Bill Text: NY A06787 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Directs the commissioner of education to conduct a study on the use of biometric identifying technology; prohibits the use of biometric identifying technology in schools until July 1, 2022 or until the commissioner authorizes such purchase or utilization, whichever occurs later.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 21-0)

Status: (Passed) 2020-12-22 - approval memo.53 [A06787 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A06787-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          6787
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                     March 20, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by M. of A. WALLACE -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Education
        AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the use  of  biometric
          identifying technology
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 2-e to
     2  read as follows:
     3    § 2-e. Use of biometric identifying technology. 1.  As  used  in  this
     4  section:
     5    a.  "biometric  identifying  technology"  shall  mean  technology that
     6  utilizes a student's biometric record  including  but  not  limited  to,
     7  technology  that provides automated facial recognition and object recog-
     8  nition of live and recorded surveillance video.
     9    b. "biometric record" shall mean a record of one  or  more  measurable
    10  biological  or behavioral characteristics that can be used for automated
    11  recognition of an individual. Examples include fingerprints; retina  and
    12  iris  patterns;  voiceprints;  DNA sequence; facial characteristics; and
    13  handwriting.
    14    c. "facial recognition" shall mean a biometric application  or  biome-
    15  tric identifying technology capable of uniquely identifying or verifying
    16  a  person  by  comparing  and  analyzing  patterns based on the person's
    17  facial contours.
    18    2. On or before the first of December two thousand twenty, the commis-
    19  sioner, in consultation with the  department's  chief  privacy  officer,
    20  shall  study  and make recommendations to the governor, temporary presi-
    21  dent of the senate and speaker of  the  assembly  on  whether  biometric
    22  identifying technology, including but not limited to facial recognition,
    23  is  appropriate for use in public and nonpublic elementary and secondary
    24  schools, including charter schools, and if  so,  what  restrictions  and
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10753-01-9
        A. 6787                             2
     1  guidelines  should  be  enacted to protect individual privacy interests.
     2  The commissioner shall consider and evaluate:
     3    a. the privacy implications of collecting, storing, and sharing biome-
     4  tric data of students, teachers, school personnel and the general public
     5  entering a school or school grounds;
     6    b.  the  reliability of the technology and whether reliability differs
     7  for different classifications of individuals  based  on  race,  national
     8  origin, gender, age or other factors;
     9    c.  whether, and under what circumstances, such technology may be used
    10  for school security and the effectiveness of such technology to  protect
    11  students and school personnel;
    12    d.  whether, and under what circumstances and in what manner, informa-
    13  tion collected may be used by schools and shared with students,  parents
    14  or guardians, outside agencies including law enforcement agencies, indi-
    15  viduals, litigants, and the courts;
    16    e. the risk of an unauthorized breach of databanked biometric data and
    17  appropriate consequences therefor;
    18    f.  expected  maintenance  costs resulting from the storage and use of
    19  facial recognition images and other  biometric  records,  including  the
    20  cost  of  appropriately  securing  sensitive  data,  performing required
    21  updates to protect against an unauthorized breach of data, and potential
    22  costs associated with an unauthorized breach of data;
    23    g. analysis of other schools and  organizations,  if  any,  that  have
    24  implemented  facial  recognition  and  other  biometric  record software
    25  programs;
    26    h. whether, and in what manner, the use of such technology  should  be
    27  disclosed by signs and the like in such schools, as well as communicated
    28  to parents, students and district residents; and
    29    i.  legislation that may be needed to ensure, among other things, that
    30  records of the use of such technology are  kept,  privacy  interests  of
    31  data subjects are protected, and that data breaches are avoided.
    32    3.  The  commissioner  shall,  via scheduled public hearings and other
    33  outreach methods, seek feedback from  teachers,  school  administrators,
    34  parents,  individuals  with expertise in school safety and security, and
    35  individuals with expertise in data privacy issues  and  student  privacy
    36  issues prior to making such recommendations.
    37    4.  Commencing  with  the  two  thousand nineteen--two thousand twenty
    38  school year, public and  nonpublic  elementary  and  secondary  schools,
    39  including  charter  schools,  shall  be  prohibited  from purchasing and
    40  utilizing biometric identifying technology for  any  purpose,  including
    41  school security, absent specific authority in state legislation.
    42    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.