STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4111 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN SENATE February 28, 2019 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Govern- ment Operations AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to removing the require- ment to reveal certain past convictions The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 16 of section 296 of the executive law, as 2 amended by section 48-a of part WWW of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, 3 is amended to read as follows: 4 16. It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice, unless specif- 5 ically required or permitted by statute, for any person, agency, bureau, 6 corporation or association, including the state and any political subdi- 7 vision thereof, to make any inquiry about, whether in any form of appli- 8 cation or otherwise, or to act upon adversely to the individual 9 involved, any arrest or criminal accusation of such individual not then 10 pending against that individual which was followed by a termination of 11 that criminal action or proceeding in favor of such individual, as 12 defined in subdivision two of section 160.50 of the criminal procedure 13 law, or by a youthful offender adjudication, as defined in subdivision 14 one of section 720.35 of the criminal procedure law, or by a conviction 15 for a violation sealed pursuant to section 160.55 of the criminal proce- 16 dure law or by a conviction which is sealed pursuant to section 160.59 17 or 160.58 of the criminal procedure law, in connection with the licens- 18 ing, employment or providing of credit or insurance to such individual; 19 provided, further, that no person shall be required to divulge informa- 20 tion pertaining to any arrest or criminal accusation of such individual 21 not then pending against that individual which was followed by a termi- 22 nation of that criminal action or proceeding in favor of such individ- 23 ual, as defined in subdivision two of section 160.50 of the criminal 24 procedure law, or by a youthful offender adjudication, as defined in EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD10299-01-9S. 4111 2 1 subdivision one of section 720.35 of the criminal procedure law, or by a 2 conviction for a violation sealed pursuant to section 160.55 of the 3 criminal procedure law, or by a conviction which is sealed pursuant to 4 section 160.58 or 160.59 of the criminal procedure law. Any individual 5 with a conviction which is sealed pursuant to sections 160.55, 160.58 or 6 160.59 of the criminal procedure law, shall be permitted to answer in 7 the negative to the question "Have you ever been convicted of a crime or 8 violation?", or any question with the same substantive content. The 9 provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to the licensing activ- 10 ities of governmental bodies in relation to the regulation of guns, 11 firearms and other deadly weapons or in relation to an application for 12 employment as a police officer or peace officer as those terms are 13 defined in subdivisions thirty-three and thirty-four of section 1.20 of 14 the criminal procedure law; provided further that the provisions of this 15 subdivision shall not apply to an application for employment or member- 16 ship in any law enforcement agency with respect to any arrest or crimi- 17 nal accusation which was followed by a youthful offender adjudication, 18 as defined in subdivision one of section 720.35 of the criminal proce- 19 dure law, or by a conviction for a violation sealed pursuant to section 20 160.55 of the criminal procedure law, or by a conviction which is sealed 21 pursuant to section 160.58 or 160.59 of the criminal procedure law. 22 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.