Top officials in Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration, including the governor herself, have signed recusal agreements meant to separate them from the financial interests of their spouses and decisions made on public policy, her office on Thursday announced.  

The recusals cover Hochul, Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin and Karen Persichilli Keogh, who serves as secretary to the governor, the top aide in the administration. 

At the same time, Hochul's office unveiled a package of transparency rules covering executive agencies in New York that are meant to expand access to information and bolster the process for fulfilling Freedom of Information Law requests. 

"From Day One, I've been committed to restoring New Yorkers' faith in their government by improving transparency and increasing accountability," Hochul said. "The changes we're announcing today bring us closer to creating the kind of government that New Yorkers deserve, and we'll continue to build on this progress."

The recusal policies were formalized as part of the announcement, an effort to avoid conflicts of interest with the business of state government. Hochul's recusal dated Wednesday covers matters related to Delaware North, a firm that employs her husband, Bill Hochul. Additional recusals cover the financial interests of NextPoint Acquisition, where Benjamin had preciously served as a director. 

And Persichilli Keogh's recusal covers decisions made that affect powerhouse lobbying firm Bolton St. John's, where her husband Michael Keogh is a partner. 

But the announcement on Thursday went beyond the recusals. The Hochul administration is changing procedures for open records requests, with the goal of expediting requests for documents. Agencies will also no longer be required to send responses to Freedom of Information Law requests to the governor's office for review. Instead, requests will be directed through an agency's general counsel.  

Agencies will also be required to identify and release frequently request documents that are deemed to have significance to the public. 

Transparency promises are nothing new for New York governors and Hochul's predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, had early on vowed to have the most transparent administration in history. Cuomo took some steps early on, such as reopening the hallway the governor's office is on to the general public. 

But quickly Cuomo came under criticism for secrecy, and his administration in the final months faced questons over access to public data, including questions over the veracity of how the state was reporting nursing home residents' fatalities during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The questions surrounding the reporting of the data is now part of a federal criminal investigation.