What's happening
This bill repeals section 50-a of the civil rights law, removing confidentiality for police, firefighter, and correction officer personnel records.
Why it matters
Increases Public Access to Disciplinary Records. By repealing section 50-a, the bill allows public access to police, firefighter, and correction officer personnel records, including disciplinary records, which were previously confidential. This could empower communities to better scrutinize the conduct of law enforcement and other public safety officials.
Facilitates Greater Accountability. Removal of these confidentiality protections could make it easier to identify patterns of misconduct, hold individuals and agencies accountable, and inform the public about the behavior and disciplinary history of those in positions of authority.
Impacts Transparency in Police Reform Debates. The change directly affects ongoing discussions about police transparency and reform, providing advocates, journalists, and policymakers with more data to analyze systemic issues or propose new oversight mechanisms.
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Who cares
Headline styles
End Police Records Secrecy
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 32
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Recommit, enacting clause stricken
- 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.
End Police Records Secrecy
In Assembly Committee · Governmental Operations · Sponsor Daniel O'Donnell
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2673
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 28, 2019
Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to repeal section 50-a of the civil rights law, relating 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. Section 50-a of the civil rights law is REPEALED.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02938-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to repeal section 50-a of the civil rights law, relating to personnel records of police officers, firefighters and correction offi- cers
Purpose or general idea of bill
This bill would repeal Section 50-a of the civil rights law.
Summary of specific provisions
Section one of the bill repeals section 50-a of the civil rights law.
Section two is the effective date.
Justification
§ 50-a of the New York State Civil Rights Law permits law enforcement officers to refuse disclosure of "personnel records used to evaluate performance toward continued employment or promotion." This exemption was adopted in 1976 by the Legislature in order to prevent criminal defense lawyers from using such records in cross examination of police witnesses during criminal prosecutions. According to the 2014 annual report by the State Committee on Open Government to the Governor and the State Legislature, "this narrow exemption has been expanded in the courts to allow police departments to withhold from the public virtually any record that contains any information that could conceivably be used to evaluate the performance of a police officer."
The evolution of § 50-a has defeated the Freedom of Information Law's (FOIL) goal of accountability and transparency. FOIL already provides all public employees, including those protected under § 50-a, the protections necessary to guard against unwarranted invasions of privacy and from disclosures that could jeopardize their security or safety. Furthermore, courts have the ability to protect against improper cross- examination and determine if police records are admissible in a trial, without the denial of public access to information regarding police activity created by § 50-a.
The 1976 enactment of § 50-a may have been necessary to safeguard law enforcement officers from improper personnel record exposure during criminal prosecutions, but that is no longer the case today. The general rules and statutory exceptions of FOIL - for example in instances that disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy - are sufficient in protecting police from unfair cross examination by crimi- nal defense lawyers. Moreover, the State Committee on Open Government notes that "(§ 50-a) creates a legal shield that prohibits disclosure, even when it is known that misconduct has occurred." FOIL's public policy goals, which are to make government agencies and their employees accountable to the public, are thus undermined by the statute. Outright appeal of this statute will positively affect public trust in law enforcement and serve to hold police and other uniformed law enforcement officials to the same level of accountability applied to all other public employees.
Prior legislative history
A. 9332 2016 (governmental operations) A. 3333 2018 (governmental operations)
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.