Press release:
The New York State Senate has passed legislation (S418) to amend the New York State Constitution to strip taxpayer-funded pensions from criminally convicted politicians.
State Senator Michael H. Ranzenhofer, a cosponsor of the bill, voted in favor of it.
“Under existing law, some public officers are still able to collect a pension even after they are found guilty of a serious crime, and I have been working to end this practice. This reform measure will help to ensure that corrupt government officials face serious financial consequences for their misconduct,” Ranzenhofer said.
Under the measure, a pension may be reduced or revoked if a public officer is convicted of a felony related to their official duties. Public officers include elected officials, direct gubernatorial appointees, municipal managers, department heads, chief fiscal officers and policy makers.
“If state officials fail to be ethical and uphold the public’s trust, then they should be held accountable for their actions. This historic new Constitutional Amendment does just that,” Ranzenhofer said. “I am pleased to report that it is a step closer to reality.”
In order to amend the State Constitution, the legislation must pass both houses of the Legislature in two consecutive sessions. Both the Senate and Assembly passed the measure during the 2015-16 Legislative Session. Following its passage in both houses earlier this week, it will be presented to voters for approval later this year on Election Day.
A law enacted in 2011, known as the Public Integrity Reform Act, subjected any public official who joined the retirement system on or after Nov. 13, 2011 to pension forfeiture if convicted of certain felonies related to their public office. However, the new law could not apply to public officials who joined the retirement system before that date because of language contained in the State Constitution. The Constitution states that public pensions involve a contractual relationship that cannot be reduced, unless an amendment is made to the document.
IMO, the language in this
IMO, the language in this pension forfeiture reform legislation is very troubling... read closely, is states: "Under the measure, a pension MAY BE REDUCED or revoked". MAY BE REDUCED? That's BS.
Just as is the fact that the current body of legislators are claiming this is a major step in ethics reform and yet they didn't "amend the pension contract" so as to include all the previous political employees who have been convicted of a plethora of crimes. These criminals will still live a real sweet lifestyle greatly enhanced by a lavish NYS pension. This is an outrage. BTW, why the magic # Nov. 13, 2011?
Take a gander at this list: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2015/01/troubled_ny_politicians_…
Doing a quick survey of all the names on this list apparently only 1 of these convicted criminals [Gabriela Rosa who turned out to also not even be a legal citizen] will be disqualified from receiving the pension, because all the rest took office before Nov. 13, 2011. Outrageous!