NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5549
SPONSOR: Richardson TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the correction law and the executive law, in relation to
certificates upon discharge
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends subdivision 2 of section 205 of the correction law
providing a certificate of relief from disabilities, or a certificate of
good conduct if applicable, to a person granted merit termination of
sentence.
Section 2 amends subdivision 4 of section 259-j of the executive law
providing a certificate of relief from disabilities, or a certificate of
good conduct if applicable, to a person granted discretionary three-year
discharge from community supervision pursuant to subdivision one of this
section.
Section 3 is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Criminal records result in a host of unintended consequences, including
carriers to reentry so that even when the sentence is served and the
parole supervision has been completed successfully, the barriers remain.
These barriers include legal discrimination from employment, licensure,
housing, voting rights, and other aspects of everyday life. Some post-
conviction disabilities can be relieved by obtaining a " Certificates of
Relief from Disabilities" or a "Certificate of Good Conduct" issued by
the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. These certif-
icates can demonstrate to prospective employers and landlords that a
formerly incarcerated person has lived crime free since being released
from prison. They can also be offered as proof to local boards of
election that the right to vote has been restored.
Unfortunately, we have a costly and cumbersome process to issue one of
two different Binds of certificates with different requirements and
waiting periods for differently situated offenders. Under current law, a
person moist wait until three years or five years after release from
incarceration before being allowed to apply for a certificate. At that
point such person has often completed supervision and is no longer
reporting regularly to his or her parole officer, thus requiring an
investigation to be commenced to determine if such person meets the
criteria for receiving a certificate. This bill improves the process for
obtaining these certificates for people who have been granted early or
discretionary discharge from community supervision, which may only occur
when the board of parole is satisfied that absolute discharge is in the
best interests of society and consistent with public safety. By granting
such certificates at the time of early discharge from supervision for
good behavior, the Department is saved the human and financial resources
of a subsequent investigation. This bill does not increase the number of
individuals eligible for either certificate but should increase the
number of certificates actually issued. This bill sensibly grants the
certificate at the time of discretionary discharge for those individuals
whose extraordinary performance earned them early discharge from super-
vision.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF BILL:
2019-20: A2211/S3313
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None; should save the State money.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill shall take effect ninety days after it shall have become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5549
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 19, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RICHARDSON, HYNDMAN, DE LA ROSA, WALKER, DAVILA,
FERNANDEZ, CRUZ -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. SIMON, WALLACE --
read once and referred to the Committee on Correction
AN ACT to amend the correction law and the executive law, in relation to
certificates upon discharge
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 205 of the correction law, as
2 added by section 32 of subpart A of part C of chapter 62 of the laws of
3 2011, is amended to read as follows:
4 2. (a) A merit termination granted by the department under this
5 section shall constitute a termination of the sentence with respect to
6 which it was granted. No such merit termination shall be granted unless
7 the department is satisfied that termination of sentence from presump-
8 tive release, parole, conditional release or post-release supervision is
9 in the best interest of society, and that the parolee or releasee,
10 otherwise financially able to comply with an order of restitution and
11 the payment of any mandatory surcharge previously imposed by a court of
12 competent jurisdiction, has made a good faith effort to comply there-
13 with.
14 (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person granted merit
15 termination pursuant to this section shall be provided a certificate of
16 relief from disabilities pursuant to section seven hundred three of this
17 chapter or a certificate of good conduct under section seven hundred
18 three-b of this chapter, as applicable.
19 § 2. Section 259-j of the executive law is amended by adding a new
20 subdivision 4 to read as follows:
21 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person granted
22 discharge pursuant to subdivision one of this section shall be provided
23 a certificate of relief from disabilities pursuant to section seven
24 hundred three of the correction law or a certificate of good conduct
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04737-01-1
A. 5549 2
1 pursuant to section seven hundred three-b of the correction law, as
2 applicable.
3 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
4 have become a law.
