Senate Bill S7422

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S7422

SPONSOR: SERRANO
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to prohibiting the divi-
sion of criminal justice services from disclosing pending orders of
adjournment in contemplation of dismissal on civil records of arrests
and prosecutions

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To Create Consistency Between Statutes Relating to Employment Discrimi-
nation and Ensure that New Yorkers Have the Opportunity To Work and
Support Their Families

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Amends Section 845-d of the executive law

Section 2: - Sets effective date.

              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

As part of the FY2020 budget, the New York State Human Rights Law was
amended to prohibit employers and licensing agencies from inquiring
about or discriminating on the basis of criminal cases adjourned in
contemplation of dismissal (ACD'd). See N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(16). The
enacted amendment aimed to ensure that New Yorkers would not be fired or
denied employment or licensure because of a criminal case that had been
scheduled for dismissal. A technical amendment is needed to make a
related statute consistent with the Human Rights Law and to ensure that
the amendment to the Human Rights Law functions as intended.  Currently,
the Division of Criminal Justice Services ("DCJS") reports ACD'd cases
to employers and licensing agencies, even though employers and licensing
agencies are prohibited from inquiring about ACD'd cases or discriminat-
ing on the basis of ACD'd cases. These reports from DCJS put New Yorkers
at increased risk of unlawful discrimination - and increase the risk of
liability for employers, who may not be aware that ACD-related discrimi-
nation is illegal.

Multiple clients of The Legal Aid Society have been denied employment
due to DCJS's disclosure of ACD'd cases since the time of the Human
Rights Law amendment. These New Yorkers were only able to begin working
after The Legal Aid Society intervened and asserted the clients' rights
under the Human Rights Law. However, New Yorkers who are not represented
by counsel will continue to lose job opportunities until a technical
amendment is made to Executive Law § 845-d(1). In a post-Covid world of
high unemployment, New York State must do everything in its power to
ensure that New Yorkers have the opportunity to work and support their
families.

The language in the proposed technical amendment mirrors the language in
the FY2020 budget amendment to the Human Rights Law. In addition, the
proposed technical amendment replaces the phrase "criminal conviction"
with its definition, "conviction of a crime," to ensure that violation-
level convictions are not reported for civil purposes.  The technical
amendment does not apply to DCJS's reporting for criminal justice
purposes.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.