NYS Senator introduces legislation requiring governor’s office to retain e-mails, records

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NEW YORK (WHEC) — Under current state law, when Governor Andrew Cuomo leaves office on Monday he has wide discretion to decide what documents to keep and what to throw out.

New York State Senator Daphne Jordan (R, NY-43) is introducing legislation to prevent governors in the future from destroying or purposely misplacing potentially incriminating records.

“The Governor is leaving in disgrace after his decade-long abuse of power has finally come to light. He has given himself two weeks before he leaves office. Have his office shredders been running all of this time? Are the computers being wiped clean?” Senator Jordan said. “I’m introducing legislation to prevent any future Governor from destroying or ‘misplacing’ potentially incriminating records as I have no doubt Cuomo’s lieutenants have already done. My bill will make sure that every record, be it paper or electronic and including e-mail, of a Governor’s administration, is retained for two years. This legislation also ensures, should the misdeeds of any future Governor come before a court, that all existing evidence will be available to the court so that justice may be done.”

The proposed bill would require all electronic records including emails to be retained by the executive branch.

The legislation would also apply to departments, agencies, divisions, offices and commissions, which would be required to save records for two to five years.