A state Supreme Court judge ruled in favor of a state law limiting the outside income of New York state lawmakers. The limit came along with a salary bump for the state Legislature that the governor signed into law in 2022.

The ruling upheld the restriction on income in excess of $35,000, but it struck down an element of the law that would strip the voting privileges of members who are found to be in violation of the law. Judge Alison Napolitano ruled that the voting element of the law created potential problems for constituent representation.

A widely discussed aspect of the limit is its disproportionate impact on Republican lawmakers, and state Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt dismissed concerns that the ruling would send GOP lawmakers running for the exits.

“My view is every single member is working on staying and is working on making sure they can remain here,” he said. “No one is resigning en masse and quite frankly, that would only cause chaos for the people of New York to have multiple millions of people suddenly unrepresented.”

The income ceiling was set to go into effect on Jan. 1, and Ort says for the “handful” of lawmakers impacted, it’s still unclear how and when enforcement will begin.

What is clear is that some lawmakers who are not currently in compliance will have decisions to make.

“This conference is here to work. As we get clarity everyone will be on the right side of the law when it’s all said and done,” he said. “If someone decides they don’t want to deal with it and they want to leave at some point, that’s their decision, but my view is everyone here should run for reelection, and should stay.”

The law was intended to prevent conflicts of interests and ethical dilemmas arising from lawmakers conducting work outside of their duties representing constituents.

Democrats, who led the bill’s passage into law, are not immune to issues of outside income.

State Assemblyman John McDonald, who is a former pharmacy owner, voted in favor of the law despite his work outside of the Legislature.

“I put my personal feelings aside recognizing that a majority of people believe that there appears to be, although there really isn’t, a conflict of interest,” he said.

That said, McDonald told Spectrum News 1 he believes in recent years most outside income that has actually created ethical concerns was not obtained legally anyway, and the law will do little to eliminate that activity.

“That’s just not going to happen,” he said.

He acknowledged that while the limit is now settled law, he does have concerns that once enforcement begins it will create a disruption in the Legislature, both if members choose to leave or in limiting lawmakers with outside experience where such input can be valuable.

“To limit the broad quality of potential individuals, which is what this is going to do, it might take away from some of the more robust dialogue that should be happening,” he said.

Ortt said members are exploring further action and are also waiting to learn how the ruling impacts income earned after Jan. 1, but before the ruling.