Accessibility Statement

The Senate is committed to providing accessible content to ensure that all New Yorkers can participate in the legislative process.  The content of this website aspires to adhere to guidelines of the New York State Office for Technology ("OFT") Policy P04-002, section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Public Law 93-112), as amended, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.


NYS OFT Policy P04-002

This policy provides a mandatory technology standard for all state agencies, requiring all web-based intranet and internet information that is made available to the general public or state agencies must also be made accessible to persons with disabilities.


Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act & Americans with Disabilities Act

These federal laws require electronic and information technology to be accessible to people with disabilities, including employees and members of the public.  The system should allow people with disabilities to have the same access to the information as those without disability or impairment, to ensure that communications with people with disabilities are as effective as communications with others.

Child Photo / Video Waiver

I grant consent for my child, ___________________________, to have his or her picture taken or to be filmed with a New York State Senator or group of Senators. 

I authorize any Senator(s) and/or the New York State Senate to publish such picture or video footage on any such Senator’s official Senate website and/or any official electronic or paper publication of such Senator or the Senate. This consent is not revocable. 

This consent shall not allow any further publication or broadcast of such picture or video footage by any other party, or in any other location or format (e.g. campaign materials, social networking websites, etc.) without my advance written authorization. 

___________________________

Signature of Parent/Guardian 

___________________________

Printed Name 

___________________________

Date 

*Please return signed waivers to the appropriate Senator at his or her office. Visit http://nysenate.gov/contact [1] for contact information.

** To view this document in Spanish and Chinese, download this version of the PDF [2].

Related information

Authored by Senator: 

0

Attachment: 

NYSenate.gov waiver.pdf [3]

Attachment: 

NYSenate.gov waiver_3lang.pdf [4]

Confidentiality Policy

Policy Concerning a Senator's Responsibility to Ensure the Confidentiality of Information Received from a Constituent 

Whereas, a Senator and such Senator’s employees or volunteers ("Senate Personnel”) encourage constituents from their district to seek their assistance with regard to a wide array of services and issues; 

Whereas, a Senator and Senate Personnel often seek and obtain pertinent personal information from a constituent in order to appropriately assist such constituent; 

Whereas, this pertinent personal information may include, among other things, information relating to an individual’s sexual orientation, receipt of public assistance, or status as a crime witness, victim of domestic violence or sexual assault, or immigration status; and 

Whereas, a constituent may expect a degree of confidentiality with regard to such personal information which does not accurately reflect the actual degree of confidentiality which such information will receive from a Senator or Senate Personnel. 

NOW, THEREFORE, in recognition of the need for a policy which discloses to a constituent the expectations that he or she may have regarding the confidentiality of personal information imparted to a Senator or Senate Personnel: 

1. The level of confidentiality for personal information submitted by a constituent through any of the data collection features of the Senate’s public website (http://nysenate.gov [5]) will be governed by the Senate’s Privacy Policy (the ‘Policy’) posted on the website. The Policy specifically states that the Senate only uses personal information for the purposes intended, except that it may disclose such information to comply with a court order, authorized law enforcement request, subpoena, or a request under the Freedom of Information Law. In addition, personal information may be disclosed in order to protect the health or safety of the public in an emergency situation. 

2. Other than in situations involving court orders, authorized law enforcement requests and/or ethics enforcement committees or entities, a Senator will have great discretion regarding the degree of confidentiality given to personal information gathered outside of NYSenate.gov, including, but not limited to, phone calls, face to face conversations, paper mail, and faxes. A Senator and/or Senate Personnel will not be compelled to share data except in a manner that the Senator and/or Senate Personnel deem appropriate given the circumstances involved. Although a Senator and/or Senate Personnel cannot guarantee to a constituent that personal information will not be shared in a manner that a constituent did not anticipate, a Senator and/or Senate Personnel must use their best efforts to share the information in a responsible and relevant manner. 

3. In the event of a transition of Senators, the outgoing Senator will determine what data will remain with the Senator-elect. Senate Technology Services will be available to assist any Senator with the transfer of data.

Signed - Secretary Angelo Aponte

Date - 05 May 2010

Related information

Authored by Senator: 

0

Attachment: 

NYSenate.gov Confidentiality.pdf [6]

Copyright Policy

[7] Text, Pictures and Graphics, Third-Party submissions, Senate Seal and Logo, and Senate generated Video on Senate websites are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License [7]. Permissions beyond the scope of this license are defined as follows:

Text: A Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative "CC-By-NC-ND [8]" with CC Plus "CC+" license. The CC+ waives attribution requirements and allows for the creation of derivative works and commercial usage provided that such derivative works and commercial usage do not relate to political fundraising.

Pictures & Graphics: A Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative "CC-By-NC-ND [8]" with CC Plus "CC+" license. The CC+ waives attribution requirements and allows for the creation of derivative works and commercial usage provided that such derivative works and commercial usage do not relate to political fundraising.

Third Party Submissions "3rd Party Submissions": A Creative Commons Attribution "CC-By [9]" license. Please read our Terms of Participation [10].

Official Senate Seal & Logo: Continuation of the existing Senate copyright.

Video Not Containing Senate Floor Committee Hearing Proceedings: A Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative "CC-By-NC-ND [8]" with CC Plus "CC+" license. The CC+ waives attribution requirements and allows for the creation of derivative works and commercial usage provided that such derivative works and commercial usage do not relate to political fundraising.

Video Containing Senate Floor, Committee Hearing Proceedings: The Senate Rules shall govern until such time as a C-SPAN model [11] is implemented. See Senate Rules [12], Rule XV: Televising Senate Session

Section 1. Any televised proceedings of sessions of the Senate shall be made available for statewide television broadcast, pursuant to the  following:

a.  All  televised  proceedings of the Senate session shall be unedited, except that only accredited news organizations,  educational  institutions, and public affairs documentary programs may utilize any portion of the Senate television feed.

b. No portion of the televised proceedings (either live or taped) authorized pursuant to this section may be utilized for:

(1) campaign or political purposes or to promote or oppose a ballot issue or the candidacy of any person for any elective office; or (2) any paid commercial advertisements.

Section 2. The televised proceedings of sessions of the Senate as provided for in section one of this Rule, in any form, shall be deemed the property of the New York State Senate.

Open-Source Software & Software Licenses

In order to make the Senate's information and software as public as possible, it is has adopted unique system using two types of licenses - GNU General Public License [13]as well as the BSD License [14]. This system is meant to ensure the most public license is used in each specific case such that:

(i) Any Software released containing components with preexisting GPL copyrights must be released pursuant to a GPL v3 copyright restriction.

(ii) Any Software created independently by the Senate without any preexisting licensing restrictions on any of its components shall be released under dual licensing and take one of two forms: (a) a BSD license, or (b) a GPL v3 license. The ultimate user of such Software shall choose which form of licensing makes the most sense for his or her project.

(iii) Regarding Software containing preexisting copyright restrictions other than GPL, the CIO shall make the determination how he or she wishes to release such Software.

Privacy Policy

NYSenate.gov Websites Privacy Policy

The New York State Senate (the “Senate”) is committed to protecting your privacy and security as you use our NYSenate.gov websites (hereinafter referred to individually as “Senate Website” and collectively as “Senate Websites”). For purposes herein, the term Senate Website includes any website operated by the Senate and/or any website created and/or operated by a New York State Senator in his or her official capacity. Accordingly, all Senate Websites are subject to the provisions of the privacy policy as outlined herein (the “Privacy Policy”). If you have questions or comments about the Privacy Policy, please use the contact form located at < http://www.NYSenate.gov/contact [15] >.

Please note that although Senate Websites may offer links to other websites of interest, the Senate disclaims any responsibility for their content, accuracy or services, and cannot vouch for their information practices. Once a link takes a user outside of the Senate Website, the user is subject to the terms and conditions of such site.

Information Collected About Users:

A cookie is a tiny piece of data stored by a user's browser that helps a website or service recognize a user's unique computer. A user can remove or block cookies by changing the privacy settings on the Web browser.

‘Session Cookies’ are utilized by websites to track visitors in order to improve a user’s experience. Session cookies expire in a short period of time or when a browser window closes.

‘Persistent Cookies’ are utilized by websites to track visitors from session to session. The Senate uses Persistent Cookies for (a) users who create accounts with the Senate’s Websites, and (b) third-party vendors utilized by the Senate’s Websites, provided that in such instances the Senate seeks to create options which allow a user access to the same content without Persistent Cookies. 

In addition, the Senate may log (a) locations of computers or networks, otherwise known as ‘Internet protocol addresses’ or ‘IP addresses’, and/or (b) web traffic data, in order to analyze  visitor trends regarding the Senate’s Websites which will help improve its Websites. Please note that the Senate does not collect or track any user’s personal information through these processes.

Personal Information Submitted By Users:

Visitors will be invited to provide personal information in order to sign up for newsletters and/or to receive other information, assistance or Senate notifications. The Senate requires personal information from a visitor only when such visitor affirmatively requests information such as updates from a particular Senator or Committee.  Under no circumstances will the Senate sell or rent information submitted by visitors.

Furthermore, a visitor must affirmatively subscribe to a “contact distribution list”, including, but  not limited to, a contact distribution list comprised of postal mail or email addresses, telephone numbers, twitter and/or facebook accounts, in order to receive updates and notifications relating to specific issues. The Senate and its vendors configure software to restrict personal information access to a limited group of authorized Senate staff members and, if necessary, third-party vendors. Please note that the Senate considers the safeguarding of personal information of paramount importance and takes many precautions to ensure a visitor’s privacy.  However, since the Senate may not be the creator of the software used to manage a contact distribution list, it cannot be responsible for any software failure resulting in the disclosure of personal information.

The Senate uses personal information in a manner in which a visitor reasonably would anticipate.  However, the Senate will divulge personal information under the following exceptional circumstances:

1. In order to comply with a court order, authorized law enforcement request, subpoena, or a Freedom of Information Law request; 
2. In order to protect the health and/or safety of the public in an emergency situation; and/or
3. In situations requiring the divulging of information, provided that the Senate will use best efforts to give prior notice to the affected visitor.

A visitor should be aware that Personal Information submitted to a Senator may be released at the end of such Senator’s term to his or her successor.  It is the responsibility of the individual visitor to contact his or her Senator in order to prevent the transmission of Personal Information.

Content Contributed by Visitors:

Visitors may be invited to contribute content to the Senate Website.  Such content may take the form of commentary, constituent stories, responses to online polls and surveys, and/or contributions of software code (“Contributed Content”).

Contributed Content which a user voluntarily submits, including, but not limited to, a visitor’s name, address and/or other contact information, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution "CC-By" license [9].  For further explanation relating to the Senate’s copyright and licensing policies, please go to < http://www.nysenate.gov/copyright-policy [16] >. Please note that Contributed Content may be visible to other visitors of the Senate Website.  Contributed Content  relating to software code is subject to its respective software license.  If a visitor wishes to contribute to the Senate’s software code please visit < http://www.nysenate.gov/Open-Source-Software-Licenses [17] >.

Security Disclaimer:

This Privacy Policy should not be construed as giving any legal or other advice or guaranteeing the security of the information provided through the Senate Websites.

Children:

Senate Websites comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), and do not knowingly contact or collect personal information from children under the age of 13.

Updated: 20 Dec 2010

Terms of Participation

Terms of Participation for NYSenate.gov Websites.

The New York State Senate (the “Senate”) encourages the public, as well as members of the Senate, to participate in and contribute content to this website. Contributors (hereinafter referred to as “Participants”) are encouraged to take advantage of the many opportunities to provide input that the website(s) afford, and in so doing contribute to a fair and respectful dialogue among the general public and New York’s elected public officials.

To promote open and productive dialogue, and in the spirit of fair and transparent access to the Senate’s website(s), Participants are hereby advised that all postings, including any links to 3rd-party sites, shall be subject to limited monitoring for appropriateness. For purposes herein, appropriateness is defined as postings that are relevant to New York State’s official governmental business, responsive to the issue(s) being discussed, and phrased in respectful and appropriate language for the general public. 

The following types of content are considered inappropriate for posting on the Senate website:

commercial; self-promotional; campaign-related; prurient; abusive; discriminatory speech, including but not limited to, hate speech based on race, gender, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, religion or disability; in certain contexts personal contact information; content which otherwise violates GSA .Gov guidelines as found at < http://www.dotgov.gov/policy_guidelines.aspx [18] >.

If content is determined to be inappropriate, such content either will not be posted or will be removed from the website by a Senate staff member designated for such review (“the Reviewer”). Such action will be taken in order to maintain the effective operation of the website(s) as a forum for civil, constructive and thoughtful discourse. If a Participant notices that his or her content is not posted within 48 hours of submission, and he or she wishes to dispute the determination by the Reviewer, such Participant may request an explanation of rejection by the Reviewer at < http://www.nysenate.gov/contact_form [19] >.  In turn, if the Participant disagrees with the explanation given, he or she may request for an appeal by a review panel comprised of no less than three bipartisan Senate staff members appointed by the Secretary of the Senate.

Participants should note the following prior to posting content on any Senate website(s):

(a) Regarding community-moderated content, a participant may flag content he or she believes to be in violation of this Terms of Participation. He or she may not flag content due to disagreement with opinions stated.  If several flags are noted by the Reviewer, such Reviewer may remove the content pending review for appropriateness.

(b) Any comments submitted for posting by a Participant may be rated and/or otherwise commented upon by other members of the public. 

(c) By participating on the Senate’s website(s), a Participant hereby acknowledges that he or she has read, understands and agrees to be bound by the terms as outlined herein, as well as with any applicable laws and regulations relating hereto.

Updated: 20 Dec 2010