A00356 Summary:
BILL NO | A00356 |
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SAME AS | SAME AS S01055 |
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SPONSOR | Weprin |
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COSPNSR | Burdick, Simon, Seawright, Meeks, Epstein, Hevesi |
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MLTSPNSR | |
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Amd §845-d, Exec L | |
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Prohibits the division of criminal justice services from disclosing pending orders of adjournment in contemplation of dismissal on civil records of arrests and prosecutions. |
A00356 Actions:
BILL NO | A00356 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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01/08/2025 | referred to codes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
01/28/2025 | reported | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
01/30/2025 | advanced to third reading cal.2 |
A00356 Memo:
Go to topNEW 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.
A00356 Text:
Go to top 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-7nal 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