The Peru Gazette

Albany – Assemblywoman Janet Duprey (R,I – Peru) today reiterated her support for a more open and transparent state government in light of an ethics reform agreement between Gov. Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. Duprey, a longtime advocate for ethics reform, was appointed to a bipartisan search committee earlier this year for an executive director for the new Office of Ethics and Compliance by Heastie.

“I’m passionate about enacting meaningful ethics reforms to the Assembly, and I’m determined to work with my colleagues across the aisle to earn back the trust of the people,” said Duprey. “This week, we started taking small but critical steps toward making the state Legislature more transparent. We passed legislation that strengthens the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), and now, Gov. Cuomo and Speaker Heastie have an agreement on ethics reform. I’m encouraged by these developments, but there is still much more work to be done to give New Yorkers the open, accountable, and transparent government they deserve. Now that ethics reform is finally on the agenda, we need to take further action and shed some much-needed sunlight on our house.”

Gov. Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie yesterday outlined an agreement on reforms to New York State’s ethics laws and rules. The agreement includes disclosure requirements, pension forfeiture for public officials convicted of public corruption, per diem reform, prohibition of personal use of campaign funds, and campaign finance disclosure – measures that Duprey has long championed.

In fact, Duprey co-sponsors legislation that would require convicted public officials to forfeit their state taxpayer-funded pensions, impose term limits on legislative leadership positions and committee chairs, and create harsher penalties for those who violate the public’s trust. The bill, A.4617 , is currently before the Governmental Operations Committee awaiting consideration.