Bill Text: NY S08674 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires redaction of unfounded and unsubstantiated allegations in law enforcement disciplinary records.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-07-02 - REFERRED TO RULES [S08674 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S08674-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8674 IN SENATE July 2, 2020 ___________ Introduced by Sen. SERINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules AN ACT to amend the public officers law, in relation to prohibiting the public disclosure of unsubstantiated or unfounded complaints, allega- tions and charges made against law enforcement officers The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 86 of the public officers law is amended by adding 2 two new subdivisions 10 and 11 to read as follows: 3 10. "Unsubstantiated complaint, allegation or charge" means any 4 complaint, allegation or charge against a person employed by a law 5 enforcement agency as defined in this section as a police officer, peace 6 officer, or firefighter or firefighter/paramedic where the evidence is 7 insufficient to determine whether the person employed by a law enforce- 8 ment agency did or did not commit misconduct. 9 11. "Unfounded complaint, allegation or charge" means any complaint, 10 allegation or charge against a person employed by a law enforcement 11 agency as defined in this section as a police officer, peace officer, or 12 firefighter or firefighter/paramedic where there is sufficient credible 13 evidence to believe that the subject employed by a law enforcement agen- 14 cy did not commit the alleged act. 15 § 2. Subdivision 4-b of section 87 of the public officers law, as 16 added by a chapter of the laws of 2020 amending the civil rights law and 17 the public officers law relating to the disclosure of law enforcement 18 disciplinary records, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 8496 19 and A. 10611, is amended to read as follows: 20 4-b. A law enforcement agency responding to a request for law enforce- 21 ment disciplinary records, as defined in section eighty-six of this 22 article, [may] shall redact any portion of such record containing the 23 information specified in subdivision two-c of section eighty-nine of 24 this article prior to disclosing such record under this article. 25 § 3. Subdivision 2-c of section 89 of the public officers law, as 26 added by a chapter of the laws of 2020 amending the civil rights law and 27 the public officers law relating to the disclosure of law enforcement EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD16856-01-0S. 8674 2 1 disciplinary records, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S.8496 2 and A.10611, is amended to read as follows: 3 2-c. For records that constitute "law enforcement disciplinary 4 records" as defined in subdivision six of section eighty-six of this 5 article, a law enforcement agency [may] shall redact records pertaining 6 to technical infractions as defined in subdivision nine of section 7 eighty-six of this article and records pertaining to complaints, allega- 8 tions and charges against a person employed by a law enforcement agency 9 that are unsubstantiated or unfounded as defined by subdivisions ten and 10 eleven of section eighty-six of this article prior to disclosing such 11 records under this article. 12 § 4. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same 13 manner as a chapter of the laws of 2020 amending the civil rights law 14 and the public officers law relating to the disclosure of law enforce- 15 ment disciplinary records, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 16 8496 and A. 10611, takes effect.
