NY State Senate Bill 2023-S8701

Senate Bill S8701

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Relates to exempting certain statements relating to sexual abuse or misconduct from disclosure under FOIL

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Investigations And Government Operations Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Mar 01, 2024	referred to investigations and government operations

2023-S8701 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A1758
Current Committee:: Senate Investigations And Government Operations
Law Section:: Public Officers Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §87, Pub Off L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2017-2018: S6420, A7679
2019-2020: S2840, A2658
2021-2022: S708, A3673

2023-S8701 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Exempts statements of victims and witnesses relating to sexual abuse or misconduct from disclosure under FOIL provisions.

2023-S8701 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S8701

SPONSOR: SKOUFIS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the public officers law, in relation to exempting
certain statements relating to sexual abuse or misconduct from disclo-
sure

 
PURPOSE:

This bill explicitly exempts the statements of sexual abuse victims and
witnesses from disclosure under FOIL to protect victims' and witnesses'
privacy.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Adds subsection V. to include statements made by a witness or victim
relating to sexual abuse or misconduct as an exemption from disclosure
under FOIL.

JUSTIFICATION:

Victims of sexual abuse and misconduct frequently do not disclose abuse
because they fear among other things, embarrassment, rejection and
retaliation. Soon, the Court of Appeals will hear a case, Friedman V.
Rice, in which the petitioner seeks to force the public disclosure,
under FOIL, of statements of child sex abuse victims made to police and
prosecutors.

A convicted Level III Sex offender is seeking the statements made by his
child victims from the Nassau County District Attorney's Office under
the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) and the court of appeals will hear
the case in 2017. While we are confident that these records have been
properly shielded from disclosure, the Legislature should amend FOIL to
explicitly exempt from disclosure records, which, if disclosed would
reveal any witness statement relating to sexual abuse or misconduct.

While defendants in criminal cases have a broad right to evidence
against them, FOIL dictates public access to government records and
statements relating to sexual abuse should be explicitly exempt from
such FOIL disclosure. Public disclosure of these sensitive records the
media, sexual predators, abusive parents, or cyberbullies would not only
harm victims, but offend the rights of the accused who have not been
charged or convicted.

If the legislature extends the statutes of limitations for bringing
sexual abuses cases, as has been proposed, this modification to FOIL
would be even more critical. Extended statues of limitations would
provide an opportunity for many victims to come forward and seek
justice, and statements to school personnel, social service providers,
police and prosecutors should be presumed to be confidential and there-
fore exempt from disclosure to the public and media under FOIL.

The Legislature's appreciation of the importance of protecting the iden-
tities of the victims of sexual abuse has been codified in the Section
50(b) of the Civil Rights Law, which provides:


The identity of any victim of a sex offense, as defined in article one
hundred thirty or section 255.25, 255.26, 255.27 of the penal law, or an
offense involving the alleged transmission of the human immunodeficiency
virus, shall be confidential. No report, paper, picture, photograph,
court file or other documents, in the custody or possession of any
public officer or employee, which identifies such a victim, shall be
made available for public inspection.

Nassau County has successfully argued before the Appellate Division that
this provision precludes them from disclosing the records in question in
their entirety, but one justice dissented, and the Court of Appeals will
hear this case imminently. The Legislature should act promptly to
protect the privacy of those alleging sexual abuse as well as those whom
unproven allegations are made.

If the Legislature takes no action and the petitioner prevails before
the Court of Appeals, statements made to public officers regarding child
sexual abuse may be construed to be public records subject to disclosure
under FOIL to anyone requesting them, regardless of their intent and the
harm such release may cause. While we believe this outcome to be unlike-
ly, the chilling impact of such a decision would be incalculable.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

Senate

New bill

Assembly

2017-18: S6420 (Phillips) / A7679 (Lavine) - PASSED SENATE / codes

2019-20: S2850 (Phillips) / A2658 (Lavine) Investigations and Govern-
mental Operations / governmental operations

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None to the state.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2023-S8701 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8701
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               March 1, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Govern-
   ment Operations
 
 AN ACT to amend the  public  officers  law,  in  relation  to  exempting
   certain statements relating to sexual abuse or misconduct from disclo-
   sure
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Paragraph (e) of subdivision 2 of section 87 of the  public
 officers  law, as amended by chapter 155 of the laws of 2022, is amended
 to read as follows:
   (e) are compiled for law enforcement purposes only to the extent  that
 disclosure would:
   i.   interfere   with   law  enforcement  investigations  or  judicial
 proceedings, provided however, that any agency, which is not  conducting
 the  investigation that the requested records relate to, that is consid-
 ering denying access pursuant to this subparagraph shall receive confir-
 mation from the law enforcement or investigating agency  conducting  the
 investigation  that  disclosure  of  such records will interfere with an
 ongoing investigation;
   ii. deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or  impartial  adjudi-
 cation;
   iii.  identify a confidential source or disclose confidential informa-
 tion relating to a criminal investigation; [or]
   iv. reveal criminal investigative  techniques  or  procedures,  except
 routine techniques and procedures; OR
   V. REVEAL ANY STATEMENT MADE BY A WITNESS OR VICTIM RELATING TO SEXUAL
 ABUSE OR MISCONDUCT;
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD02752-01-3

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