Due to the non-stop parade of state legislators behaving badly, ethics “reform” is being discussed in Albany. Not only because of the sleaze and corruption, but with the secretive legislative process that hides how bills are written and prevents public discussion. Dick Dadey of Citizens Union mentioned how the SAFE Act was passed as an example of this:
“… Dadey said Cuomo’s SAFE Act gun law was an example of the typically rushed law-making on important issues. “The public not just benefits knowing what’s happening, but laws are written in a way that they can enforce and make sense,” he said. The SAFE Act, which was pushed through by Cuomo with no advance notice in 2013, was found to have numerous problems, including an inadvertent ban on police weapons and illegal requirements that healthcare providers report mentally ill people to the police …”
There is no way to know if we could have stopped SAFE from becoming law had the legislature allowed time for public comment, but at least we would have had a chance.