This column contains the annual review of new legislation amending the Penal Law, Criminal Procedure Law and other related statutes. Part one of the review, which follows, discusses the singular substantive criminal justice legislation that was enacted by the Legislature: the creation of a Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct (L. 2018, Ch. 202, eff. Jan. 1, 2019).

No legislative change in recent memory has engendered as much controversy, both before and after the Governor signed it into law. The Commission, the first in the nation, was created, according to the Governor’s approval memorandum, to provide a forum in which the public can raise allegations that a prosecutor has violated his or her professional responsibilities and duty.