What's happening
This bill requires the exclusion of open warrant information from most criminal history record searches unless used for law enforcement, research, or internal purposes.
Why it matters
Reduces public and non-law enforcement access to information about open warrants. meaning employers, housing providers, and others will no longer see if someone has an outstanding warrant in most background checks, which could reduce barriers for individuals with unresolved legal matters.
Aims to prevent outdated or unaddressed warrants from unfairly impacting people. particularly in cases where there has been new court activity but no official update on the warrant status, potentially protecting individuals from discrimination based on incomplete records.
Maintains law enforcement and research access. ensuring that police, courts, and legitimate researchers can still see complete records, so public safety and data analysis are not compromised by the exclusion.
Could encourage more up-to-date recordkeeping and reporting. by highlighting gaps between court actions and official warrant documentation, this bill may push for improved communication and accuracy in the criminal justice system’s data.
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Who cares
People with open warrants in their criminal histories
The bill would exclude warrant references from covered reports when the division receives notice of a later court proceeding in the same case but no notice that the warrant was recalled.
Division of Criminal Justice Services
The division would have to omit those warrant references from covered reports while retaining exceptions for specified uses.
Qualified agencies and federal or state law enforcement agencies
The exclusion would not apply to information provided to qualified agencies or to federal or state law enforcement agencies for criminal justice purposes.
Criminal justice researchers
Criminal history information prepared solely for bona fide research would remain exempt from the warrant-reference exclusion.
Headline styles
Hide Old Warrant Records
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to finance
- Referred to finance
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.
Hide Unrecalled Warrants From Records
In Assembly Committee · Codes · Sponsor Jeffrion Aubry
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3256
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 5, 2019
Introduced by Sens. PARKER, SERRANO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to criminal history record searches and open warrants
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 845-c to read as follows:
§ 845-c. Criminal history record searches; open warrants. 1. When a criminal record maintained by the division, pursuant to subdivision six of section eight hundred thirty-seven of this article, contains a warrant that has not been recalled and the division has subsequently received a report of a new court proceeding on the case that contains the warrant but no report that the warrant has been recalled, all references to such a warrant contained in the criminal history record shall be excluded from such report.
2. The provisions of subdivision one of this section shall not apply to criminal history record information (a) provided by the division to qualified agencies pursuant to subdivision six of section eight hundred thirty-seven of this article or to federal or state law enforcement agencies for criminal justice purposes; (b) prepared solely for a bona fide research purpose; or (c) prepared for the internal recordkeeping or case management purposes of the division.
§ 2. This act shall take effect January 1, 2021.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08089-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to criminal history record searches and open warrants
Purpose
This bill will create a procedure to remove inaccurate information from an individual's permanent criminal record as maintained by the Division Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) as it relates to warrants issued as part of a criminal proceeding.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of the bill adds a new section 845-c of the executive law creating a process whereby DCJS will exclude a warrant. that has not been recalled from a person's criminal-history records where there has been a new court proceeding reported on the case but no warrant has been recalled. This section will not apply to criminal justice history records available to state agencies with access to the DCJS data base under. section 837(6) of the Executive Law or to law enforcement agen- cies, but will affect criminal history background checks for civil purposes.
Read the full memo (626 words)
Section 2 provides an effective date.
Existing law
Under Subsection six of Executive Law § 837, the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) is required to establish a repository to main- tain a record of all arrests and prosecutions in New York State, creat- ing an individual's rap sheet. The registry's data includes a record of all warrants issued as part of a criminal proceeding. Once these warrants are vacated by the court, this information should then be sent, to DCJS and recorded in the individual's rap sheet.
Justification
Due to failures in communication among the various criminal justice agencies, the process outlined in the Executive Law is not always followed, resulting in many individuals having rap sheets that list warrants as active that have actually been recalled. These mistakes can cause an individual to be denied employment, housing or public benefits for which they are eligible.
Currently, in order to correct warrant-related mistakes of this sort, an individual must return to the court where his or her case was heard and ask the clerk of the court to forward information regarding the vacated warrant to DCJS so that this information may be correctly reflected on the individual's criminal record. An individual must follow this process even when it is clear from the criminal record that further proceedings occurred and that the warrant in question must have been previously cleared.
This process becomes more complex, or even impossible, where the phantom warrant involves an old case. Under the Records Retention and Disposi- tion Schedule issued by the Office of Court Administration (OCA), courts are ordered to destroy records of all returned warrants within five years of the date of return or recall. Court case files, which may also contain records concerning warrants, are also scheduled to be destroyed after a period of time. This period can be as short a six years where the case was terminated in favor of the defendant or resulted in a violation disposition. Even records of cases that ended in a felony conviction are only retained for 25 years before they are destroyed. As a result, once the courts no longer have any record of these warrants, these persons have no opportunity to have this inaccurate information removed from their record.
The proposed amendment provides a simple mechanism to have incorrect, outdated warrant information removed from criminal history records released for civil background checks. It will not affect the data seen by qualified state agencies, including the courts, or by law enforce- ment.
Legislative history
2017-18: S. 2872 - Referred to Finance 2015-16: S.4939A - Amend and Recommit to Finance 2013-14: S.3255B/A.2896B - Referred to Codes, Reported and Third Reading 2011-12: S.3377/A.6473 - Referred to Codes
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Effective date
This shall take effect January 1, 2021.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.