Epstein, Mosley, Miller MG, Simon, Gottfried, Rosenthal L, Reyes, Otis, Simotas, Quart, Kim,
Rodriguez, Fahy, Abinanti, Weprin, Ortiz, Colton
MLTSPNSR
Braunstein, De La Rosa, Nolan
Add §2-e, Ed L
Directs the commissioner of education to conduct a study on the use of biometric identifying technology; prohibits the use of biometric identifying technology in schools until July 1, 2022 or until the commissioner authorizes such purchase or utilization, whichever occurs later.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6787D
SPONSOR: Wallace TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to the use of biometric
identifying technology
PURPOSE OF BILL:
This bill will authorize the Commissioner of Education to study and
report on the use of biometric identifying technology on school grounds
in order to create a comprehensive', unified statewide regulatory system
governing the use of such technology in schools.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends education law to add a new section 2-E regarding the
use of biometric identifying technology on school grounds. It directs
the Commissioner of Education, in consultation with the department's
chief privacy officer, to study and make recommendations on whether the
use of biometric identifying technology, including facial recognition,
is appropriate for use in public and nonpublic elementary and secondary
schools. If deemed appropriate, the Commissioner will identify what
restrictions and guidelines to enact. It further identifies specific
considerations to be addressed by the Commissioner, requires the Commis-
sioner to seek feedback from individuals with expertise in school safe-
ty, security, and data and student privacy issues before making their
recommendations and prohibits schools from purchasing and utilizing
biometric identifying technology, until the later of July 1, 2022 or the
authorization for such purchase or use is issued pursuant to this bill.
JUSTIFICATION:
Increasingly, school districts in New York are seeking to use public
funds for the installation and use of facial recognition software. The
intended use of the software is to screen students, families, and others
as they enter a school. Some school districts also intend to rely on the
software for student discipline. The safety of New York State students
is a paramount consideration for all lawmakers. But before spending
millions of dollars on technology that may not make our children signif-
icantly safer than alternative less-costly forms of security, it is
incumbent upon us to study the risks and benefits of using this still-e-
volving form of technology. Considerations include the privacy impli-
cations of collecting, storing and sharing biometric data of students
and others; the reliability of the technology as a whole and whether
reliability differs for different classifications of individuals based
on race, national origin, gender, and age (as some studies suggest);
whether use shall be limited to security and the effectiveness of the
technology to protect students and school personnel; whether, and under
what circumstances, information collected may be used by schools and
shared with students, parents or guardians, outside agencies, individ-
uals, litigants and the courts; the risk of unauthorized breach of biom-
etric data and consequences therefor; the expected maintenance costs to
be borne by local districts, including the cost of appropriately secur-
ing sensitive data, performing required updates to protect against unau-
thorized breach of data, and potential costs associated with an unau-
thorized breach of data; analysis of others schools and organizations
that have implemented facial recognition and other biometric record
software programs; whether the use of such technology should be
disclosed in schools and communicated to parents, students and district
residents; and legislation that may be needed to ensure that records of
the use of the technology are kept, privacy interests are protected, and
data breaches are avoided.
If it is ultimately decided that the benefits of this technology
outweigh any risks to privacy and data security, the bill requires the
Commissioner to provide restrictions and guidelines to enact to protect
individual privacy interests and mitigate any possible risks and dangers
associated with use.
The need for caution with regard to this technology has been widely
recognized. National news organizations, security experts, and the soft-
ware providers themselves have identified the need for regulation of
technology that has "broad social ramifications and the potential for
abuse." The security of biometric data, like facial recognition, is of
grave concern given the permanency of those identifiers. As the U.S.
Government Accountability Office has recognized, biometric data cannot
be altered in the event of a breach. A person's immutable character-
istics are permanent and must be heavily guarded. To allow the use of a
system storing highly sensitive data with no regulations for the stand-
ard of care to be taken in doing so would be highly irresponsible.
Indeed, three states, Illinois, Texas and Washington, have already
created laws to address the collection and security of biometric data.
This bill will direct the Commissioner of Education to thoroughly study
this issue of facial recognition software in schools and recommend a
course of action. It is essential to do our due diligence to ensure
there is a uniform, comprehensive regulatory scheme in place before
moving forward in permitting New York schools to use this highly contro-
versial software.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6787--D
Cal. No. 245
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 20, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WALLACE, EPSTEIN, MOSLEY, M. G. MILLER, SIMON,
GOTTFRIED, L. ROSENTHAL, REYES, OTIS, SIMOTAS, QUART, KIM, RODRIGUEZ,
FAHY, ABINANTI, WEPRIN, ORTIZ, COLTON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of
A. BRAUNSTEIN, DE LA ROSA, NOLAN -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Education -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- again
reported from said committee with amendments, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to said committee -- ordered to a third read-
ing, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place on the order
of third reading -- again amended on third reading, ordered reprinted,
retaining its place on the order of third reading
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to the use of biometric
identifying technology
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 2-e to
2 read as follows:
3 § 2-e. Use of biometric identifying technology. 1. As used in this
4 section:
5 a. "biometric identifying technology" shall mean any tool using an
6 automated or semi-automated process that assists in verifying a person's
7 identity based on a person's biometric information.
8 b. "biometric information" shall mean any measurable physical, physio-
9 logical or behavioral characteristics that are attributable to a person,
10 including but not limited to facial characteristics, fingerprint charac-
11 teristics, hand characteristics, eye characteristics, vocal character-
12 istics, and any other characteristics that can be used to identify a
13 person including, but are not limited to: fingerprints; handprints;
14 retina and iris patterns; DNA sequence; voice; gait; and facial geom-
15 etry.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10753-14-0
A. 6787--D 2
1 c. "facial recognition" shall mean any tool using an automated or
2 semi-automated process that assists in uniquely identifying or verifying
3 a person by comparing and analyzing patterns based on the person's face.
4 2. Public and nonpublic elementary and secondary schools, including
5 charter schools, shall be prohibited from purchasing or utilizing biome-
6 tric identifying technology for any purpose, including school security,
7 until July first, two thousand twenty-two or until the commissioner
8 authorizes such purchase or utilization as provided in subdivision three
9 of this section, whichever occurs later.
10 3. a. The commissioner shall not authorize the purchase or utilization
11 of biometric identifying technology, including but not limited to facial
12 recognition technology, without first issuing a report prepared in
13 consultation with the department's chief privacy officer, making recom-
14 mendations as to the circumstances in which the utilization of such
15 technology is appropriate in public and nonpublic elementary and second-
16 ary schools, including charter schools, and what restrictions and guide-
17 lines should be enacted to protect individual privacy, civil rights, and
18 civil liberty interests. Such report shall be made public and presented
19 to the governor, the temporary president of the senate, and the speaker
20 of the assembly, and shall consider, evaluate and present recommenda-
21 tions concerning:
22 i. the privacy implications of collecting, storing, and/or sharing
23 biometric information of students, teachers, school personnel and the
24 general public entering a school or school grounds;
25 ii. the potential impact of the use of biometric identifying technolo-
26 gy on student civil liberties and student civil rights, including the
27 risks and implications of the technology resulting in false facial iden-
28 tifications, and whether the risks of false facial identifications
29 differs for different subgroups of individuals based on race, national
30 origin, gender, age and other factors, and any other reasonable accuracy
31 concerns with respect to technology;
32 iii. whether, and under what circumstances, such technology may be
33 used for school security and the effectiveness of such technology to
34 protect students and school personnel;
35 iv. whether, and under what circumstances and in what manner, informa-
36 tion collected may be used by schools and shared with students, parents
37 or guardians, outside agencies including law enforcement agencies, indi-
38 viduals, litigants, the courts, and any other third parties;
39 v. the length of time biometric information may be retained and wheth-
40 er, and in what manner, such information may be required to be perma-
41 nently destroyed;
42 vi. the risk of an unauthorized breach of biometric information and
43 appropriate consequences therefor;
44 vii. expected maintenance costs resulting from the storage and use of
45 facial recognition images and other biometric information, including the
46 cost of appropriately securing sensitive data, performing required
47 updates to protect against an unauthorized breach of data, and potential
48 costs associated with an unauthorized breach of data;
49 viii. analysis of other schools and organizations, if any, that have
50 implemented facial recognition technology and other biometric identify-
51 ing technology programs;
52 ix. the appropriateness and potential implications of using any exist-
53 ing databases, including but not limited to, local law enforcement data-
54 bases, as part of biometric identifying technology;
55 x. whether, and in what manner such biometric identifying technology
56 should be assessed and audited, including but not limited to, vendor
A. 6787--D 3
1 datasets, adherence to appropriate standards of algorithmic fairness,
2 accuracy, and other performance metrics, including with respect to
3 subgroups of persons based on race, national origin, gender, and age;
4 xi. whether, and in what manner, the use of such technology should be
5 disclosed by signs and the like in such schools, as well as communicated
6 to parents, guardians, students, and district residents; and
7 xii. existing legislation, including but not limited to section 2-d of
8 this article, that may be implicated by or in conflict with biometric
9 technology to ensure the maintenance of records related to the use of
10 such technology, protect the privacy interests of data subjects, and
11 avoid any breaches of data.
12 b. The commissioner shall consult with stakeholders and other inter-
13 ested parties when preparing such report. The office of information
14 technology, the division of criminal justice services, law enforcement
15 authorities and the state university of New York and the city university
16 of New York shall, to the extent practicable, identify and provide
17 representatives to the department, at the request of the commissioner,
18 in order to participate in the development and drafting of such report.
19 4. The commissioner shall, via scheduled public hearings and other
20 outreach methods, seek feedback from teachers, school administrators,
21 parents, individuals with expertise in school safety and security, and
22 individuals with expertise in data privacy issues and student privacy
23 issues, and individuals with expertise in civil rights and civil liber-
24 ties prior to making such recommendations.
25 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
