STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1601--B 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 15, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PERRY, MOSLEY, GOTTFRIED, GANTT, COOK, PRETLOW, PEOPLES-STOKES, L. ROSENTHAL, CRESPO, WEPRIN, RODRIGUEZ, QUART, KIM, PICHARDO, WALKER, BARRON, SEAWRIGHT, JOYNER, BLAKE, JAFFEE, ABINANTI, D'URSO, JEAN-PIERRE, HYNDMAN, NIOU, TAYLOR, VANEL, RIVERA, ARROYO, ZEBROWSKI, FRONTUS, CRUZ, AUBRY, FERNANDEZ, DE LA ROSA, EPSTEIN, REYES, RICHARDSON, O'DONNELL, SIMOTAS, SIMON, ROZIC, HUNTER, WRIGHT, ORTIZ, OTIS, LENTOL, DenDEKKER, BARNWELL, BICHOTTE, GLICK, MAGNARELLI, DAVILA, STECK -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. CARROLL -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit- tee -- reported and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means -- recommitted to the Committee on Ways and Means in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to creating an office of special investigation within the office of the attorney general The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 70-b 2 to read as follows: 3 § 70-b. Office of special investigation. 1. There shall be established 4 within the office of the attorney general an office of special investi- 5 gation. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the office of 6 special investigation shall have investigative authority and criminal 7 jurisdiction of any incident in which the death of a person, whether in 8 custody or not, is caused by a police officer, as defined in subdivision 9 thirty-four of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law, or a peace 10 officer as defined in subdivision twenty-five of section 2.10 of the 11 criminal procedure law, whether or not formally on duty, or in which the 12 attorney general determines there is a significant question as to wheth- 13 er the death was in fact caused by such police officer or peace officer; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD05660-07-0A. 1601--B 2 1 provided the office of special investigation shall investigate any death 2 under its jurisdiction of a person who was unarmed at the time of such 3 incident or in which the attorney general determines there is a signif- 4 icant question as to whether the person was in fact armed. 5 2. The attorney general has investigative authority and criminal 6 jurisdiction under this section at the time of the death of the person 7 and the attorney general retains investigative authority and criminal 8 jurisdiction over the incident unless the attorney general determines 9 that such incident does not meet the requirements of this section. If 10 the attorney general determines the incident does not meet the require- 11 ments for the attorney general to have investigative authority and crim- 12 inal jurisdiction pursuant to this section, the attorney general shall, 13 as soon as practicable, provide written notice of such determination to 14 the district attorney for the county in which the incident occurred. 15 3. In connection with any particular incident encompassed by this 16 section, the attorney general shall be empowered to subpoena witnesses, 17 compel their attendance, examine them under oath before himself or 18 herself or a magistrate and require that any books, records, documents 19 or papers relevant or material to the inquiry be turned over to him or 20 her for inspection, examination or audit, pursuant to the civil practice 21 law and rules, in connection with such incident. 22 4. The attorney general shall have criminal jurisdiction over any 23 criminal conduct arising from any incident herein, and shall exercise 24 all of the powers and perform all of the duties with respect to such 25 actions or proceedings that a district attorney would otherwise be 26 authorized or required to exercise or perform, including all the powers 27 necessary to prosecute acts and omissions and alleged acts and omissions 28 to obstruct, hinder or interfere with any inquiry, prosecution, trial or 29 judgment arising from the incident. The criminal jurisdiction of the 30 office of special investigation shall displace and supersede the juris- 31 diction of the district attorney where the incident occurred; and such 32 district attorney shall only have the powers and duties reserved to him 33 or her in writing by the attorney general. 34 5. The attorney general shall designate a deputy attorney general for 35 special investigation to exercise the powers and duties of the office of 36 special investigation, who shall be in the exempt class of the civil 37 service. The deputy attorney general may designate deputies or assist- 38 ants, who shall be in the exempt class of the civil service, as neces- 39 sary and appropriate. The other employees of the office of special 40 investigation within the department of law, who are not otherwise 41 exempt, shall all be in the competitive class of the civil service and 42 shall be considered for purposes of article fourteen of the civil 43 service law to be public employees in the civil service of the state, 44 and shall be assigned to the appropriate collective bargaining unit. 45 Employees serving in positions in newly created titles shall be assigned 46 to the same collective bargaining units as they would have been assigned 47 to were such titles created prior to the establishment of the office of 48 special investigation within the department of law by this chapter. The 49 deputy attorney general for special investigation may appear and conduct 50 proceedings in person or by his or her deputy or assistant before any 51 court or grand jury in connection with proceedings under this section. 52 6. For any incident under this section, the office of special investi- 53 gation shall issue a public report and post the report on its website 54 whenever the office of special investigation initiates an investigation 55 and (i) the office of special investigation declines to present evidence 56 to a grand jury or (ii) the office of special investigation does presentA. 1601--B 3 1 evidence to a grand jury but the grand jury declines to return indict- 2 ment on any charges. The report will include, to the extent possible and 3 lawful, the results of the investigation of the incident. 4 7. Six months after this subdivision takes effect, and annually on 5 such date thereafter, the office of special investigation shall issue a 6 report, which shall be made available to the public and posted on the 7 website of the department of law, which shall provide information on the 8 matters investigated by such office during such reporting period. The 9 information presented shall include, but not be limited to: the county 10 and geographic location of each matter investigated; a description of 11 the circumstances of each case; racial, ethnic, age, gender and other 12 demographic information concerning the persons involved or alleged to be 13 involved; information concerning whether a criminal charge or charges 14 were filed against any person involved or alleged to be involved in such 15 matter; the nature of such charges; and the status or, where applicable, 16 outcome with respect to all such criminal charges. Such report shall 17 also include recommendations for any systemic or other reforms recom- 18 mended as a result of such investigations. 19 § 2. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi- 20 sion, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of 21 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, 22 impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in 23 its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section 24 or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg- 25 ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of 26 the legislature that this act would have been enacted even if such 27 invalid provisions had not been included herein. 28 § 3. This act shall take effect April 1, 2021.