Assembly Bill A7959A

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  7959--A
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               May 23, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of  A. WEPRIN, RYAN -- read once and referred to the
   Committee on Correction -- recommitted to the Committee on  Correction
   in  accordance  with  Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged,
   bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended  and  recommitted  to  said
   committee

 AN  ACT  creating a temporary state commission relating to local correc-
   tional facilities in upstate New York; and providing for the repeal of
   such provisions upon expiration thereof
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. A temporary state commission is hereby created to study and
 make  recommendations  relating to local correctional facilities located
 outside of the boundaries of a city with a population of more  than  one
 million people. The commission will place particular emphasis on medical
 and mental health care (including the use of private contractors), over-
 crowding,  inmate  deaths, use of force, restraints, and all segregation
 and confinement practices and solitary  confinement,  but  will  not  be
 restricted to those topics.
   § 2. The commission shall consist of eleven members to be appointed as
 follows: five shall be appointed by the governor; two shall be appointed
 by  the temporary president of the senate and one by the minority leader
 of the senate; and two shall be appointed by the speaker of the assembly
 and one by the minority leader of the  assembly.  The  members  of  such
 commission  shall  serve  at  the  pleasure  of  the official making the
 appointment of such member. Of the five members appointed by the  gover-
 nor,  none  shall  be an elected official or current employee of a local
 correctional facility or other branch of county government, one shall be
 from the state commission of correction and one shall be from Disability
 Rights New York. The remaining  nine  members  of  the  commission  must
 reside  in  counties under the purview of this commission.  Vacancies in
 the membership of the commission shall be filled in the manner  provided
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD11763-02-8

 A. 7959--A                          2
 
 for  original  appointments.  Membership  on  the  commission  shall not
 constitute a public office. The governor shall appoint the chair of  the
 commission.
   §  3.  The members of the commission shall receive no compensation for
 their services, but shall be allowed their actual and necessary expenses
 incurred in the performance of their duties pursuant to this act.
   § 4. The members of the commission shall be given unrestricted  access
 to all local correctional facilities in the state, including the ability
 to  conduct  confidential  interviews  of  inmates and employees of such
 facilities and to receive unredacted copies of any documents  maintained
 by such facilities, although documents that are confidential under state
 or  federal  law  may  not  be disclosed to individuals or organizations
 otherwise unauthorized to obtain such documents by the commission or its
 members. The commission shall also hold at least one public  hearing  in
 each  of  the  cities  of  Albany,  Buffalo,  Plattsburgh, Poughkeepsie,
 Rochester, Syracuse and Utica, and shall have all the powers of a legis-
 lative committee pursuant to the legislative law.
   § 5. The commission shall issue periodic reports, no less than annual-
 ly, of its findings and publish a final report of its findings and  make
 any  recommendations it may deem necessary and appropriate to the gover-
 nor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the assembly,
 the chairperson of  the  senate  crime  victims,  crime  and  correction
 committee,  and  the chairperson of the assembly committee on correction
 no later than three years after the effective  date  of  this  act.  The
 report  shall also make recommendations for needed regulatory changes to
 the chairperson of the state commission of correction.
   § 6. This act shall take effect immediately and shall  expire  and  be
 deemed repealed 3 years after such date.