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

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-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         6787--A

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     March 20, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of A. WALLACE, EPSTEIN, MOSLEY, M. G. MILLER, SIMON,
          GOTTFRIED -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BRAUNSTEIN, DE LA ROSA  --
          read  once  and  referred  to  the Committee on Education -- committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee

        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 any computer soft-
     6  ware, algorithm, product, or application that collects or electronically
     7  analyzes biometric information for the purposes of identifying an  indi-
     8  vidual.
     9    b.  "biometric  information"  shall  mean  any  measurable physical or
    10  behavioral  characteristics  that  are  attributable  to  an  individual
    11  person, including but not limited to facial characteristics, fingerprint
    12  characteristics,  hand characteristics, eye characteristics, vocal char-
    13  acteristics, and any other physical characteristics that can be used  to
    14  identify a person including, but are not limited to: fingerprints; hand-
    15  prints;  retina and iris patterns; DNA sequence; voice; gait; and facial
    16  geometry.
    17    c. "facial recognition" shall mean a biometric application  or  biome-
    18  tric identifying technology capable of uniquely identifying or verifying
    19  a  person  by  comparing  and  analyzing  patterns based on the person's
    20  facial contours.
    21    2. a. On or before the first of December two thousand twenty-one,  the
    22  commissioner,  in consultation with the department's chief privacy offi-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD10753-02-9
        A. 6787--A                          2

     1  cer, shall study and make recommendations  to  the  governor,  temporary
     2  president of the senate and speaker of the assembly on whether biometric
     3  identifying technology, including but not limited to facial recognition,
     4  is  appropriate for use in public and nonpublic elementary and secondary
     5  schools, including charter schools, and if  so,  what  restrictions  and
     6  guidelines  should  be  enacted to protect individual privacy interests.
     7  The commissioner shall consider,  evaluate  and  report  recommendations
     8  concerning:
     9    i. the privacy implications of collecting, storing, and sharing biome-
    10  tric data of students, teachers, school personnel and the general public
    11  entering a school or school grounds;
    12    ii.  the probability of the technology resulting in false facial iden-
    13  tifications and whether the probability of false facial  identifications
    14  differs  for  different  classifications  of  individuals based on race,
    15  national origin, gender, age and other factors;
    16    iii. whether, and under what circumstances,  such  technology  may  be
    17  used  for  school  security  and the effectiveness of such technology to
    18  protect students and school personnel;
    19    iv. whether, and under what circumstances and in what manner, informa-
    20  tion collected may be used by schools and shared with students,  parents
    21  or guardians, outside agencies including law enforcement agencies, indi-
    22  viduals, litigants, and the courts;
    23    v. the length of time biometric information may be retained and wheth-
    24  er,  and  in  what manner, such information may be required to be perma-
    25  nently destroyed;
    26    vi. the risk of an unauthorized breach of  databanked  biometric  data
    27  and appropriate consequences therefor;
    28    vii.  expected maintenance costs resulting from the storage and use of
    29  facial recognition images and other biometric information, including the
    30  cost of  appropriately  securing  sensitive  data,  performing  required
    31  updates to protect against an unauthorized breach of data, and potential
    32  costs associated with an unauthorized breach of data;
    33    viii.  analysis  of other schools and organizations, if any, that have
    34  implemented facial recognition and other biometric information  software
    35  programs;
    36    ix.  whether, and in what manner, the use of such technology should be
    37  disclosed by signs and the like in such schools, as well as communicated
    38  to parents, students and district residents; and
    39    x. legislation that may already exist, be needed or need to be amended
    40  to ensure, among other things, that records of the use of such technolo-
    41  gy are kept, privacy interests of data subjects are protected, and  that
    42  data breaches are avoided.
    43    b.  The  commissioner shall consult with stakeholders and other inter-
    44  ested parties when preparing such  report.  The  office  of  information
    45  technology,  the  division of criminal justice services, law enforcement
    46  authorities and the state university of New York and the city university
    47  of New York shall, to  the  extent  practicable,  identify  and  provide
    48  representatives  to  the department, at the request of the commissioner,
    49  in order to participate in the development and drafting of such report.
    50    3. The commissioner shall, via scheduled  public  hearings  and  other
    51  outreach  methods,  seek  feedback from teachers, school administrators,
    52  parents, individuals with expertise in school safety and  security,  and
    53  individuals  with  expertise  in data privacy issues and student privacy
    54  issues prior to making such recommendations.
    55    4. Commencing with the two thousand  twenty--two  thousand  twenty-one
    56  school  year,  public  and  nonpublic  elementary and secondary schools,
        A. 6787--A                          3

     1  including charter schools,  shall  be  prohibited  from  purchasing  and
     2  utilizing  biometric  identifying  technology for any purpose, including
     3  school security, absent specific authority in state legislation.
     4    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.