State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senator Daniel Squadron are out with statements on today’s passage by both houses of legislation meant to reform Albany’s porous ethics law.

In a news release, Silver said, “we who serve in government must always strive to restore the people’s faith in their government… The legislation we passed today will significantly strengthen the ethics laws which apply to all public officials in this state and to those who lobby government by expanding public disclosure of outside income, strengthening oversight of our ethics and campaign finance laws and creating a truly independent oversight body for each branch of state government. My colleagues and I in the Assembly remain committed to working in a bi-partisan manner to increase transparency and accountability in the Empire State.”

Squadron, who in his first year as a state senator made ethics reform a top priority, said New York had “taken a significant step towards (the) goal of “increased disclosure, enforcement, and independence.”  He added, however, “the package is by no means a silver bullet; there is still more work to be done, but we cannot delay reforming ethics laws any longer.” Continue reading LES Lawmakers Praise Passage of Ethics Legislation