A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to increasing access to disclosure forms of elected officials

 Preconsidered Int. No. 1077

By Council Members Vacca, Kallos, Garodnick, Lander and Vallone

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to increasing access to disclosure forms of elected officials

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. The opening paragraph of subdivision e of section 12-110 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by local law 14 for the year 2006, is amended to read as follows:

e. Public inspection of reports and privacy considerations. Information filed in reports required by this section shall be maintained by the conflicts of interest board and shall be made available for public inspection, upon written request on such form as the board shall prescribe, except that information filed in reports required by this section by each elected officer described in sections four, twenty-four, twenty-five, eighty-one, ninety-one and eleven hundred twenty-five of the New York city charter shall be made available for public inspection on the board’s website without written request. The availability of forms for public inspection pursuant to this subdivision is subject to the following provisions:

§ 2. Subparagraph (a) of paragraph 1 of subdivision e of section 12-110 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as added by local law 43 for the year 2003, is amended to read as follows:

(a) Any person required to file a report pursuant to this section may, at the time the report is filed or at any time thereafter, except when a request for inspection is pending, submit a request to the conflicts of interest board, in such form as the board shall require, to withhold any item disclosed therein from public inspection on the ground that the inspection of such item by the public would constitute an unwarranted invasion of his or her privacy or a risk to the safety or security of any person. Such request shall be in writing and shall be in such form as the conflicts of interest board shall prescribe and shall set forth the reason such person believes the item should not be disclosed. During the time for evaluation of such a request, such report shall not be available for public inspection.

§ 3. Paragraph 2 of subdivision e of section 12-110 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by local law 58 for the year 2012, is amended to read as follows:

2. Requests to examine reports. Whenever pursuant to this section the conflicts of interest board produces a report for public inspection, the board shall notify the person who filed the report of the production and of the identity of the person to whom such report was produced, except that no such notification shall be required if the report is made available for public inspection on the board’s website without written request or if the request to examine the report is made by the department of investigation or any governmental unit, or component thereof, which performs as one of its principal functions any activity pertaining to the enforcement of criminal laws, provided that such report is requested solely for a law enforcement function. Nothing in this section shall preclude the conflicts of interest board from disclosing any and all information in an annual disclosure report to the department of investigation or any other governmental unit, or component thereof, which performs as one of its principal functions any activity pertaining to the enforcement of criminal laws, provided that such report is requested solely for a law enforcement function.

§ 4. This local law takes effect immediately; provided, however, that it shall not apply to reports of annual disclosure filed in 2016 for the calendar year 2015.

DSS

LS 2178/2014

1/28/16