Watchdogs Support Ethics Bills Protecting State Workers from Harassment

As part of our advocacy for an ethical state government, watchdogs today reissued memos of support for the following bills:

• S7137 (Gounardes) / A9279 (Kelles) – Amends State Code of Ethics to Explicitly Prohibit Harassment and Discrimination. This bill is supported by Reinvent Albany, Citizens Union, Committee to Reform the State Constitution, Common Cause NY, the League of Women Voters of NYS, and the Sexual Harassment Working Group. The Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (COELIG) released a 2024 legislative agenda that supports amending the State’s Code of Ethics to clarify that sexual harassment is a violation of the code. 
  
  
• S2138 (Liu) – Expands Definition of “Public Employee” to Include Court Workers. This bill is supported by Reinvent Albany, Citizens Union, Committee to Reform the State Constitution, Common Cause NY, the League of Women Voters of NYS, and the Sexual Harassment Working Group.

We urge the bills to be voted out of committee, and passed by the full Senate and Assembly.