Outdated ethics

If you call up the New York State Assembly Web site, right there on the front page is a banner link to "ethics reform", which brings you to this:

"Dear Neighbor,

"The Assembly and Senate recently announced agreement on a wide-ranging, bipartisan ethics reform measure. The legislation would create an autonomous, fixed-term investigative body to oversee legislative ethics, require more information from lobbyists, restore an independent lobbying commission and provide greater disclosure regarding legislators' sources of outside income. Additionally, the legislation would create a body within the New York State Board of Elections to enforce adherence to campaign finance laws.

"This Web page details important information about the ethics reform legislation. Feel free to browse the page for the latest information on this topic and check back regularly for new developments on this front."

No dates are provided, and the unwary reader would naturally assume this "latest information" is about the current legislative session, in which the Legislature has been under pressure from Gov. Cuomo to pass ethics reform. Actually, though, it's about last year's bill, which then-Gov. Paterson vetoed as inadequate. No law was enacted then.

If you delve further into the site, you can find out about the veto. But I couldn't find anything on the issue from this year, and the latest update from the Assembly Committee on Ethics and Guidance previews a public hearing from 2009.