STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6787--B
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 20, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WALLACE, EPSTEIN, MOSLEY, M. G. MILLER, SIMON,
GOTTFRIED, L. ROSENTHAL -- 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 -- again reported from said committee
with amendments, 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.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10753-05-9
A. 6787--B 2
1 2. a. On or before the first of December two thousand twenty-one, the
2 commissioner, in consultation with the department's chief privacy offi-
3 cer, shall study and make recommendations to the governor, temporary
4 president of the senate and speaker of the assembly on whether biometric
5 identifying technology, including but not limited to facial recognition,
6 is appropriate for use in public and nonpublic elementary and secondary
7 schools, including charter schools, and if so, what restrictions and
8 guidelines should be enacted to protect individual privacy interests.
9 The commissioner shall consider, evaluate and report recommendations
10 concerning:
11 i. the privacy implications of collecting, storing, and sharing biome-
12 tric data of students, teachers, school personnel and the general public
13 entering a school or school grounds;
14 ii. the probability of the technology resulting in false facial iden-
15 tifications and whether the probability of false facial identifications
16 differs for different classifications of individuals based on race,
17 national origin, gender, age and other factors;
18 iii. whether, and under what circumstances, such technology may be
19 used for school security and the effectiveness of such technology to
20 protect students and school personnel;
21 iv. whether, and under what circumstances and in what manner, informa-
22 tion collected may be used by schools and shared with students, parents
23 or guardians, outside agencies including law enforcement agencies, indi-
24 viduals, litigants, and the courts;
25 v. the length of time biometric information may be retained and wheth-
26 er, and in what manner, such information may be required to be perma-
27 nently destroyed;
28 vi. the risk of an unauthorized breach of databanked biometric data
29 and appropriate consequences therefor;
30 vii. expected maintenance costs resulting from the storage and use of
31 facial recognition images and other biometric information, including the
32 cost of appropriately securing sensitive data, performing required
33 updates to protect against an unauthorized breach of data, and potential
34 costs associated with an unauthorized breach of data;
35 viii. analysis of other schools and organizations, if any, that have
36 implemented facial recognition and other biometric information software
37 programs;
38 ix. whether, and in what manner, the use of such technology should be
39 disclosed by signs and the like in such schools, as well as communicated
40 to parents, students and district residents; and
41 x. legislation that may already exist, be needed or need to be amended
42 to ensure, among other things, that records of the use of such technolo-
43 gy are kept, privacy interests of data subjects are protected, and that
44 data breaches are avoided.
45 b. The commissioner shall consult with stakeholders and other inter-
46 ested parties when preparing such report. The office of information
47 technology, the division of criminal justice services, law enforcement
48 authorities and the state university of New York and the city university
49 of New York shall, to the extent practicable, identify and provide
50 representatives to the department, at the request of the commissioner,
51 in order to participate in the development and drafting of such report.
52 3. The commissioner shall, via scheduled public hearings and other
53 outreach methods, seek feedback from teachers, school administrators,
54 parents, individuals with expertise in school safety and security, and
55 individuals with expertise in data privacy issues and student privacy
56 issues prior to making such recommendations.
A. 6787--B 3
1 4. Public and nonpublic elementary and secondary schools, including
2 charter schools, shall be prohibited from purchasing and utilizing biom-
3 etric identifying technology for any purpose, including school security,
4 until July 1, 2022.
5 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.