Prohibits the division of criminal justice services from disclosing pending orders of adjournment in contemplation of dismissal on civil records of arrests and prosecutions.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A356
SPONSOR: Weprin TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to prohibiting the divi-
sion of criminal justice services from disclosing pending orders of
adjournment in contemplation of dismissal on civil records of arrests
and prosecutions
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To create Consistency Between Statutes Relating to Employment Discrimi-
nation and Ensure that New Yorkers Have the Opportunity To Work and
Support Their Families
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends Section 845-d of the executive law Section 2: - Sets
effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
As part of the FY2020 budget, the New York State Human Rights Law was
amended to prohibit employers and licensing agencies from inquiring
about or discriminating on the basis of criminal cases adjourned in
contemplation of dismissal (ACD'd). See N.Y. Exec. Law § 296 (16). The
enacted amendment aimed to ensure that New Yorkers would not be fired or
denied employment or licensure because of a criminal case that had been
scheduled for dismissal. A technical amendment is needed to make a
related statute consistent with the Human Rights Law and to ensure that
the amendment to the Human Rights Law functions as intended. Currently,
the Division of Criminal Justice Services ("DCJS") reports ACD'd cases
to employers and licensing agencies, even though employers and licensing
agencies are prohibited from inquiring about ACD'd cases or discriminat-
ing on the basis of ACD'd cases. These reports from DCJS put New Yorkers
at increase d risk of unlawful discrimination - and increase the risk of
liability for employers, who may not be aware that ACD-related discrimi-
nation is illegal.
Multiple clients of The Legal Aid Society have been denied employment
due to DCJS's disclosure of ACD'd cases since the time of the Human
Rights Law amendment. These New Yorkers were only able to begin working
after The Legal Aid Society intervened and asserted the clients' rights
under the Human Rights Law. However, New Yorkers who are not represented
by counsel will continue to lose job opportunities until a technical
amendment is made to Executive Law § 845-d(1). In a post-Covid world of
high unemployment, New York State must do everything in its power to
ensure that New Yorkers have the opportunity to work and support their
families.
The language in the proposed technical amendment mirrors the language in
the FY2020 budget amendment to the Human Rights Law. In addition, the
proposed technical amendment replaces the phrase "criminal conviction"
with its definition, "conviction of a crime," to ensure that violation-
level convictions are not reported for civil purposes. The technical
amendment does not apply to DCJS's reporting for criminal justice
purposes.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
356
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN, BURDICK, SIMON, SEAWRIGHT, MEEKS, EPSTEIN
-- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to prohibiting the divi-
sion of criminal justice services from disclosing pending orders of
adjournment in contemplation of dismissal on civil records of arrests
and prosecutions
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 845-d of the executive law, as
2 added by section 1 of subpart N of part II of chapter 55 of the laws of
3 2019, is amended to read as follows:
4 1. When, pursuant to statute or the regulations of this division, the
5 division conducts a search of its criminal history records for civil
6 purposes, and returns a report therein, it shall only report any [crimi-
7 nal convictions] conviction of a crime, and any criminal arrests and
8 accompanying criminal actions which are pending. A criminal arrest and
9 accompanying criminal action which have been followed by an adjournment
10 in contemplation of dismissal pursuant to section 170.55, 170.56,
11 210.46, 210.47 or 215.10 of the criminal procedure law shall not be
12 considered pending for civil purposes unless the order to adjourn in
13 contemplation of dismissal is revoked and the case is restored to the
14 calendar for further prosecution.
15 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00459-01-5
