NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A716
SPONSOR: Gunther (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the tax law, in relation to permitting
state lottery winners to remain anonymous to the general public
PURPOSE:
To protect the privacy of NYS lottery winners by limiting the disclosure
of identifying information of any holder of a winning ticket.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends subdivision a of section 1613 of the tax
law in relation to the disclosure of personal identifying information of
NYS lottery winners.
Section 2 of the bill is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In recent years, high jackpot lottery drawings seem to be more common.
The benefits of winning such a lottery are obvious and well known.
However, there are other consequences of being a "lucky" winner - espe-
cially when identifying information about the winner is publicly
disclosed. Lottery winners are besieged with requests. Sometimes the
requests are legitimate (e.g. charitable donation), sometimes they are
frivolous (e.g. speculative business ventures). Some requests are just
scams. Public disclosure of a lottery winner's identifying information
makes the winner vulnerable to this sort of activity. More importantly,
it can make the lottery winner a target of criminal activity. This can
include burglary, kidnapping, harassment, fraudulent lawsuits, etc.
Unfortunately, in today's economic climate, winning the lottery has
become the American Dream for some people. For those lucky enough to win
the lottery, protections should be in place to preserve their privacy
and well-being. By addressing this issue, this legislation will maintain
privacy and protect lottery winners from potential criminal activity.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2015-16: A1076A Referred to Ways & Means
2013-14: A2317A Held in Ways & Means/S1349 Referred to Racing, Gaming
and Wagering
2011-12: S7315 Referred to Racing, Gaming and Wagering
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
716
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 9, 2017
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GUNTHER, ZEBROWSKI, COOK, M. G. MILLER, RIVERA,
TITUS, GOTTFRIED, ARROYO, HOOPER, STECK, PICHARDO, RICHARDSON, CROUCH,
WALTER, RAIA, MONTESANO, McDONOUGH, LUPINACCI, MURRAY -- Multi-Spon-
sored by -- M. of A. FRIEND, HAWLEY, KEARNS, MAGEE, McKEVITT, McLAUGH-
LIN, SIMANOWITZ, STEC, TITONE -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Ways and Means
AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to permitting state lottery
winners to remain anonymous to the general public
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision a of section 1613 of the tax law, as amended by
2 chapter 426 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as follows:
3 a. It shall be the duty of the director to require that all prizes
4 over five thousand dollars in any game be awarded to holders of winning
5 tickets for that game as provided in this section and section sixteen
6 hundred fourteen of this article. Within one week after any drawing or
7 selection of prize winning lottery tickets, the division shall deliver
8 to the comptroller a certified list of the tickets to which prizes are
9 awarded and the amount of each such prize. Upon receipt of such certi-
10 fied list and voucher of the division, moneys sufficient for the payment
11 of such prizes shall be paid to the division from the lottery prize
12 account, upon audit and warrant of the comptroller. Moneys for the
13 payment of lottery prizes shall be deposited by the director as provided
14 in section sixteen hundred eleven of this article and the withdrawal of
15 such moneys for the payment of prize winners shall be subject to a check
16 signed by the director or such officers or employees of the division as
17 the director may designate. The division shall each month provide the
18 comptroller with a record of all such withdrawals from the director's
19 accounts. Payment of prizes shall be made by the division to holders of
20 the tickets to which prizes are awarded, except that payment of any
21 prize drawn may be paid to the estate of a deceased prize winner, may be
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02947-02-7
A. 716 2
1 paid pursuant to a court order granted as a result of a proceeding as
2 provided in subdivision d of this section, and except that any person
3 pursuant to an appropriate judicial order may be paid the prize to which
4 the winner is entitled. The division shall not publicly disclose the
5 name, address or other identifying information of any holder of a
6 winning ticket or require any winning ticket holder to perform any
7 public actions in connection with the awarding, payment or collection of
8 prize moneys where a holder of a winning ticket provides a written
9 request to the division. The division shall be discharged of all further
10 liability upon payment of a prize pursuant to this subdivision.
11 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
