What's happening
This bill expands the definition of "qualified agencies" to include legal aid and nonprofit organizations providing legal services to indigent persons.
Why it matters
Expands access to criminal records for legal aid and nonprofit legal organizations. , enabling them to directly obtain clients’ records for the purpose of legal representation, record correction, sealing, or applying for relief certificates.
Reduces administrative and financial barriers for indigent individuals. , as legal aid providers can declare a client’s inability to pay required fees, ensuring that low-income clients are not denied access to their own legal histories due to cost.
Supports efforts to address collateral consequences of criminal records. , such as barriers to employment, housing, or professional licensing, by streamlining the process for legal aid organizations to assist clients in correcting records or obtaining certificates of rehabilitation.
Further legitimizes the role of legal aid and nonprofit organizations in the justice system. by officially recognizing them as "qualified agencies," giving them the same access to records as government law enforcement and judicial entities.
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
Legal Aid Access Expanded
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Enacting clause stricken
- Referred to governmental operations
- Referred to governmental operations
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2856
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 28, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. GANTT -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to the definition of qualified agencies
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 9 of section 835 of the executive law, as separately amended by chapters 14 and 155 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows:
9. "Qualified agencies" means courts in the unified court system, the administrative board of the judicial conference, probation departments, sheriffs' offices, district attorneys' offices, the state department of corrections and community supervision, the department of correction of any municipality, the financial frauds and consumer protection unit of the state department of financial services, the office of professional medical conduct of the state department of health for the purposes of section two hundred thirty of the public health law, the child protective services unit of a local social services district when conducting an investigation pursuant to subdivision six of section four hundred twenty-four of the social services law, the office of Medicaid inspector general, the temporary state commission of investigation, police forces and departments having responsibility for enforcement of the general criminal laws of the state, the Onondaga County Center for Forensic Sciences Laboratory when acting within the scope of its law enforcement duties and the division of forensic services of the Nassau county medical examiner's office when acting within the scope of its law enforcement duties and any legal aid society or a legal services or other nonprofit organization, which has as its primary purpose the furnishing of legal services to indigent persons, or by private counsel working on behalf of or under the auspices of such society or organization provided that a determination has been made by such society, organ-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00972-01-9
A. 2856 2
ization or attorney that such party is unable to pay the costs, fees and expenses necessary to obtain the indigent client's record and provided the legal aid society or a legal services or other nonprofit organization or by private counsel working on behalf of or under the auspices of such society or organization is obtaining the record for an individual who has authorized the society, organization, or individual under auspices of such for the purpose of ascertaining the individual's record, correcting and/or sealing any eligible information, and/or applying for certificates of relief from disability or certificates of good conduct.
§ 2. 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.