What's happening
This bill clarifies that only personnel records created and used solely for evaluating employment or promotion of certain officers are confidential.
Why it matters
Narrows the scope of confidentiality. By specifying that only personnel records "created and used solely" for evaluating an officer's employment or promotion are confidential, the bill limits what can be withheld from the public or legal discovery, potentially increasing transparency regarding misconduct or disciplinary actions.
Impacts public access and accountability. This change could make certain records—such as those related to investigations, complaints, or discipline—not exclusively tied to promotion or employment decisions, accessible to the public or in court, which is significant for oversight and trust in police, fire, and correctional agencies.
Clarifies protections for officers. The amendment addresses ambiguity in current law, protecting only those records genuinely related to performance evaluations, rather than all documents in a personnel file, which may balance privacy concerns with the public's right to know about official conduct.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Keep Police Records Private
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to codes
- Referred to codes
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Keep Police Records Confidential
Assembly Floor Calendar · Sponsor Daniel O'Donnell
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2850
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 17, 2017
Introduced by Sens. PARKER, BAILEY, PERKINS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to personnel records of police officers, firefighters and correction officers
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 50-a of the civil rights law, as amended by chapter 516 of the laws of 2014, is amended to read as follows:
1. All personnel records created and used solely to evaluate performance toward continued employment or promotion, under the control of any police agency or department of the state or any political subdivision thereof including authorities or agencies maintaining police forces of individuals defined as police officers in section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law and such personnel records under the control of a sheriff's department or a department of correction of individuals employed as correction officers and such personnel records under the control of a paid fire department or force of individuals employed as firefighters or firefighter/paramedics and such personnel records under the control of the department of corrections and community supervision for individuals defined as peace officers pursuant to subdivisions twenty-three and twenty-three-a of section 2.10 of the criminal procedure law and such personnel records under the control of a probation department for individuals defined as peace officers pursuant to subdivision twenty-four of section 2.10 of the criminal procedure law shall be considered confidential and not subject to inspection or review without the express written consent of such police officer, firefighter, firefighter/paramedic, correction officer or peace officer within the department of corrections and community supervision or probation department except as may be mandated by lawful court order.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04187-01-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the civil rights law, in relation to personnel records of police officers, firefighters and correction officers
Purpose
To narrow the exception preventing access to police, firefighter, and correction and peace officer records to allow public scrutiny of all public employees.
Summary of provisions
Civil Rights Law 50-a currently prevents public access to any personnel or misconduct records of police officers. This wide protection is in addition to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) exemption preventing the disclosure of information that is an invasion of personal privacy or jeopardizes the safety or security of individuals.
This bill would limit the scope of 50-a to records created and used solely to evaluate performance toward continued employment or promotion.
Justification
New York State is virtually unique in its refusal to apply the same level of transparency to police and other uniformed services as it applies to all other public employees. A NYS Committee on Open Government study found that the great majority of states provide the same standard to uniformed services as to all other public employees. The study also found that no other state provided the protection afforded by 50-a.
There are sufficient protections in the Freedom of Information Law to protect the privacy and safety of individuals employed in uniformed services. There is also an exemption for information relating to ongoing criminal investigations. Currently 50-a is duplicative of all of these protections.
Under the current law all footage captured by "bodycams" could be used for evaluating the performance of these individuals. Therefore the 50-a exemption could be used to prevent any footage from being released to the public. This footage is critical in creating accountability for officer's actions on duty.
At a time when the public is calling for increased scrutiny of police actions for a variety of purposes, this bill would allow broader access to records help by police departments.
Legislative history
2015-16: S.4808 - Referred to Codes
Fiscal implications
There are no fiscal implications to this bill.
Effective date
This legislation will take effect on the 30th day.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.