STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6490--A 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE March 14, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. KRUEGER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Govern- ment Operations -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the public officers law, in relation to enacting the "state taxpayer oversight and protection (STOP) act" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "state taxpayer oversight and protection (STOP) act". 3 § 2. Paragraphs (a) and (b) of subdivision 2 of section 17 of the 4 public officers law, paragraph (a) as amended by chapter 768 of the laws 5 of 1985 and paragraph (b) as added by chapter 466 of the laws of 1978, 6 are amended to read as follows: 7 (a) Upon compliance by the employee with the provisions of subdivision 8 four of this section, the state shall provide for the defense of the 9 employee in any civil action or proceeding in any state or federal court 10 arising out of any alleged act or omission which occurred or is alleged 11 in the complaint to have occurred while the employee was acting within 12 the scope of [his] their public employment or duties; or which is 13 brought to enforce a provision of section nineteen hundred eighty-one or 14 nineteen hundred eighty-three of title forty-two of the United States 15 code and the act or omission underlying the action occurred or is 16 alleged in the complaint to have occurred while the employee was acting 17 within the scope of [his] their public employment or duties. This duty 18 to provide for a defense shall not arise where such civil action or 19 proceeding is brought by or on behalf of the state. No attorneys' fees 20 or expenses shall be paid if incurred on behalf of an employee in any 21 action brought by the employee against the state. 22 (b) Subject to the conditions set forth in paragraph (a) of this 23 subdivision, the employee shall be entitled to be represented by the EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06627-06-5
S. 6490--A 2 1 attorney general, provided, however, that the employee shall be entitled 2 to representation by private counsel of [his] their choice in any civil 3 judicial proceeding whenever the attorney general determines based upon 4 [his] their investigation and review of the facts and circumstances of 5 the case that representation by the attorney general would be inappro- 6 priate, or whenever a court of competent jurisdiction, upon appropriate 7 motion or by a special proceeding, determines that a conflict of inter- 8 est exists and that the employee is entitled to be represented by 9 private counsel of [his] their choice. The attorney general shall notify 10 the employee in writing of such determination that the employee is enti- 11 tled to be represented by private counsel. The attorney general may 12 require, as a condition to payment of the fees and expenses of such 13 representation, that appropriate groups of such employees be represented 14 by the same counsel. If the employee or group of employees is entitled 15 to representation by private counsel under the provisions of this 16 section, the attorney general shall so certify to the comptroller. 17 Reasonable attorneys' fees and litigation expenses shall be paid by the 18 state to such private counsel from time to time during the pendency of 19 the civil action or proceeding subject to certification that the employ- 20 ee is entitled to representation under the terms and conditions of this 21 section by the head of the department, commission, division, office or 22 agency in which such employee is employed and upon the audit and warrant 23 of the comptroller, and which shall include a determination by the comp- 24 troller that any such fees paid by the state are proportional to the 25 needs of the case and consistent with the manner and methods of defense 26 employed in similar or representative cases. Attorneys' fees shall be 27 presumptively unreasonable where an individual hires or employs multiple 28 law firms on the same matter unless such employee can demonstrate the 29 need for additional attorneys with distinct subject matter expertise. 30 The state shall not pay any attorneys' fees deemed unreasonable by the 31 comptroller. Any dispute with respect to representation of multiple 32 employees by a single counsel or the amount of litigation expenses or 33 the reasonableness of attorneys' fees shall be resolved by the court 34 upon motion or by way of a special proceeding. 35 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to any 36 pending claim not paid by the state before such effective date, and to 37 any new claim submitted to the state on or after such effective date.