S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6608
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               June 19, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens. HARCKHAM, LANZA -- read twice and ordered printed,
   and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to amend the  public  officers  law,  in  relation  to  accessing
   records under the freedom of information law
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subparagraph iii of paragraph  (b)  of  subdivision  2  and
 subdivision 3 of section 89 of the public officers law, subparagraph iii
 of  paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 as amended by section 11 of part U of
 chapter 61 of the laws of 2011, subdivision 3 as amended by chapter  223
 of the laws of 2008 and paragraph (c) of subdivision 3 as added by chap-
 ter 47 of the laws of 2018, are amended to read as follows:
   iii. sale or release of lists of names OF NATURAL PERSONS and RESIDEN-
 TIAL  addresses  if  such  lists would be used for solicitation or fund-
 raising purposes;
   3. (a) Each entity subject to the provisions of this  article,  within
 five  business  days  of  the  receipt of a written request for a record
 reasonably described, shall make such record  available  to  the  person
 requesting  it,  deny  such  request  in  writing  or  furnish a written
 acknowledgement of the receipt of such request and a  statement  of  the
 approximate  date,  which shall be reasonable under the circumstances of
 the request, when [such request will be granted or  denied]  A  RESPONSE
 WILL  BE GIVEN, including, where appropriate, a statement that access to
 the record will be determined in accordance  with  subdivision  five  of
 this section.
   (B)  An  agency shall not deny a request on the basis that the request
 is voluminous or that locating, GENERATING or  reviewing  the  requested
 RECORD  OR  records  or  providing  the  requested  copies is burdensome
 because the agency lacks sufficient staffing or on any  other  basis  if
 the  agency  may engage an outside professional service to provide copy-
 ing, programming or other services required to  provide  the  copy,  the
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD01195-01-9

 S. 6608                             2
 
 costs  of  which  the  agency  may  recover pursuant to paragraph (c) of
 subdivision one of section eighty-seven of this article.
   (C)  An  agency  may  require  a  person requesting lists of names and
 addresses to provide a written certification that such person  will  not
 use such lists of names OF NATURAL PERSONS and RESIDENTIAL addresses for
 solicitation  or fund-raising purposes and will not sell, give or other-
 wise make available such lists of  names  and  addresses  to  any  other
 person  for  the  purpose  of  allowing that person to use such lists of
 names and addresses for solicitation or fund-raising purposes.
   (D) If [an agency determines to grant a request in whole or  in  part,
 and  if]  circumstances  prevent  AN  AGENCY  FROM  NOTIFYING THE PERSON
 REQUESTING THE RECORD OR RECORDS OF THE AGENCY'S DETERMINATION REGARDING
 THE RIGHTS OF ACCESS AND disclosure to the person requesting the  record
 or records within twenty business days from the date of the acknowledge-
 ment  of the receipt of the request, the agency shall state, in writing,
 both the reason for the inability to [grant the request]  DO  SO  within
 twenty  business  days  and  a  date certain within a reasonable period,
 depending on the circumstances, when [the request  will  be  granted  in
 whole or in part] A DETERMINATION REGARDING DISCLOSURE WILL BE RENDERED.
   (E) Upon payment of, or offer to pay, the fee prescribed therefor, the
 entity  shall  provide a copy of such record and certify to the correct-
 ness of such copy if so requested, or as the case may be, shall  certify
 that  it  does  not  have  possession of such record or that such record
 cannot be found after diligent search.
   (F) Nothing in this article shall be construed to require  any  entity
 to [prepare] CREATE any record not possessed or maintained by such enti-
 ty  except the records specified in subdivision three of section eighty-
 seven and subdivision three of section  eighty-eight  of  this  article.
 When  an  agency has the ability to retrieve or extract a record or data
 maintained in a computer storage system with reasonable effort, it shall
 be required to do so. When doing so requires  less  employee  time  than
 engaging  in manual retrieval or redactions from non-electronic records,
 the agency shall be required to retrieve or extract such record or  data
 electronically. [Any programming necessary to retrieve] THE RETRIEVAL OF
 a  record  OR  DATA maintained in a computer storage system and [to] THE
 transfer OF that record to the medium requested by  a  person  or  to  A
 MEDIUM  THAT  WOULD  allow  the transferred record to be read or printed
 shall not be deemed to be the [preparation or] creation of a new record.
   [(b)] (G) All entities shall,  provided  such  entity  has  reasonable
 means  available,  accept  requests for records submitted in the form of
 electronic mail and shall respond to such requests by  electronic  mail,
 using  forms,  to  the  extent  practicable, consistent with the form or
 forms developed by the committee on open government pursuant to subdivi-
 sion one of this section and provided that the written requests  do  not
 seek a response in some other form.
   [(c)]  (H)  Each  state agency, as defined in subdivision five of this
 section, that maintains a website shall ensure its website provides  for
 the online submission of a request for records pursuant to this article.
   §  2.  This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
 if chapter 47 of the laws of 2018 shall not  have  taken  effect  on  or
 before  such  date then section one of this act shall take effect on the
 same date and in the same manner as such chapter of  the  laws  of  2018
 takes effect.

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  6608--B
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               June 19, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens. HARCKHAM, LANZA -- read twice and ordered printed,
   and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules --  commit-
   tee  discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recom-
   mitted to said committee -- recommitted to the Committee  on  Investi-
   gations  and  Government  Operations in accordance with Senate Rule 6,
   sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill  amended,  ordered  reprinted  as
   amended and recommitted to said committee
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend  the  public  officers  law, in relation to accessing
   records under the freedom of information law
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subparagraph  iii  of  paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 and
 subdivision 3 of section 89 of the public officers law, subparagraph iii
 of paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 as amended by section 2 of part GGG of
 chapter 59 of the laws of 2019, subdivision 3 as amended by chapter  223
 of the laws of 2008 and paragraph (c) of subdivision 3 as added by chap-
 ter 47 of the laws of 2018, are amended to read as follows:
   iii. sale or release of lists of names OF NATURAL PERSONS and RESIDEN-
 TIAL  addresses  if  such  lists would be used for solicitation or fund-
 raising purposes;
   3. (a) Each entity subject to the provisions of this  article,  within
 five  business  days  of  the  receipt of a written request for a record
 reasonably described, shall make such record  available  to  the  person
 requesting  it,  deny  such  request  in  writing  or  furnish a written
 acknowledgement of the receipt of such request and a  statement  of  the
 approximate  date,  which shall be reasonable under the circumstances of
 the request, when [such request will be granted or  denied]  A  RESPONSE
 WILL  BE GIVEN, including, where appropriate, a statement that access to
 the record will be determined in accordance  with  subdivision  five  of
 this section.

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01195-06-0
              

 S. 6608--B                          2
 
   (B)  An  agency shall not deny a request on the basis that the request
 is voluminous or that locating, GENERATING or  reviewing  the  requested
 RECORD  OR  records  or  providing  the  requested  copies is burdensome
 because the agency lacks sufficient staffing or on any  other  basis  if
 the  agency  may engage an outside professional service to provide copy-
 ing, programming or other services required to  provide  the  copy,  the
 costs  of  which  the  agency  may  recover pursuant to paragraph (c) of
 subdivision one of section eighty-seven of this article.
   (C) An agency may require a  person  requesting  lists  of  names  and
 addresses  to  provide a written certification that such person will not
 use such lists of names OF NATURAL PERSONS and RESIDENTIAL addresses for
 solicitation or fund-raising purposes and will not sell, give or  other-
 wise  make  available  such  lists  of  names and addresses to any other
 person for the purpose of allowing that person  to  use  such  lists  of
 names and addresses for solicitation or fund-raising purposes.
   (D)  If  [an agency determines to grant a request in whole or in part,
 and if] circumstances  prevent  AN  AGENCY  FROM  NOTIFYING  THE  PERSON
 REQUESTING THE RECORD OR RECORDS OF THE AGENCY'S DETERMINATION REGARDING
 THE  RIGHTS OF ACCESS AND disclosure to the person requesting the record
 or records within twenty business days from the date of the acknowledge-
 ment of the receipt of the request, the agency shall state, in  writing,
 both  the  reason  for the inability to [grant the request] DO SO within
 twenty business days and a date  certain  within  a  reasonable  period,
 depending  on  the  circumstances,  when [the request will be granted in
 whole or in part] A DETERMINATION REGARDING DISCLOSURE WILL BE RENDERED.
   (E) Upon payment of, or offer to pay, the fee prescribed therefor, the
 entity shall provide a copy of such record and certify to  the  correct-
 ness  of such copy if so requested, or as the case may be, shall certify
 that it does not have possession of such  record  or  that  such  record
 cannot be found after diligent search.
   (F)  Nothing  in this article shall be construed to require any entity
 to [prepare] CREATE any record not possessed or maintained by such enti-
 ty except the records specified in subdivision three of section  eighty-
 seven  and  subdivision  three  of section eighty-eight of this article.
 When an agency has the ability to retrieve or extract a record  or  data
 maintained in a computer storage system with reasonable effort, it shall
 be  required  to  do  so. When doing so requires less employee time than
 engaging in manual retrieval or redactions from non-electronic  records,
 the  agency shall be required to retrieve or extract such record or data
 electronically. [Any programming necessary to retrieve] THE RETRIEVAL OF
 a record OR DATA maintained in a computer storage system  and  [to]  THE
 transfer  OF  that  record  to  the medium requested by a person or to A
 MEDIUM THAT WOULD allow the transferred record to  be  read  or  printed
 shall not be deemed to be the [preparation or] creation of a new record.
   [(b)]  (G)  All  entities  shall,  provided such entity has reasonable
 means available, accept requests for records submitted in  the  form  of
 electronic  mail  and shall respond to such requests by electronic mail,
 using forms, to the extent practicable,  consistent  with  the  form  or
 forms developed by the committee on open government pursuant to subdivi-
 sion  one  of this section and provided that the written requests do not
 seek a response in some other form.
   [(c)] (H) Each state agency, as defined in subdivision  five  of  this
 section,  that maintains a website shall ensure its website provides for
 the online submission of a request for records pursuant to this article.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.