Senate Bill S9657

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S9657

SPONSOR: BYNOE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to reporting
convictions of certain persons subject to the office of professional
medical conduct

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to require the district attorney prosecuting
a case, to provide notice to the court when a defendant is subject to
mandatory reporting to the Office of Professional Medical Conduct.
Following such notice and the sentencing of the defendant, the sentenc-
ing court shall deliver a copy of the certificate of conviction and
provide notification of conviction and sentencing to the Office of
Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC).

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1.
              

Section 380.85 of the criminal procedure law, as added by chapter 477 of
the laws of 2008, is amended by replacing "sentenced for a crime" with
"convicted of a crime" and following such amended language with the new
language "the prosecutor shall file with the court, prior to sentencing,
a notice of the person's occupation along with a statement that the
person is subject to being reported to the office of professional
medical conduct. Following the sentence,".

Section 2.

This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law, and shall apply to all
convictions occurring on or after such date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

This legislation is based on a proposal in the Unified Court System's
Advisory Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure recent annual report.

In 2008, the Legislature mandated that courts report any criminal
conviction of a defendant who is a licensed physician, physician assist-
ant, specialist assistant or a physician who is practicing under a
limited permit or as a medical resident to the Office of Professional
Medical Conduct (L. 2008, c. 477, section 26). At the time of its enact-
ment, the judiciary recognized the operational challenge of the report-
ing requirement because the statute did not confer on any individual or
agency the duty to report to the court that a defendant was a member of
one of these professions. While the judiciary provided training to court
personnel and set up a reporting system, over time the procedure has
repeatedly exposed the practical difficulty courts face in trying to
comply with the statute. Courts rarely have knowledge of a defendant's
licensing responsibilities, and there is no workable procedure for
learning of the reporting duty without a mandate that someone officially
bring these cases to the court's attention. The Legislature has provided
redundancy in reporting such convictions by probation departments (see

CPL 390.50(6)). Nonetheless, reporting lapses remain a continuing prob-
lem.

The prosecutorial agency is the appropriate agency to report the licens-
ing requirement to the court. This measure therefore requires the prose-
cutor to file a notice with the court after conviction and before
sentence whenever a defendant comes within the statute. The measure
leaves intact the court's ultimate responsibility to report the
convictions to the Office of Professional Medical Conduct.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Legislation

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law, and shall apply to all
convictions occurring on or after such date.