Relates to certain powers of the attorney general

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why James Skoufis says this is needed

The two primary roles of the New York State Attorney General ("NYAG") 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 precedenf Instead, a series of statutes lay out the NYAG'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. In the last quarter century, the OAG has also taken on an increasingly significant role in preventing gun trafficking and other sources of firearm violence. Over the years, each of these roles has been solidified and expanded through extensive legislative activity, cementing the NYAG's civil enforcement authority and responsibilities in these areas of public concern. This legislation, the Civil Litigation Efficacy Omnibus ("CLEO"), is necessary to ensure the efficient use of NYAG resources by better codi- fying the office's existing authority and ensuring that its long-stand- ing 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 NYAG's investigative authority despite ultimate outcomes invariably favoring the NYAG'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 the NYAG must seek the court's assistance to compel legal compliance from recal- citrant subjects, even those asserting baseless arguments or no argu- ments 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, the NYAG and the courts must waste time and resources relitigating settled matters. Even if a busy court hears a matter and finds that a party acted willfully and unrea- sonably in defying the NYAG'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. Prior Legislative History: New Bill

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.