Senate Bill S8527

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8527

SPONSOR: BAILEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act relating to requiring the chief administrator of the courts, in
conjunction with the office of information technology services, to
develop a portal for the exchange of discovery in criminal cases

 
PURPOSE:

This bill establishes an online portal where district attorneys, insti-
tutional defense providers, private attorneys, and assigned counsel can
share discovery materials in criminal cases in accordance with New York
State discovery laws.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. The office of the attorney general, in conjunction with the
chief administrator of the courts and the office of information technol-
ogy services, shall establish a statewide strategy plan under which a
statewide electronic portal shall be developed and made available
              

through the unified court system to enable district attorneys, institu-
tional defense providers, private attorneys and assigned counsel to
provide required discovery disclosure to opposing counsel in criminal
cases.  Subsection 2. Act and effective date.

 
EXISTING LAW:

None.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The Mayor's Task Force on Discovery, resulting from the two-day criminal
justice summit, was tasked with further analyzing the impact of the 2020
Discovery Reform legislation on the various stakeholders in NYC. In
addition, the Task Force was asked to make recommendations that could be
agreed upon by the various stakeholders. The committee consisted of
District Attorneys, institutional defense providers, private attorneys,
assigned counsel members, NYPD, legislators, and other stakeholders.
One of the recommendations was to create a statewide online discovery
portal.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To Be Determined.

 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.