the office of state inspector general; requires annual reports to the legislature on the activities of the office.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-10-14 - PRINT NUMBER 7580A [S07580 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S07580-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7580--A 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN SENATE December 8, 2021 ___________ Introduced by Sen. BIAGGI -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules -- recommitted to the Committee on Finance in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to the office of state inspector general The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 2 and 3 of section 52 of the executive law, 2 as added by chapter 766 of the laws of 2005, are amended to read as 3 follows: 4 1. There is hereby established the office of the state inspector 5 general in the executive department. The head of the office shall be the 6 state inspector general who shall be appointed by the governor and 7 confirmed by the state senate. The state inspector general shall not 8 have worked for any covered agency, registered lobbyist, or entity with 9 a state contract in the last five years. 10 2. The state inspector general shall hold office [until the end of the11term of the governor by whom he or she was appointed and until his or12her successor is appointed and has qualified] for six years. 13 3. The state inspector general shall report to the secretary to the 14 governor and the legislature. It shall be the duty and responsibility of 15 the state inspector general to keep the secretary to the governor and 16 the legislature fully and currently informed by means of reports 17 required by section fifty-three of this article and otherwise, concern- 18 ing corruption, fraud, criminal activity, conflicts of interest or 19 abuse, to recommend corrective action concerning such problems, abuses, 20 and deficiencies, and to report on the progress made in implementing 21 such corrective action. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD13751-02-2S. 7580--A 2 1 § 2. Subdivision 4 of section 53 of the executive law, as added by 2 chapter 766 of the laws of 2005, is amended, subdivisions 5, 6 and 7 are 3 renumbered subdivisions 7, 8 and 9, and four new subdivisions 5, 6, 10 4 and 11 are added to read as follows: 5 4. prepare and release to the legislature and the public written 6 reports of such investigations, as appropriate and to the extent permit- 7 ted by law, subject to redaction to protect the confidentiality of 8 witnesses. The release of all or portions of such reports may be 9 deferred to protect the confidentiality of ongoing investigations; 10 5. publish within fourteen days on its publicly available website the 11 number of complaints received in the prior month, the method of receipt, 12 the agency or authority involved in each complaint, and classification 13 of each complaint. Such data shall also be shared with the open data 14 website data.ny.gov or such other successor website maintained by, or on 15 behalf of, the state, as deemed appropriate by the New York state office 16 of information technology services under executive order ninety-five of 17 two thousand thirteen, or any successor agency or order. 18 6. report immediately to the secretary of the governor whenever the 19 state inspector general becomes aware of particularly serious or 20 flagrant cases of corruption, fraud, criminal activity, conflicts of 21 interest or abuse, except in cases where doing so would interfere with 22 an ongoing investigation. The secretary to the governor shall transmit 23 any such report to the appropriate committees of the legislature within 24 seven calendar days, together with a report by the secretary to the 25 governor containing any comments such head deems appropriate; 26 10. (a) provide an annual report no later than December thirty-first 27 to the legislature summarizing the activities of the office over the 28 last year, including: 29 (i) aggregated data about all complaints received by the office, 30 including but not limited to: 31 (1) number of complaints; 32 (2) number of complaints received disaggregated by type of source; 33 (3) alleged violations disaggregated by subject type and policies or 34 laws violated; 35 (4) number of complaints dismissed without investigation; 36 (5) number of complaints referred by agency or entity referred to; 37 (6) number of complaints investigated; 38 (7) number of cases for which allegations are substantiated in whole 39 or part; 40 (8) types of substantiated violations, disaggregated by subject type 41 and policies or laws violated, for closed cases; 42 (9) number of cases settled, with settlements disaggregated by type; 43 (10) number of cases for which penalties are assessed; 44 (11) types of penalties assessed disaggregated by type; 45 (12) number of open cases; and 46 (13) the duration of cases including median, average, and percentages 47 of cases taking particular periods of time; 48 (ii) a description of significant cases of corruption, fraud, criminal 49 activity, conflicts of interest or abuse within covered agencies 50 disclosed by such activities during the reporting period; 51 (iii) a description of the recommendations for corrective action made 52 by the office during the reporting period with respect to significant 53 cases of corruption, fraud, criminal activity, conflicts of interest or 54 abuse identified pursuant to this paragraph;S. 7580--A 3 1 (iv) an identification of each significant recommendation described in 2 previous annual reports on which corrective action has not been 3 completed; 4 (v) a summary of matters referred to prosecutive authorities and the 5 prosecutions and convictions which have resulted; 6 (vi) a report on each investigation conducted by the office involving 7 a senior government employee where allegations of misconduct were 8 substantiated, including the name of the senior government official, as 9 defined by the department or agency, if already made public by the 10 office, and a detailed description of: 11 (1) the facts and circumstances of the investigation; and 12 (2) the status and disposition of the matter, including: 13 (A) if the matter was referred to the local, state, or federal prose- 14 cutors, the date of the referral; and 15 (B) if the agency declined the referral, the date of the declination; 16 (vii) a detailed description of any instance of whistleblower retali- 17 ation, including information about the official found to have engaged in 18 retaliation; and what, if any, consequences the establishment actually 19 imposed to hold the official accountable; 20 (viii) a detailed description of any attempt by covered agencies to 21 interfere with the independence of the office, including incidents where 22 the agency has resisted or objected to oversight activities of the 23 office or restricted or significantly delayed access to information, 24 including the justification of the agency for such action; 25 (b) these reports must be made available to the public with necessary 26 redactions within thirty days of their delivery to the legislature. 27 11. publish on its publicly accessible website information about the 28 office's duties and responsibilities, including a public procedures 29 manual for how an enforcement complaint is filed, opened, investigated 30 and resolved. 31 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed- 32 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
