Bill Text: NY S01820 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Authorizes police agencies to charge fees for searching, copying, and mailing police agency generated records except for where the requesting party is a victim to or was charged with the crime related to such documents.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO FINANCE [S01820 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S01820-Introduced.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1820

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 16, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  SKOUFIS, BIAGGI, PARKER, THOMAS -- read twice and
          ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on
          Finance

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the executive law, in relation to authorizing police
          agencies to include administrative costs in fees for copies of  police
          agency records

          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  837-w
     2  to read as follows:
     3    § 837-w. Fees for copies of police agency records. 1.  Fees generally.
     4  Except    as  provided by law that no fee shall be charged, local police
     5  agencies may charge a fee for searching the police agency records, copy-
     6  ing the resulting documents, and preparing such documents for mailing as
     7  provided in this section.  Provided,  however,  that  no  fee  shall  be
     8  charged  to  any  public  officer, board, body, agency, or department or
     9  volunteer fire company, for searches or copies of documents to  be  used
    10  for  a  public purpose.  Provided further, however, that no fee shall be
    11  charged to a victim of a crime, to an individual charged with  a  crime,
    12  or  such person's attorney where the searches or copies of documents are
    13  related to the crime such person is a victim to or charged with.
    14    2. Fees for searches of police agency  records.  (a)  The  fee  for  a
    15  search which is made manually by the police agency shall be five dollars
    16  per request.
    17    (b)  The fee for a search which is conducted by means of an electronic
    18  medium shall be three dollars per request.
    19    3. Fees for copies of documents and preparation for mailing. The  fees
    20  for  copies  of  documents,  other  than  accident reports, shall be one
    21  dollar per page. A page shall consist of either a single or  double-side
    22  of  any  document.  The  fee  for  a copy of an accident report shall be
    23  fifteen dollars. All copies of documents shall be certified at no  addi-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05634-01-1

        S. 1820                             2

     1  tional  fee.  Whenever  a  search  of  records  of  the police agency is
     2  required in conjunction with a copy of a document, the fee shall be  the
     3  fee  for  the search as provided in subdivision two of this section. The
     4  result  of  such  search  will be the locating of the document, or if no
     5  document can be located, a certification to  that  effect  will  be  the
     6  result  of  such  search.  The  fee  for the preparation for mailing, if
     7  necessary, shall be two dollars per request.
     8    § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
     9  have become a law.
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