What's happening
This bill requires the Office of Court Administration to establish a subscription pricing program for consumer reporting agencies conducting statewide criminal history searches.
Why it matters
Could lower costs for consumer background checks. By creating a subscription pricing model with a capped annual fee for consumer reporting agencies, the bill may reduce the per-search cost of statewide criminal history checks, potentially lowering fees passed on to job applicants, tenants, or consumers.
May encourage broader access to criminal history data. The fixed-rate, predictable subscription could incentivize more consumer reporting agencies to conduct comprehensive statewide searches, possibly increasing the thoroughness and accuracy of background checks.
Sets a maximum cap on agency expenses. By limiting the total subscription rate to $18 million per year, the bill provides cost certainty for consumer reporting agencies, which could help smaller or newer agencies compete with larger firms when accessing official criminal history records.
Could impact privacy and data security considerations. Making large-scale access to criminal history data more affordable and streamlined for agencies might increase the volume of background checks, raising questions about data privacy, oversight, and the potential for misuse of sensitive personal information.
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
Set Subscription Rates for Agencies
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to rules
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
8944
IN SENATE
June 7, 2018
Introduced by Sen. LANZA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT directing the office of court administration to establish a subscription pricing program for consumer reporting agencies
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The office of court administration shall establish a subscription rate for consumer reporting agencies, as defined in subdivision (e) of section 380-a of the general business law, for the purpose of conducting statewide criminal history records searches through the office.
§ 2. Within 90 days of the effective date of this act, such office shall offer to consumer reporting agencies a subscription rate that shall not exceed $18,000,000 per annum and shall be offered on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis in equal installments.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15994-02-8
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act directing the office of court administration to establish a subscription pricing program for consumer reporting agencies
Purpose
Directs the Office of Court Administration to establish a subscription- pricing program for credit reporting agencies. Summary of provisions:
Section 1. The Office of Court Administration shall establish a subscription rate for credit reporting agencies, as defined amends section 380-a of the general business law for the purpose of conducting state- wide criminal history record searches through the office.
Section 2. Within 90 days of the effective date of this act, such office shall offer to credit reporting agencies a subscription rate that shall not exceed $18,000,000 per annum and shall be offered on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis in equal installments.
Section 3. Is the effective date.
Justification
Currently, the New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA) charges $65 per criminal history search, which is the highest fee for any state or jurisdiction in the United States by more than 100%. Furthermore, companies are increasingly required to conduct more back- ground checks as we enter the so-called gig-economy. Therefore, the comprehensive criminal history record searches in a timely manner while providing the Office with a sustainable increase in revenue annually.
Legislative history
New Bill.
Fiscal implications
None to the State.
Effective date
This act shall take effective immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.