What's happening
This bill prohibits the broadcast of 911 call recordings on radio, television, or the internet and imposes fines for violations.
Why it matters
Protects the privacy of individuals. by making it illegal to broadcast actual 911 call recordings, which can contain sensitive personal information, thus reducing the risk of public exposure or embarrassment for callers in distress.
Imposes meaningful financial penalties. ($5,000 per violation), signaling to media outlets and individuals that misuse of 911 recordings will carry significant consequences and deterring potential violations.
Balances transparency with privacy. by still allowing transcripts of 911 calls to be read or displayed, enabling public understanding of emergencies or agency actions without revealing voices, emotional states, or potentially identifying audio details.
Further restricts public access. to 911 audio under New York’s Freedom of Information Law, classifying such recordings as a form of private information and aligning legal treatment of 911 calls with other sensitive personal records.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Ban 911 Call Broadcasts
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to local governments
- Referred to local governments
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1546
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 12, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. ZEBROWSKI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Local Governments
AN ACT to amend the county law and the public officers law, in relation to prohibiting the broadcast of a 911 call
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 308 of the county law, as amended by chapter 309 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read as follows:
4. (a) Records, in whatever form they may be kept, of calls made to a municipality's E911 system shall not be made available to or obtained by any entity or person, other than that municipality's public safety agency, another government agency or body, or a private entity or a person providing medical, ambulance or other emergency services, and shall not be utilized for any commercial purpose other than the provision of emergency services.
(b) No entity or person shall play a recording of a call made over the E911 system on a broadcast medium, including, but not limited to radio, television, or the internet as defined by paragraph (c) of subdivision two of section three hundred ninety-b of the general business law. This section shall not prohibit reading or displaying a transcript of such a recording. Whoever violates this section shall be subject to a fine of five thousand dollars for each violation.
§ 2. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of section 89 of the public officers law, as amended by section 11 of part U of chapter 61 of the laws of 2011, is amended to read as follows:
(b) An unwarranted invasion of personal privacy includes, but shall not be limited to:
i. disclosure of employment, medical or credit histories or personal references of applicants for employment;
ii. disclosure of items involving the medical or personal records of a client or patient in a medical facility;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04303-01-7
A. 1546 2
iii. sale or release of lists of names and addresses if such lists would be used for solicitation or fund-raising purposes;
iv. disclosure of information of a personal nature when disclosure would result in economic or personal hardship to the subject party and such information is not relevant to the work of the agency requesting or maintaining it;
v. disclosure of information of a personal nature reported in confidence to an agency and not relevant to the ordinary work of such agency;
vi. information of a personal nature contained in a workers' compensation record, except as provided by section one hundred ten-a of the workers' compensation law; [or]
vii. disclosure of electronic contact information, such as an e-mail address or a social network username, that has been collected from a taxpayer under section one hundred four of the real property tax law[.]; or
viii. a recording of a call made over the E911 system as defined in subdivision three of section three hundred one of the county law.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.