Early this afternoon, news came out about the ethics negotiations going on between the Assembly and Governor Cuomo. According to "NY State of Politics" Speaker Carl Heastie and Governor Cuomo presented a bi-later agreement on ethics and campaign finance reform. For now this is the outline but it could change based on the negotiations with the Senate. The Governor os confident that the outline is compliant to his "Five Points" which he presented at New York University in February. You can watch this speech here.
The campaign finance reform prohibits campaign funds from being used for sports tickets and fees and dues which includes clubs such as a health club or a country club. The funds can still be used for legal fees which Cuomo sees as a "...a function of the office and I believe it’s a legitimate fee." Cuomo is currently using funds to pay for legal fees for a federal inquiry into the shuttering of the Moreland Commission.The campaign finance reform also includes the disclosure of communications to independent expenditure committees two months before a general election and a month before a primary election.
The per diem process was also restructured to have a website track the per diem expenditures for the legislators as well as having the legislator prove he/she was actually in Albany. This would be tracked by a swipe card system installed as well as the speaker having greater autonomy over who receives per diems.
This might not be as easy to obtain in the Republican controlled Senate as they are pressuring for the application of the reforms to the executive branch as well. The Senate recently introduced a bill that would require the disclosure of income from non-family members. This is suspected to be an attempt to have disclosure for Cuomo's girlfriend Sandra Lee.
Update: The Governor has now announced that his ethics reform has been accepted by both houses without other "priorities" being "horse traded".
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