A bill brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman would give his office the authority to investigate and prosecute allegations of public corruption, Schneiderman said Wednesday.
Schneiderman sent the comprehensive ethics bill to the legislature that would also ban lawmakers from earning an outside income, raise lawmakers' salaries and prohibit per diem pay for legislators that spend the day in Albany, the state capital. The bill would also extend legislators' terms to four year from two years.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Wednesday proposed a comprehensive ethics reform bill to the state legislature that would give his office permanent jurisdiction to investigate public corruption.
| New York Attorney General
Schneiderman said the “parade of prosecutions” needs to end and “restore people's faith in their government.”
“The corruption we’re seeing in New York State government takes power from the hands of regular New Yorkers and taints the honorable work being done by the lion’s share of public officials,” Schneiderman said. “New Yorkers have had enough of so-called ethics reform that tinkers around the edges—what we need now is bold reform that gets to the root of corruption, equips law enforcement with the tools needed to fight it, and professionalizes our state legislature.”
The bill would also address campaign finance by lowering contribution limits, closing a loophole with limited liability companies, create a 6:1 match ratio public financing system and restrict lobbyist contributions, Schneiderman said.