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History
- Referred to education
- Referred to education
Full text
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Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S1586
Title of bill
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to the definition of qualified agencies
Purpose or general idea of bill
To authorize public defenders, legal aid societies, and administrators of assigned counsel plans to have access to the Division of Criminal Justice Services' criminal history records of clients represented by or who receive representation through those entities.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1 amends subdivision 9 of Executive Law section 835 to add public defenders, legal aid societies, and assigned counsel administrators to the list of qualified agencies. Qualified agencies may enter into agreements with the Division of Criminal Justice Services for access to its criminal history database as authorized by subdivision 6 of Executive Law section 837.
Justification
Agencies that are defined as "qualified agencies" under Executive Law 5 835(9) have access to the criminal history records maintained by the Division of Criminal Justice Services. See Executive Law 5 837(6); 9 NYCRR Part 6051. The proposed bill would add public defenders, legal aid societies, and administrators of assigned counsel programs to the list of qualified agencies. Public defense providers would then be able to enter into use and dissemination agreements with the Division of Criminal Justice Services that would govern their access to criminal history information of clients represented by ox who receive representation through those entities
In order to provide effective representation, public defense attorneys need to have ready access to criminal history reports of clients. Currently, public defense providers rely on district attorneys, judges, and other members of the criminal justice community for access to criminal history reports; often, disclosure of these reports is not timely. Providing public defense counsel direct access to criminal history reports will help them provide effective representation to their clients and will improve the efficiency of the entire criminal justice system in New York State.
Prior legislative history
S. 7005A of 2012 referred to Finance
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.