ยง 58. Functions and duties. The inspector general of New York for
transportation shall have the following duties and responsibilities:
1. receive, investigate, and prosecute complaints from any source, or
upon his or her own initiative, concerning allegations of corruption,
conflicts of interest, fraud, waste and abuse, recusals or failure to
recuse, or criminal activity regarding any transportation entity,
conduct or activity or failure to act by any individuals involved at a
senior level in operations, financing or management or managerial
appointee or managerial employee of a transportation entity occurring
before or after the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two
thousand seventeen that added this article, in violation of New York law
and occurring in New York;
2. inform the transportation entity of such allegations and the
progress of investigations related thereto, unless special circumstances
require confidentiality, provided that the inspector general shall
maintain a written record that specifies the reason confidentiality is
necessary under this paragraph;
3. issue a subpoena or subpoenas requiring a person or persons to
appear before the grand jury, trial court, produce documents, provide a
sworn statement under oath and be examined in reference to any matter
within the jurisdiction of the inspector general. A subpoena issued
under this section shall be governed by article twenty-three of the
civil practice law and rules or articles one hundred ninety or six
hundred ten of the criminal procedure law. The inspector general or his
or her deputy or any person designated in writing by them may administer
an oath to a witness in any such investigation or prosecution and may
seek to confer immunity for compelled testimony pursuant to article
fifty of the criminal procedure law;
4. determine with respect to such allegations whether to initiate
civil or criminal prosecution, or make a referral for further
investigation by an appropriate federal, state or local agency or any
other office of inspector general as is warranted, and to assist in such
investigations; and
5. prepare and release to the public written reports of such
investigations, as appropriate and to the extent permitted by law,
subject to redaction to protect the confidentiality of witnesses. The
release of all or portions of such reports may be deferred to protect
the confidentiality of ongoing investigations, provided that the
inspector general shall maintain a written record that specifies the
reason confidentiality is necessary under this subdivision.