Keynote address delivered at the October 11, 2019 conference of New York University School of Law’s Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement, titled, #MeToo and Beyond: Lessons for Compliance, Investigations, and Governance
Good afternoon. Thank you for the kind introduction.
My name is Alessandra Biaggi and I am a New York State Senator. I proudly represent the 34th District, which includes parts of the Bronx and Westchester County—where I was born and raised. Although I am not a graduate of NYU Law, I did receive my bachelor’s degree from the University, so it is a pleasure to be back with members of my alma mater.
I would like to begin with a moment of gratitude. I want to acknowledge the entire Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement team for organizing this conference, with special thanks to Executive Director Alicyn Cooley and PCCE Faculty Director Jennifer Arlen. I also want to thank former Executive Director Allison Caffarone, who played a central role in putting this conference together in the last couple of months of tenure at PCCE.
It is a great honor to gather with esteemed Judges, United States Attorneys, and renowned leaders and experts in the field of corporate compliance and enforcement. I also want to acknowledge all of the law students, professors, administrators, and faculty who have joined us today for this special event.
I want to emphasize how important it is that PCCE has chosen to build this conference around the issue of sexual harassment and assault. One of the many reasons it has taken our society so long to effectively address sexual violence and discrimination is because we have not made enough space to talk about it. And so, I am grateful to PCCE for creating a space to have these difficult conversations, and to all of you for choosing to be here and choosing to critically and compassionately engage with this issue. I am honored to be a part of the conversation.
I am a first term Senator, and, within my first six months, I had the privilege of being a part of a historic legislative session. Albany managed to break through on almost every issue area this year, passing legislation on housing rights, immigration, labor protections, and climate change—all issues where progress had stalled in New York State.
Among these legislative wins were new and expanded protections against sexual harassment and assault, which I had the honor of leading the charge on in the State Senate.
These changes reflect the seismic shift underway in our culture and now, in our laws. We have an opportunity to fundamentally shift the paradigm around sexual assault and harassment. But we can only do that if we fully appreciate where we have come from, and are intentional about how we go about making change. That begins with acknowledging the ways in which Albany has historically swept allegations of sexual harassment and assault aside, and the heroic efforts of survivors who fought to change the culture, and made the passage of these laws possible.
For nearly three decades, Albany was governed by an unwritten rule called the “Bear Mountain Compact”—what happens in Bear Mountain, stays in Bear Mountain, the vast area in which the Capitol resides.
This fraternity promise discouraged employees and lawmakers in the legislature from holding colleagues accountable for harmful behavior, including the sexual harassment of and discrimination against younger—mostly female—staffers.
It is no secret that Albany has long been a place where sexual harassment at the hands of lawmakers and high-ranking legislative staffers has been overlooked and swept under the rug. Albany has publicly sifted through dozens of sexual harassment cases over the years, many of which have been met with little to no effort to prevent the next victim. Staffers who raised allegations of harassment and assault were met with empty promises—or outright hostility.
There has been a powerful culture of shame working to keep those who have tried to speak up out of the light. This institutional indifference towards sexual violence has enabled perpetrators to wield power over their victims, create unsafe work environments, and oftentimes become repeat offenders.
In 2018, in response to the #MeToo Movement, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo pushed for changes to New York State law that were designed to strengthen protections for victims of sexual harassment and assault.
At the time, I was serving as a lawyer in the Governor’s Counsel’s Office, working on his Women’s Agenda. I hoped—and expected—that the changes he pushed for would match the level of bravery of women across the country who were speaking out about the abuse they had experienced.
I was not alone in those expectations. New York advocates and survivors were hoping to see dramatic results. Instead, the changes were decided on by four men in a room during a closed-door budget meeting, and barely grazed the surface of such a deep-seated issue. There was no transparency in the decision-making process. And most importantly, there was no space for victims of sexual harassment and assault to come forward, share their stories, and inform the policies being put forth.
I, among others, was quite disappointed.
The Governor’s proposals did not create a path for structural change, nor did they set a tone that would upend Albany’s culture of silencing victims. It felt like New York—a state that prides itself on being a beacon for progress—was doing the bare minimum at a time that called for going above and beyond.
In fact, on a whole host of issues, including women’s reproductive health, New York was falling short. Why? In part because of the influence of the Independent Democratic Conference—a group of rogue Democrats who formed their own caucus within the Senate and used their votes to bolster the power of the Republican minority.
The head of the IDC was my very own State Senator, Jeffrey Klein. And he was one of those four men in a room, making decisions that would affect women’s lives across New York State. Those decisions included letting the Reproductive Health Act and the Comprehensive Contraception Act—two pieces of legislation designed to affirm the fundamental right to abortion care and family planning services here in New York State—stall in committee. Again and again, he used his power to take advantage of women and derail any meaningful legislation that would hold accused perpetrators, like himself, accountable for their serious misconduct.
There are many factors that led me to primary Senator Klein in 2018, but one moment in particular stands out. In the midst of viciously denying accusations of assaulting a young Senate staffer in 2015, Senator Klein sent out a district-wide mailer that falsely implied that he was a certified ally to women. As I stood there in my living room reading this, thinking about all the times I had seen the IDC curtail the rights of women and marginalized New Yorkers, my blood began to boil.
My race against Klein was difficult. Beating the leader of the IDC and the Bronx Boys Club seemed near impossible when we first started. I was told no over and over again: “It’s not your time; wait your turn; step back.” I was repeatedly made to feel less-than—people called me “cute” and “small” and talked over me when I tried to explain my ideas. All things women experience when they dare to step up and run against powerful men.
But despite all of those who doubted me, I built a grassroots campaign, and won the seat.
It was a surreal feeling to be one of six candidates that toppled the IDC, and to be a part of the nationwide wave of women elected in 2018.
I entered office alongside a cohort of newly elected legislators, including 10 new female members. With a transformed legislature, we had a second chance to get this right. I was inspired by the growing movement of Americans speaking out against sexual assault and discrimination, and felt ready to add my voice to that chorus. And I was determined to strengthen the cultural shift of the #MeToo movement by passing laws that would arm survivors speaking up with the tools they needed to seek justice.
That started with getting the process right. As some of you may know, I have the honor of serving as Chair of the newly revived Ethics and Internal Governance Committee. For the last decade, this committee has existed only in name. It met only twice between 2009 and 2018, and considered no legislation. I was excited to take up the challenge—and opportunity—that serving as the Committee’s chair presented.
The purpose of this Committee is to address internal policies and procedures of the Senate, as well as advise on the ethics of legislation brought before us. I took a risk within my second month of office, and used my position as chair to hold the first hearings on workplace sexual harassment and discrimination in 27 years.
The hearings we held happened in large part because of a group of former legislative staffers, known as the Sexual Harassment Working Group, who had all experienced sexual harassment while working for the legislature but did not see their perpetrators brought to justice. These brave survivors would not take no for an answer, and came back to Albany every year to keep fighting.
As a survivor of sexual abuse myself, I knew how much courage it took for them to come forward and demand accountability—and I was eager to join their crusade.
I was warned that I might make some enemies if I moved forward with the hearings—that I would be met with resistance, and that some members would not welcome any changes to the status quo. But I also knew that the consequences of staying silent were far greater than the risk of ruffling some feathers. Our culture was finally paying attention to survivors, and I was not going to let New York be the exception.
The two hearings we held—which lasted a combined 24 hours—created a space, for the first time, for survivors to speak and for lawmakers to listen.
Former legislative staffers shared in detail the harm they had endured while working in Albany. Elizabeth Crothers recounted her alleged rape by Michael Boxley in 2001—a senior aide to then Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Rita Pasarell, Leah Hebert and Tori Burhans Kelly shared their experiences of sexual harassment and advances at the hands of senior Assemblymember Vito Lopez. Erica Vladimer described the night Senator Jeff Klein allegedly grabbed her head and forcibly kissed her outside a bar frequented by Capitol employees.
The stories were harrowing and hard to listen to, but it was necessary that we heard them. Because if we want to change our laws to properly protect New Yorkers against sexual harassment and abuse, we have to create policies that are directly informed by the experiences of survivors and working New Yorkers.
In those hearing rooms we witnessed, in real time, lawmakers who had been serving in the legislature for years reflect on past mistakes and misconceptions. Some even gave direct apologies to the survivors who shared their stories. The hearings were a transformational moment for the legislature. They forced lawmakers to engage in difficult conversations and dive head first into territories once deemed off limits.
From these conversations, my partner in the Assembly, Assemblymember Aravella Simotas, and I worked diligently to develop legislation that would address some of the problems we heard about during the hearings, particularly around barriers to seeking justice and employer accountability.
But despite the seismic shift we felt in those hearing rooms, getting the bill passed was not a done deal. There was still a resistance from some lawmakers to step up and break the vicious cycle of complacency. Building support for the bill took more convincing than we would have liked. But the challenges we faced remind us that reshaping a culture of shame towards sexual assault is not going to happen overnight.
Countless negotiations later, the bill was brought to the floor with only 36 hours of the 2019 legislative session left to spare. With members of the Sexual Harassment Working Group and advocates sitting in the Senate chamber, the bill received a standing ovation from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle—a remarkable feat—as New York passed some of the strongest anti-sexual harassment and discrimination protections in the nation.
We made sure that every New Yorker—no matter what kind of industry they worked in—would be equally protected under the law by expanding harassment and discrimination protections to all employees, including new protections for domestic workers and independent contractors.
We eliminated employer contracts that keep survivors from coming forward, by banning non-disclosure agreements related to discrimination, as well as arbitration agreements for cases of sexual harassment.
We extended the statute of limitations to three years for claims resulting from unlawful or discriminatory practices constituting sexual harassment, allowing survivors the necessary time to report complaints.
And perhaps most importantly, we eliminated the “severe or pervasive” standard—an unattainable benchmark for survivors to have their case heard in court, that too often enabled all kinds of abhorrent behavior to go unaddressed.
These changes will fundamentally shift the balance of power in sexual harassment cases. Survivors who want to speak out and seek justice will no longer be told that taking a settlement and signing a non-disclosure agreement is their best option. Instead, they will have a real path to holding their accusers accountable.
Sexual harassment is not the only area where we worked to bring about structural change to how our state addresses sexual violence and abuse.
I had the honor of working with TIME’s UP on a bill that extended New York’s statute of limitations for certain sex crimes, including 2nd and 3rd degree rape, giving survivors the time to process and report their experiences on their own terms.
We also passed the Child Victims Act, extending the statute of limitations for a survivor of child sexual abuse in criminal and civil cases in New York. This bill extends the criminal statute of limitations to 25 years for misdemeanor sexual offenses and 28 years for felony sexual offenses. In civil cases, it extends the statute of limitations to 55 years. It also creates a one-year look-back window for survivors who have aged out of the statute of limitations to file a civil claim against their abuser and any institution that enabled the abuse they experienced. This law will bring meaningful accountability to those who have harmed children.
As I cast my vote on the floor of the Senate Chambers in favor of the CVA, I shared that I am a survivor of child sexual abuse. It was not an easy road to get here—for 25 years I kept the abuse I had experienced a secret. But sharing my story alongside so many other childhood sexual abuse survivors has reminded me of the power of speaking up.
I was honored to carry and pass the Child Victims Act’s companion bill, Erin’s Law, which had previously been stalled in the Senate for eight years. Starting next school year, all students K–8 will receive age-appropriate education about child sexual abuse and personal body safety. Erin’s Law will give children the tools and knowledge they need to ask for help, hopefully forestalling lasting trauma. Most importantly, it will remind children that they do not have to suffer in silence the way I did.
Together, these new laws remove unconscionable legal barriers to seeking justice against perpetrators, and hold employers and institutions accountable for addressing all forms of sexual harassment and abuse. Most importantly, they put front and center the voices and needs of survivors.
While we have made tremendous strides this year on behalf of survivors and to protect New Yorkers from future harm, our work is far from over. Sexual harassment and assault are always going to be ongoing conversations that require our constant engagement. There are still legal loopholes and procedures we have yet to address, and institutions and industries that we have not heard from yet.
In January, when the legislature is back in session, my colleagues and I will continue the conversation with full force, and keep pushing New York to be a true leader in the fight to end sexual violence for all.
One of my top priorities for next session is to pass legislation I introduced earlier this year that would make sexual harassment a crime, and classify it as a Class A misdemeanor. Establishing a new misdemeanor offense for acts of violence committed for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification will provide prosecutors with an important new tool to hold domestic abusers accountable. This legislation is a crucial step towards ensuring our laws protect all victims of intimate partner violence and recognize the lasting harm these acts of abuse can cause.
With my good friend Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, I am sponsoring a bill to create a toll-free legal hotline in the State of New York for workplace sexual harassment complaints. Almost 75% of workplace sexual harassment goes unreported, often because employees don’t know who to go to or what their options are. By creating a free legal hotline, employees across the state—in a variety of workplaces and industries—can easily access confidential legal guidance through the Division of Human Rights, and quickly identify best next steps to stop the harassment from continuing.
The number of years it has taken for Albany to begin looking at its own problem of sexual harassment and assault cannot remain the norm. Sexual harassment and assault policies are critical issues that must be revisited often. To that end, I introduced a bill that requires the state to evaluate and update as needed the model sexual harassment prevention guidance document and the model sexual harassment prevention policy in conjunction with the Division of Human Rights, every four years starting in 2022.
We also have to take another look at Albany’s own sexual harassment and discrimination policies. The Sexual Harassment Working Group—who played a pivotal role in bringing harassment and assault to the forefront of our conversations in Albany—all experienced a totally inadequate response when they raised allegations of harassment and assault. We owe them—and every single person who works for the New York State government—to remain committed to improving our own internal policies and procedures.
In the last year and a half, I have learned an invaluable lesson. I have learned that when you see an injustice or something that isn’t working, the only way to change it is by being brave and running directly at its core. You have to face the problem head on—no matter how uncomfortable it may feel or the pushback you may receive.
Because if you don’t, years, or even decades, as we’ve seen, will go by and the injustice will only dig its roots deeper into the foundation of our society, and members of our community will only continue to suffer.
The pervasive problem of sexual harassment and assault is not going to be resolved overnight. It’s going to require sustained commitment, open dialogue, and hard work. But what we saw this year was the beginning of a paradigm shift as to how we think about and address sexual violence and assault in New York State.
As I mentioned at the beginning of my speech, we historically have not made enough space to talk about sexual harassment and assault in our daily lives. However, as we’ve seen through the #MeToo Movement and the hearings in Albany, when we do make room to have these conversations, we open ourselves up to the opportunity of transforming our culture for the better. So I implore you to take what you learn from today’s conversations and presentations and share it with others, and continue to keep the dialogue going.
Again, I’d like to thank every single one of you for your time and attention on this issue. I look forward to working together to build long-term solutions to end sexual violence once and for all.
Alessandra Biaggi is the Democratic New York State Senator for the 34th District and Chair of the revived Ethics and Internal Governance Committee.
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