Beginning in 2023, the New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (“CELG”), formerly known as the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (commonly referred to as “JCOPE”), will mandate a new ethics training requirement for all registered lobbyists, including principal lobbyists, individual lobbyists, and in-house lobbyists. Further, an emergency rulemaking issued in December 2022 clarified that all clients of a lobbyist will be required to complete the new ethics training.

The new ethics training will launch online after January 18, 2023, and must be completed no later than March 18, 2023. All lobbyists and chief administrative officers (“CAOs”) of clients of a lobbyist will be required to certify they have completed the training within CELG’s Lobbying Application. Compliance statistics will be reported quarterly to the Governor and New York State Legislature.

If you have questions about the new ethics training requirement for lobbyists, or are the client of a lobbyist and do not have access to your organization’s account on CELG’s Lobbying Application, please reach out to Jared Kasschau at (516) 880-8106 or jkasschau@harrisbeach.com, or Kelsey Hanson at (518) 701-2745 or khanson@harrisbeach.com, or the Harris Beach attorney with whom you regularly work.

This alert does not purport to be a substitute for advice of counsel on specific matters.

Harris Beach has offices throughout New York State, including Albany, Buffalo, Ithaca, Long Island, New York City, Rochester, Saratoga Springs, Syracuse and White Plains, as well as New Haven, Connecticut, Washington, D.C. and Newark, New Jersey.