BILL NUMBER:S7933

TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public officers law, in relation to the
availability of subject matter lists of records in the possession of a
state agency

PURPOSE:

This bill would promote open government by requiring a state agency to
transmit its subject matter list (of all categories of records in the
agency's possession) to the Committee on Open Government (COG) within
30 days of an update, and to provide a copy of its current list
without charge upon request of a member of the public.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends subdivision (3)(c) of section 87 of the Public
Officers Law to require each State Agency (as defined in subdivision
4) to transmit its subject matter list (SML) to the Committee on Open
Government (COG) within 30 days of an update, and to provide a current
list, without charge, to a person who requests it. Current statutory
provisions which require that a state agency list shall be linked to
or posted on the COG website, are deleted. Also, in its annual report
to the Governor and Legislature, COG would be required to identify any
              

state agency that had not provided it with an updated list in the
preceding one-year period.

Section 2 provides that the Department of Corrections and Community
Supervision shall not be required to make copies of its current
subject matter list available to each inmate without charge, provided
that one or more copies are available to inmates for review at every
correctional facility inmate law library.

EXISTING LAW:

Currently, any agency may charge a fee of up to 25 cents per page for
a copy of any document, including its subject matter list. There is no
current requirement to transmit the most recent updated list to COG,
only an unused provision requiring that COG's website must either link
to or post a version of each state agency's SML.

JUSTIFICATION:

The Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requires every agency to
maintain "a reasonably detailed current list by subject matter of all
records in the possession of the agency." This "subject matter list"
(SML) is an essential element of FOIL which benefits the agency by
helping the public to more precisely identify the documents to
request. However, recent news reports indicate that many state
agencies are failing to follow FOIL requirements and post a current
SML online, and some have even demanded payment of excessive fees
(over $400) to provide a paper copy of the list. There is no reason
that a state agency's records access officers shouldn't have multiple
copies of a current list of agency records readily available to
distribute upon request. Advance preparation of such lists would also


minimize copying costs. Barring the charging of fees for paper SMLs
would also remove any disincentive for online posting of the document.
Beyond this, requiring that a copy of the most recent annual update
must be transmitted to COG within 30 days and for identification of
non-compliant state agencies will help to ensure that appropriate
attention is paid to maintaining current SMLs.

These requirements would replace statutory provisions to have state
agency lists linked to or posted on COG's website which have not
proven effective.

The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision is able to
provide inmates with access to copies of its SML in each correctional
facility inmate law library. It is therefore appropriate to make the
requirement to provide SML copies without charge inapplicable in such
circumstances.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None. Most SMLs are only a few pages long and the cost of handling and
processing fee payments is often greater than the amount collected.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

First day of November after becoming law; provided that COG is not
required to begin identifying non-compliant agencies until its second
annual report after enactment (to allow one full reporting cycle to be
completed).