New York Senate Bill S00612 Latest Draft

   
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 612--A Cal. No. 11 2023-2024 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE January 5, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sens. MAYER, MAY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections -- reported favorably from said committee and committed to the Committee on Rules -- reported favorably from said committee, ordered to a third reading, passed by Senate and delivered to the Assembly, recalled, vote recon- sidered, restored to third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to prohibiting conflicts of interest among board of elections employees The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The election law is amended by adding a new section 3-304 2 to read as follows: 3 § 3-304. Board employees; conflicts of interest. 1. No board of 4 elections employee, with the exception of a district leader as outlined 5 in section 2-110 of this chapter, shall engage in or participate in any 6 trade or business which creates, or may tend to create, an actual or 7 potential conflict of interest. No board of elections employee, with the 8 exception of a district leader as outlined in section 2-110 of this 9 chapter, shall maintain a financial interest, directly or indirectly, in 10 a company providing services to a candidate who has an election overseen 11 by such employee's office, including but not limited to, printing compa- 12 nies, election consulting companies, direct mail companies and digital 13 marketing companies. No board of elections employee, with the exception 14 of a district leader as outlined in section 2-110 of this chapter, shall 15 maintain a financial interest, directly or indirectly, in or be employed 16 by a vendor or company that sells voting machines, electronic pollbooks, 17 printers or other technical or electronic equipment. A violation of any 18 of the provisions of this subdivision shall be cause for discipline by 19 the board of elections, including removal of the board of elections 20 employee. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02172-04-3 
 S. 612--A 2 1 2. No board of elections employee, with the exception of a district 2 leader as outlined in section 2-110 of this chapter, shall remain on the 3 board of elections payroll while also a candidate for an office who has 4 an election overseen by the board at which they are employed. For the 5 purposes of this article, a board of elections employee shall be deemed 6 a candidate for elective office upon the filing of designating petitions 7 for such office or, where nominations for such office are made other 8 than by petition, upon acceptance of a nomination. Such employee may 9 remain in "leave without pay" status until such time as his or her 10 candidacy shall cease, or upon the day following the certification of 11 election results for such office, whichever comes first. Notwithstanding 12 the provisions of this section, when there are no primary elections for 13 the office being sought by a candidate that is employed by the board of 14 elections, that candidate may remain on the board of elections payroll 15 for no more than ninety days prior to a general election. 16 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that subdivision 17 1 of section 3-304 of the election law, as added by section one of this 18 act, shall take effect one year after this act shall have become a law.