NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1408
SPONSOR: Zebrowski TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the correction law, in relation to including authorized
internet entities in the information sex offenders are required to
disclose upon registration
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill would require registered sex offenders to disclose any author-
ized internet entities that they use.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends the correction law in relation to adding
"authorized internet entities" to the list of required disclosures upon
sex offender registration.
Section two of the bill amends the correction law in relation to adding
"authorized internet entities" to the list of required disclosures upon
a change to a sex offender's registration.
Section three of the bill relates to the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill would require registered sex offenders to disclose any author-
ized internet entities that they use. Authorized internet entities are
defined as websites or services where persons under the age of 18
"congregate or communicate with other users for the purpose of social
networking." This would include most social networking sites including
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
A recent Court of Appeals case (People v. Ellis 2019) ruled that the
statute does not require disclosure of authorized internet entities only
the internet identifier (emails, screen names) that a registered offen-
der uses. The court found that since the registered offender used their
email, which was disclosed, to access Facebook and displayed their true
name in the profile, they were not required to provide this information
to the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS).
This bill seeks to rectify the court ruling by ensuring a sex offender
registration has the full picture of a sex offender's online a activ-
ities and personas. This will provide DCJS and probation departments
with the tools to ensure that offenders are compliant with their terms
of release. Furthermore, the case involved the failure to disclose the
use of Facebook; a social networking site whose terms and conditions
prohibit registered sex offenders from utilizing the platform. This bill
would improve public safety by providing clarity in the types of inter-
net activity that must be disclosed upon registration.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.305 of 2021-22 A.8560 of 2020
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1408
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 17, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ZEBROWSKI, WOERNER, COLTON, HEVESI, THIELE,
STERN, SIMON, LUPARDO, BUTTENSCHON -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Correction
AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to including authorized
internet entities in the information sex offenders are required to
disclose upon registration
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 168-b of the
2 correction law, as amended by chapter 67 of the laws of 2008, is amended
3 to read as follows:
4 (a) The sex offender's name, all aliases used, date of birth, sex,
5 race, height, weight, eye color, driver's license number, home address
6 and/or expected place of domicile, any internet accounts with internet
7 access providers belonging to such offender and internet identifiers or
8 authorized internet entities that such offender uses.
9 § 2. Subdivision 4 of section 168-f of the correction law, as amended
10 by chapter 67 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
11 4. Any sex offender shall register with the division no later than ten
12 calendar days after any change of address, internet accounts with inter-
13 net access providers belonging to such offender, internet identifiers or
14 authorized internet entities that such offender uses, or his or her
15 status of enrollment, attendance, employment or residence at any insti-
16 tution of higher education. A fee of ten dollars, as authorized by
17 subdivision eight of section one hundred sixty-eight-b of this article,
18 shall be submitted by the sex offender each time such offender registers
19 any change of address or any change of his or her status of enrollment,
20 attendance, employment or residence at any institution of higher educa-
21 tion. Any failure or omission to submit the required fee shall not
22 affect the acceptance by the division of the change of address or change
23 of status.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00962-01-3
A. 1408 2
1 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
2 have become a law. Effective immediately the addition, amendment and/or
3 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
4 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
5 on or before such date.
