N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 22 § 7400.7

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 51, December 18, 2024

Section 7400.7 - Filing requirements for certain judicial candidates

(a)Definitions.

(1)Candidate shall mean a candidate for public election to judicial office, who is required to file an annual statement of financial disclosure pursuant to 22 NYCRR Part 100. Candidate shall not mean a candidate for judicial office in the town and village courts.

(2)Commission shall mean the Ethics Commission for the Unified Court System.

(3)File shall mean to make delivery to the offices of the commission personally or by mail. The filing date shall be the date the document filed is received in the offices of the commission.

(4)Financial disclosure statement shall mean the annual statement of financial disclosure approved by the Chief Judge pursuant to subdivision 4 of section 211 of the Judiciary Law.

(b)Scope.

(1) Pursuant to section 100.5(A)(4)(g) of this Title, a judge or a non-judge who is a candidate for public election to judicial office shall file a financial disclosure statement with the commission within 20 days following the date on which he or she becomes a candidate. However, a judge or non-judge who is an officer or employee of the Unified Court System required to file an annual statement of financial disclosure pursuant to Part 40 of this Title is not required to file pursuant to Part 100 of this Title.

(2) The commission shall permit a candidate to request an additional period of time within which to file. This request will be granted if the commission finds that there is justifiable cause for the extension or that the timely filing of the statement would cause undue hardship.

(3) The commission shall permit a candidate to request that the commission delete one or more items of information from the copy of his or her financial disclosure statement made available for public inspection. This request will be granted by the commission upon a finding by a majority of the total number of its members without vacancy that the information that would otherwise be required to be made available for public inspection will have no material bearing on the discharge of the candidate's official duties should he or she be elected.

(4) The commission shall make available for public inspection the information set forth in annual statements of financial disclosure filed pursuant to law and maintained by the commission, except the following information which shall remain confidential: categories of value and amount in statements pertaining to calendar years prior to 2014; names of unemancipated children; and information deleted from public inspection pursuant to section 40.1(l)(6) of this Title. The commission maintains financial disclosure statements pertaining to the current reporting year, and the six previous reporting years.

(c)Procedure regarding filing extension.

(1) A candidate may request an extension of time to file a financial disclosure statement on or before the date that his or her annual statement of financial disclosure is due.

(2) The request for the extension can be made by written application mailed to the Ethics Commission, telephone or email, and shall include:

(i)

(a) if the request is made by written application mailed to the Ethics Commission, the candidate's name, address, telephone number, and the date he or she became a judicial candidate;

(b) if the request is made by telephone or email, the candidate's name, telephone number, and the date he or she became a judicial candidate.

(ii) a statement in support of the candidate's claim that an extension of time to file a financial disclosure statement is necessary due to justifiable cause or undue hardship, giving specific reasons and justifications therefor. Documentation supporting this statement may be annexed to the request;

(iii) the date certain by which the candidate will file his or her financial disclosure statement.

(3) The request for an extension must be signed by the candidate requesting the extension, if the request is made by written application mailed to the Ethics Commission.

(d)Commission action regarding extension requests.

(1) Upon receipt of a request for extension of time to file a financial disclosure statement, the commission shall review the material filed to determine if there has been a showing of justifiable cause or undue hardship.

(2) If the commission determines that additional information would be useful, it may request such information from the candidate requesting the extension. The commission, in its discretion, may request a meeting with the candidate to discuss the extension request.

(3) Unless the commission decides that there is justifiable cause for an extension of time to file a financial disclosure statement, or that timely filing of such statement would cause undue hardship, the commission shall deny the request for an extension of time to file a financial disclosure statement.

(4) The commission shall give notice of its decision to the candidate requesting an extension of time to file in the same format in which the request was received. If the extension is granted, the decision shall include the date certain on or before which the candidate's financial disclosure statement must be filed.

(5) Vacation periods, and the ordinary and necessary tasks, routines, and obligations of a candidate's personal and work life shall not constitute undue hardship or justifiable cause for an extension of time to file a financial disclosure statement.

(6) No extension of time to file a financial disclosure statement shall be granted to a candidate beyond 35 days after he or she becomes a candidate.

(e)Procedure regarding deletion requests.

(1) A candidate may request deletion of one or more items of information from the copy of the financial disclosure statement made available to the public by filing a written request with the commission on or before the date that his or her financial disclosure statement is due.

(2) The request for the deletion shall include:

(i) the name, home address, work address, and work telephone number of the candidate requesting the deletion;

(ii) the information which the candidate seeks to have deleted;

(iii) a statement in support of the candidate's claim that the information that would otherwise be made available for public inspection will have no material bearing on the discharge of the candidate's official duties, if he or she is elected, giving specific reasons and justifications therefor. Documentation supporting this statement may be annexed to the request.

(3) The request for deletion must be signed by the candidate requesting the deletion, and must be filed with a complete financial disclosure statement containing the information sought to be deleted.

(f)Commission action regarding deletion requests.

(1) Upon receipt of a request for deletion of one or more items of information from the copy of the financial disclosure statement made available to the public, the commission shall review the material filed to determine if the information will have a material bearing on the discharge of the candidate's official duties, if he or she is elected.

(2) If the commission determines that additional information would be useful, it may request such information from the candidate requesting the deletion. The commission, in its discretion, may request a meeting with the candidate to discuss the deletion request.

(3) Unless the commission decides by a majority of the total members of the commission without vacancy that the information that would otherwise be required to be made available for public inspection will have no material bearing on the discharge of the candidate's official duties, if he or she is elected, the commission shall deny the request for deletion. In applying the material bearing standard to decide deletion requests, the commission weighs competing public and private interests including the following:

(i) whether the disclosure of the information could pose a safety threat to the candidate or his or her family, and the nature of that threat, including its seriousness and imminence;

(ii) whether the information may relate in a substantial and important way to the candidate's official duties, if he or she is elected;

(iii) whether the information could reveal or relate to an actual or potential conflict of interest;

(iv) such other factors as may be relevant.

Judiciary Law, section 211(4) and Part 40 of this Title establish a strong public policy favoring disclosure. Thus candidate otherwise required to file, who have requested deletions, must demonstrate that an individual exception to this policy is warranted.

(4) The commission shall give written notice of its decision to the candidate requesting the deletion, by overnight mail. The commission shall also advise the candidate of its decision by telephone.

(g)Public inspection of statements.

(1) An inspector may obtain copies of financial disclosure statements prepared for public inspection by regular mail or email, or inspect the copies in the ethics commission office. Office inspections can be scheduled every day the office is open for business during the hours of 10:00 a.m. through 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. through 4:00 p.m., or other times at the discretion of the statement inspection officer.

(2) An inspector must file a written request for public inspection. Public inspection copies of statements will be provided to the inspector in a timely manner determined by the needs of the inspector, the number of statements requested, and the workload of the ethics commission staff at the time of the request.

(3) The financial disclosure statement of a candidate who has filed a deletion request shall not be available for public inspection pending a decision on the request. The fact that a deletion request has been made will be confidential; all documents pertaining to the request, including the decision, will also be confidential and not available for public inspection.

(4) If the commission has denied a deletion request, the financial disclosure statement of the candidate who made the request shall not be available for public inspection for three days from the date on which notice of the denial is mailed to the candidate by the commission.

(5) All documents pertaining to a request for public inspection shall be confidential and not available for public inspection. The identities of public inspectors, and the fact that a statement has been inspected, are confidential and will not be made available to the public or to filers.

(6) An unredacted copy of a financial disclosure statement, including information not available for public inspection, may be released in compliance with a subpoena.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 22 § 7400.7