Senate Bill S10098

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   10098
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              April 28, 2026
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens. SKOUFIS, COMRIE, JACKSON -- read twice and ordered
   printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Investi-
   gations and Government Operations
 
 AN ACT to amend the public officers law, in relation to  timeframes  for
   responding  to  requests  for records under the freedom of information
   act

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. Subdivision 3 of section 89 of the public officers law, as
 amended by chapter 223 of the laws of 2008 and paragraph (c) as added by
 chapter 47 of the laws of 2018, is amended to read as follows:
   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,  including,
 where  appropriate, a statement that access to the record will be deter-
 mined in accordance with subdivision five of  this  section.  An  agency
 shall  not deny a request on the basis that the request is voluminous or
 that locating or  reviewing  the  requested  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 copying, 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. 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 and addresses for solicitation or fund-rais-
 ing purposes and will not sell, give or otherwise  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 solic-
 itation or fund-raising purposes. If an agency  determines  to  grant  a
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD02197-08-6
 S. 10098                            2
 
 request  in whole or in part, and if circumstances prevent disclosure to
 the person requesting the record or records within twenty business  days
 from  the date of the acknowledgement of the receipt of the request, the
 agency  shall  state,  in  writing, both the reason for the inability to
 grant the request 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, PROVIDED, HOWEVER, THAT  SUCH  DATE
 CERTAIN  SHALL  MEET  THE  REQUIREMENTS  OF  SUBDIVISION THREE-A OF THIS
 SECTION. Upon payment of, or offer to pay, the fee prescribed  therefor,
 the  entity  shall  provide  a  copy  of  such record and certify to the
 correctness 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. Nothing  in  this  article
 shall  be  construed  to  require  any  entity to prepare any record not
 possessed or maintained by such entity 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 a record maintained in a computer storage system
 and to transfer that record to the medium requested by a  person  or  to
 allow  the  transferred record to be read or printed shall not be deemed
 to be the preparation or creation of a new record.
   (b) All entities shall, provided  such  entity  has  reasonable  means
 available,  accept  requests  for records submitted in the form of elec-
 tronic 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 subdivision
 one of this section and provided that the written requests do not seek a
 response in some other form.
   (c) 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. Section 89 of the public officers law is amended by adding a new
 subdivision 3-a to read as follows:
   3-A. (A) AGENCIES SHALL MAKE RECORDS AVAILABLE TO THE PERSON  REQUEST-
 ING  THEM  WITHIN  THE TIMEFRAMES BELOW IF SUCH AGENCY HAS DETERMINED TO
 GRANT A REQUEST IN WHOLE OR IN PART:
   (I) WITHIN ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY DAYS FOR REQUESTS MADE PRIOR TO DECEMBER
 THIRTY-FIRST, TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-SEVEN;
   (II) WITHIN NINETY DAYS FOR REQUESTS MADE BETWEEN JANUARY  FIRST,  TWO
 THOUSAND  TWENTY-EIGHT,  AND DECEMBER THIRTY-FIRST, TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-
 EIGHT; OR
   (III) WITHIN SIXTY DAYS FOR REQUESTS MADE ON OR AFTER  JANUARY  FIRST,
 TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-NINE.
   (B)  IF  AN  AGENCY  DETERMINES  THAT RECORDS CANNOT BE MADE AVAILABLE
 WITHIN THE RELEVANT TIMEFRAME, SUCH AGENCY MAY INSTEAD MAKE THE  RECORDS
 AVAILABLE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE IF ONE OR MORE OF THESE CONDITIONS APPLY:
   (I)  FEDERAL  LAW  OR REGULATION PREVENTS THE AGENCY FROM REVIEWING OR
 PROVIDING RESPONSIVE RECORDS WITHIN THE RELEVANT TIMEFRAME;
   (II) AGENCY EMPLOYEES ARE UNABLE TO SAFELY ACCESS RESPONSIVE  RECORDS;
 OR
 S. 10098                            3
 
   (III)  RESPONSIVE  RECORDS ARE SO VOLUMINOUS THAT THE AGENCY COULD NOT
 REASONABLY REVIEW SUCH RECORDS WITHIN THE RELEVANT TIMEFRAME.
   (C) IF THE AGENCY MAKES SUCH DETERMINATION, IT SHALL NOTIFY THE PERSON
 WHO  MADE  THE  REQUEST  IN  WRITING. SUCH NOTIFICATION SHALL EXPLAIN IN
 DETAIL WHY THE AGENCY IS  UNABLE  TO  PROVIDE  THE  RECORDS  WITHIN  THE
 REQUIRED  TIMEFRAME  AND  WHAT  EFFORTS ARE BEING UNDERTAKEN TO MAKE THE
 RECORDS AVAILABLE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THE AGENCY SHALL ALSO PROVIDE THE
 PERSON WHO MADE THE REQUEST MONTHLY  UPDATES  ON  PROGRESS.  THE  AGENCY
 SHALL  ALSO  NOTIFY  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  OPEN GOVERNMENT IN WRITING. THE
 NOTIFICATIONS TO BOTH THE REQUESTOR AND THE COMMITTEE SHALL BE SIGNED BY
 THE AGENCY'S COMMISSIONER.
   § 3. This act shall take effect January 1,  2027;  provided,  however,
 section  two  of this act shall not apply to requests concerning records
 subject to  litigation  with  third  parties  involving  application  of
 exemptions  consistent with paragraph (d) of subdivision 2 of section 87
 of the public officers law on such date.