Zephyr Teachout. Courtesy: Zephyr Teachout Campaign Candidates for New York attorney general are responding to the #MeToo movement with their own proposals on how to clean up the persistent culture of sexual harassment in state government. Zephyr Teachout, a Democrat running for the office, called for a permanent criminal and civil referral on cases of sexual harassment and assault in state government to the state attorney general's office on Monday. Speaking at a press conference on sexual harassment legislation, Teachout said the state's top prosecutor should have the power to investigate and litigate cases of sexual harassment and assault without a referral from the state. That would allow victims to bypass the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the state's ethics agency, with complaints of sexual assault or harassment. “We need a permanent referral because if you do a case by case basis you're basically going to beg the governor for jurisdiction over individual cases where he may have a conflict of interest or have close ties,” Teachout said. Teachout called JCOPE a “ toothless lapdog ” earlier this year after the commission issued a report clearing Sam Hoyt, a former state economic development official, of sexual harassment. Teachout has called on Seth Agata, the executive director of JCOPE and a former attorney in Cuomo's office, to resign. “Right now Seth Agata, who was the governor's attorney, runs JCOPE, and that has not worked. So, right now we need a permanent referral to look into both civil and criminal violations of sexual misconduct,” Teachout said. She joined members of the Sexual Harassment Working Group on Monday to call for hearings on new state sexual harassment laws. The group is made up of seven women who claim to have experienced, witnessed, or reported sexual harassment while working in the state legislature. The group, as well as Teachout, want lawmakers to hold public hearings on sexual harassment this year to advance new legislation during next year's legislative session. That legislation would build on a package of sexual harassment laws that were included earlier this year in the state budget. Teachout said hearings would be a good first step, but that the system itself needs major reforms to address sexual harassment in state government and elsewhere. “There's so many problems with the current process in Albany,” Teachout said. “Nobody understands who and how and where they should go to get a final result and no one is finally responsible.” That's part of why the working group recommended in a report last month that the state designate the Division of Human Rights as the sole entity to investigate and resolve sexual harassment claims for government employees. Those investigations are currently handled in part by JCOPE. New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, another Democrat running for attorney general, said in a statement she wants to take that idea a step further. She said, as attorney general, her office would launch investigations into companies with a pattern of harassment complaints. James also has a bill in the New York City Council that would require employers in New York City that require a mandatory arbitration clause as a condition to employment to say so on any job listing. The working group has focused their efforts on changing other parts of the state's laws. They want state lawmakers to pass a constitutional amendment banning discrimination based on sex or gender, for example. State Sen. Liz Krueger, a Democrat from Manhattan, already carries a bill that would add such an amendment, contingent on a vote by the electorate. The group also wants to change the state definition of sexual harassment. Current law requires harassment to be "severe or pervasive" to classify as hostile. The group wants hostile behavior to instead be when an employer treats someone "less well" based on sex or gender. That's already law in New York City. Also among the report's recommendations is a "sunshine-in-litigation law," which would allow past victims of sexual harassment to break a nondisclosure agreement if they corroborate incidents of serial harassment. “Many victims want privacy, but nobody wants or prefers a [nondisclosure agreement] that strips them of their rights and imposes automatic monetary damages if they ever speak,” said Leah Hebert, a member of the working group. Hebert is the former chief of staff to former Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who resigned after allegations of sexual harassment, including claims made by Hebert. The nondisclosure agreement she signed is still technically enforceable because of the state's current law, she said. “We're still bound by our NDA and we're calling on the AG to release us from our NDA,” Hebert said. The state now prohibits nondisclosure agreements in sexual harassment cases unless it's the preference of the victim. That was one of several reforms lawmakers included in the state budget this year to improve the state's harassment laws. Any changes to the state's laws would have to be done by the state legislature, which isn't scheduled to meet again until January. Lawmakers could hold hearings on the issue before then, but only majority members in the Assembly and Senate have the power to hold hearings. Democrats hold the majority in the Assembly and Republicans in the State Senate. Spokespeople for both conferences did not respond to an inquiry for comment.