Relates to certain powers of the attorney general

Showing the cosponsors who are on Agora, A to Z. The official record may list more.

• Democratic1

Shown in neutral colors by design; Agora is non-partisan.

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why James Skoufis says this is needed

The two primary roles of the New York State Attorney General (NYSAG) are the state's Chief Legal Counsel who defends the state's laws and its interests; and the People's Lawyer, charged with zealously protecting the citizens of New York against any entity that encroaches on their rights. In New York, the specific powers and duties of the Attorney General are neither enshrined in the state constitution, nor dependent on common law precedent. Instead, a series of statutes lay out NYSAG's role. While the Attorney General's Office has a wide array of powers and responsibilities in areas from regulating charities to defending state laws from constitutional challenges, as the state's top law enforcement official, the AG has an extensive history of investigating and seeking to rectify systemic civil rights violations on the local level from police departments to schools to polling places. Over the years, each of these roles has been solidified and expanded through extensive legisla- tive activity, cementing NYSAG's civil enforcement authority and respon- sibilities in these areas of public concern. This legislation, the Civil Litigation Efficacy Omnibus(CLEO), is neces- sary to ensure the efficient use of NYSAG resources by better codifying the office's existing authority and ensuring that its long-standing investigative and enforcement tools are enforceable in the modern age. Two interrelated trends have emerged in recent years that have made this legislation necessary. First, local entities have repeatedly challenged NYSAG's investigative authority despite ultimate outcomes invariably favoring NYSAG's position. Secondly, the impact of this trend has been exacerbated exponentially by the fact that New York's civil courts are increasingly overburdened and backlogged. As a result, when NYSAG must seek the court's assistance to compel legal compliance from recalcitrant subjects, even those asserting baseless arguments or no arguments at all to justify their stonewalling, proceedings can be delayed considerably. These trends have highlighted shortcomings in current law. For example, when local government entities repeatedly raise jurisdictional arguments that have already been settled by caselaw, NYSAG and the courts must waste time and resources relitigating settled matters. Even if a busy court hears a matter and finds that a p arty acted willfully and unrea- sonably in defying NYSAG's lawful requests, the court has limited options. These shortcomings in current law can have the unfortunate effect of rewarding unreasonable noncompliance. By passing CLEO and enacting it into law, New York can ensure that the Attorney General has the tools he or she needs to follow through on the legislature's statutory priorities and protect and defend the people of this state through civil enforcement.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.