Senate Bill S7416

2009-2010 Legislative Session

Provides that criminal record reports created by the division of criminal justice services shall exclude information about undisposed cases

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Date of Action	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Apr 08, 2010	referred to finance

2009-S7416 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A11363
Current Committee:: Senate Finance
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Add §845-c Exec L; amd §212, Judy L

2009-S7416 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Provides that criminal record reports created by the division of criminal justice services shall exclude information about undisposed cases.

2009-S7416 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S7416

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the executive law and the judiciary law, in relation
to undisposed cases


 PURPOSE OF THE BILL :

This bill would preclude the Division of Criminal Justice Services
(DCJS) and the Office of Court Administration (OCA) from including
undisposed case information on criminal history records, except those
released for law enforcement and other specified purposes.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of the bill would add a new section 845-c to the Executive
Law to prohibit DCJS from including undisposed case information on
criminal history records ("rap sheets") where the record is produced
for non-law enforcement or non-criminal justice purpose such as a
preemployment criminal history search. The bill defines "undisposed
case" as a criminal action or proceeding or an arrest incident that
appears on an individual's criminal history record for which no final
disposition or imposition of sentence has been recorded and with
respect to which no entry has been made on the DCJS record for a

period of at least 36 months and for which no warrant is outstanding,
with the exception of an action concerning an A-1 felony, a violent
felony, a sex offense, an incest offense or a child pornography
offense. The prohibition would not apply to records produced by DCJS
for research, record reviews, or internal record keeping purposes.

Section 2 of the bill would add new paragraph to Judiciary Law §
212(2) to establish a corresponding requirement and stipulations for
OCA.

Section 3 of the bill would provide an effective date of 180 days
after enactment.

 EXISTING LAW :

Currently, pursuant to Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) § 160.50, records
of criminal actions that have been terminated in favor of the accused
are to be sealed and, subject to certain exceptions, are not to be
released by DCJS or OCA. These include cases that following the
transmission of arrest fingerprints to DCJS prosecutors elect not to
prosecute (CPL § 160.5(3)(i)), and arrests that the police elect not
to pursue (CPL § 160.50(3)(j)).

Additionally, pursuant to Family Court Act § 306.2, where DCJS has not
received disposition information within two years of an arrest, DCJS
shall, until such up-to-date information is received, withhold the
record of that arrest and any related activity in disseminating
criminal history information.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

This is a new bill.

 STATEMENT IN SUPPORT :

Although current law provides for the sealing of certain criminal
records, in some cases administrative breakdowns occur, leaving
information about cases that have been terminated in a person's favor,
or have been filed in court but never brought to any final
disposition, open on a person's permanent criminal history record.
Attempts to correct these errors often prove unsuccessful because the
parties involved no longer have records, no records have been
generated due to the preliminary nature of the case, or because the
case in question has been deemed dismissed by another court as a
result of action taken in an entirely separate case.

In an age where the criminal history background check is almost
universal, New York's sealing laws act as a guard against illegal
work-place discrimination by preventing the inappropriate disclosure
or use by employers or licensing agencies of records of arrest that
resulted either in a violation (non-criminal) conviction (CPL §
160.55) or were terminated in a person's favor (CPL § 160.50).
However, the sealing laws are only effective if the various entities
in the criminal justice system communicate with each other. Pursuant
to the CPL, the clerk of a court is responsible for reporting to DCJS
that a criminal action terminated in a person's favor. DCJS is
sometimes not notified as required. Thus, some records at DCJS remain
"open" for an extended period of time. Because DCJS has no authority
to complete the records without information being provided to it from
the relevant agency, these inaccuracies, in effect, can become a
permanent part of an individual's criminal record.

Moreover, where a case has been terminated in a person's favor; the
original records may have been destroyed. As a result, people with
inaccuracies on their criminal history records are in limbo; they
cannot contest inaccurate or incomplete information on their criminal
history record if the necessary original records have been purged or
are otherwise unavailable or incomplete.  This may result in such
persons losing the protections they may be entitled to under New York
State's sealing laws.

This bill would address these problems by precluding DCJS and OCA from
including "disposed case" information in any report of a criminal
history search except where the report is produced by DCJS for a
qualified law enforcement agency, for a criminal justice purpose, or
by DCJS or OCA for research record review or internal record keeping
purposes. When the initial arrest was for a class A-1 felony, violent
felony or sex crime, such records will not be suppressed, however,
because it is not unusual for such serious cases to take longer to
resolve.

 BUDGET IMPLICATIONS :

This bill would not have any budget implications.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This bill would become effective 180 days after enactment.

2009-S7416 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  7416

                            I N  S E N A T E

                              April 8, 2010
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  KRUGER  -- (at request of the Division of Criminal
  Justice Services) -- read twice and ordered printed, and when  printed
  to be committed to the Committee on Finance

AN  ACT to amend the executive law and the judiciary law, in relation to
  undisposed cases

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 845-c
to read as follows:
  S 845-C. CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD SEARCHES; UNDISPOSED CASES. 1.  WHEN,
PURSUANT TO STATUTE OR THE REGULATIONS OF  THE  DIVISION,  THE  DIVISION
CONDUCTS  A  SEARCH OF ITS CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORDS AND RETURNS A REPORT
THEREON, ALL REFERENCES TO UNDISPOSED CASES CONTAINED IN  SUCH  CRIMINAL
HISTORY RECORD SHALL BE EXCLUDED FROM SUCH REPORT.
  2. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, "UNDISPOSED CASE" SHALL MEAN A CRIMI-
NAL ACTION OR PROCEEDING, OTHER THAN A CRIMINAL ACTION OR PROCEEDING FOR
A CLASS A-I FELONY, A VIOLENT FELONY OFFENSE AS DEFINED IN SECTION 70.02
OF THE PENAL LAW, A SEX OFFENSE DEFINED IN ARTICLE ONE HUNDRED THIRTY OF
THE PENAL LAW, OR AN OFFENSE DEFINED IN SECTION 255.25, 255.26 OR 255.27
OR ARTICLE TWO HUNDRED SIXTY-THREE OF THE PENAL LAW FOR WHICH:
  (A)  NO FINAL DISPOSITION OR IMPOSITION OF SENTENCE HAS BEEN RECORDED;
AND
  (B) NO ENTRY HAS BEEN MADE IN THE DIVISION'S CRIMINAL HISTORY  RECORDS
FOR  A  PERIOD  OF  AT LEAST THIRTY-SIX MONTHS PRECEDING THE ISSUANCE OF
SUCH REPORT; AND
  (C) NO WARRANT IS OUTSTANDING.
  3. THE PROVISIONS OF SUBDIVISION ONE OF THIS SECTION SHALL  NOT  APPLY
TO CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD INFORMATION:
  (A)  PROVIDED BY THE DIVISION TO QUALIFIED AGENCIES PURSUANT TO SUBDI-
VISION SIX OF SECTION EIGHT HUNDRED THIRTY-SEVEN OF THIS ARTICLE, OR  TO
FEDERAL   OR  STATE  LAW  ENFORCEMENT  AGENCIES,  FOR  CRIMINAL  JUSTICE
PURPOSES; OR
  (B) PREPARED SOLELY FOR A BONA FIDE RESEARCH PURPOSE; OR

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD15820-01-0

S. 7416                             2

  (C) PREPARED FOR A RECORD REVIEW OR THE  INTERNAL  RECORD  KEEPING  OR
CASE MANAGEMENT PURPOSES OF THE DIVISION.
  4.  PROVIDED  THAT  THE DIVISION REASONABLY AND IN GOOD FAITH COMPLIES
WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION, THERE SHALL BE NO CRIMINAL OR CIVIL
LIABILITY ON THE PART OF, AND NO  CAUSE  OF  ACTION  FOR  DAMAGES  SHALL
ACCRUE  AGAINST,  THE  DIVISION  OR ANY DIVISION EMPLOYEE ON ACCOUNT OF,
ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO CRIMINAL HISTORY INFORMATION  PURSUANT  TO
THIS SECTION, OR ANY ACT OR OMISSION RELATING TO CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD
INFORMATION PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION.
  S  2.  Subdivision 2 of section 212 of the judiciary law is amended by
adding two new paragraphs (s) and (t) to read as follows:
  (S) TAKE SUCH ACTIONS AND ADOPT SUCH MEASURES AS MAY BE  NECESSARY  TO
ENSURE THAT NO WRITTEN OR ELECTRONIC REPORT OF A CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD
SEARCH  CONDUCTED  BY  THE  OFFICE OF COURT ADMINISTRATION, OTHER THAN A
SEARCH CONDUCTED SOLELY FOR THE INTERNAL RECORD KEEPING OR CASE  MANAGE-
MENT  PURPOSES  OF  THE  JUDICIARY  OR FOR A BONA FIDE RESEARCH PURPOSE,
CONTAINS INFORMATION RELATING TO AN UNDISPOSED  CASE.  FOR  PURPOSES  OF
THIS  PARAGRAPH,  "UNDISPOSED  CASE"  SHALL  MEAN  A  CRIMINAL ACTION OR
PROCEEDING APPEARING IN THE CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORDS OF  THE  OFFICE  OF
COURT  ADMINISTRATION,  OTHER THAN A CRIMINAL ACTION OR PROCEEDING FOR A
CLASS A-I FELONY,  A VIOLENT FELONY OFFENSE AS DEFINED IN SECTION  70.02
OF THE PENAL LAW, A SEX OFFENSE DEFINED IN ARTICLE ONE HUNDRED THIRTY OF
THE PENAL LAW, OR AN OFFENSE DEFINED IN SECTION 255.25, 255.26 OR 255.27
OR ARTICLE TWO  HUNDRED SIXTY-THREE OF THE PENAL LAW FOR WHICH:
  (I) NO FINAL DISPOSITION HAS BEEN RECORDED; AND
  (II) NO ENTRY HAS BEEN MADE IN THE DIVISION'S CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORDS
FOR  A  PERIOD  OF  AT LEAST THIRTY-SIX MONTHS PRECEDING THE ISSUANCE OF
SUCH REPORT; AND
  (III) NO WARRANT IS OUTSTANDING.
NOTHING CONTAINED IN THIS PARAGRAPH SHALL BE DEEMED TO PERMIT OR REQUIRE
THE RELEASE, DISCLOSURE OR OTHER DISSEMINATION BY THE  OFFICE  OF  COURT
ADMINISTRATION  OF  CRIMINAL  HISTORY  RECORD  INFORMATION THAT HAS BEEN
SEALED IN ACCORDANCE WITH LAW.
  (T) PROVIDED THAT THE OFFICE OF COURT ADMINISTRATION REASONABLY AND IN
GOOD FAITH COMPLIES WITH THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION, THERE SHALL  BE
NO  CRIMINAL  OR  CIVIL LIABILITY ON THE PART OF, AND NO CAUSE OF ACTION
FOR DAMAGES SHALL ACCRUE AGAINST, THE OFFICE OF COURT ADMINISTRATION  OR
ANY  OFFICE  OF COURT ADMINISTRATION EMPLOYEE ON ACCOUNT OF, ARISING OUT
OF OR RELATING TO CRIMINAL HISTORY INFORMATION PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION,
OR ANY ACT OR OMISSION RELATING TO CRIMINAL HISTORY  RECORD  INFORMATION
PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION.
  S 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
it  shall  have  become  a  law  and shall apply to searches of criminal
history records conducted on or after such date; provided, however, that
prior to such effective date, the division of criminal justice services,
in consultation with the state administrator of the unified court system
as well as any other public or  private  agency,  shall  undertake  such
measures  as  may  be  necessary  and appropriate to update its criminal
history records with respect to criminal cases and arrest incidents  for
which no final disposition has been reported.

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Senate Bill S7416

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance Committee

Actions

2009-S7416 (ACTIVE) - Details

2009-S7416 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2009-S7416 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2009-S7416 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

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Sponsored By

Carl Kruger

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance Committee

Actions

2009-S7416 (ACTIVE) - Details

2009-S7416 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2009-S7416 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2009-S7416 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments