-  This bill is not active in this session.
 

A07584 Summary:

BILL NOA07584
 
SAME ASSAME AS S06347
 
SPONSORLentol
 
COSPNSRFahy
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd §160.55, CP L
 
Relates to sealing petty offenses and making certain technical changes.
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A07584 Actions:

BILL NOA07584
 
05/10/2019referred to codes
05/21/2019reported
05/23/2019advanced to third reading cal.455
06/03/2019passed assembly
06/03/2019delivered to senate
06/03/2019REFERRED TO RULES
06/18/2019SUBSTITUTED FOR S6347
06/18/20193RD READING CAL.1527
06/18/2019PASSED SENATE
06/18/2019RETURNED TO ASSEMBLY
10/01/2019delivered to governor
10/07/2019signed chap.359
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A07584 Committee Votes:

CODES Chair:Lentol DATE:05/21/2019AYE/NAY:21/0 Action: Favorable
LentolAyeRaAye
SchimmingerAyeGiglioAye
PretlowAbsentMontesanoAye
CookAyeMorinelloAye
CymbrowitzAyePalumboAye
O'DonnellAyeGarbarinoAye
LavineAye
PerryAye
ZebrowskiAye
AbinantiAye
WeprinAye
MosleyAye
HevesiAye
FahyAye
SeawrightAye
RosenthalAye

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A07584 Floor Votes:

DATE:06/03/2019Assembly Vote  YEA/NAY: 138/3
Yes
Abbate
Yes
Crespo
ER
Gantt
Yes
LiPetri
Yes
Perry
Yes
Simon
Yes
Abinanti
Yes
Crouch
Yes
Garbarino
Yes
Lupardo
Yes
Pheffer Amato
Yes
Simotas
Yes
Arroyo
Yes
Cruz
Yes
Giglio
Yes
Magnarelli
Yes
Pichardo
Yes
Smith
Yes
Ashby
Yes
Cusick
Yes
Glick
Yes
Malliotakis
Yes
Pretlow
Yes
Smullen
Yes
Aubry
Yes
Cymbrowitz
Yes
Goodell
Yes
Manktelow
Yes
Quart
Yes
Solages
Yes
Barclay
ER
Davila
Yes
Gottfried
Yes
McDonald
Yes
Ra
Yes
Stec
Yes
Barnwell
Yes
De La Rosa
Yes
Griffin
Yes
McDonough
Yes
Raia
Yes
Steck
Yes
Barrett
Yes
DenDekker
Yes
Gunther
Yes
McMahon
Yes
Ramos
Yes
Stern
Yes
Barron
Yes
DeStefano
Yes
Hawley
Yes
Mikulin
Yes
Raynor
Yes
Stirpe
Yes
Benedetto
Yes
Dickens
Yes
Hevesi
Yes
Miller B
Yes
Reilly
No
Tague
Yes
Bichotte
Yes
Dilan
Yes
Hunter
Yes
Miller MG
Yes
Reyes
Yes
Taylor
Yes
Blake
Yes
Dinowitz
Yes
Hyndman
Yes
Miller ML
Yes
Richardson
Yes
Thiele
Yes
Blankenbush
Yes
DiPietro
Yes
Jacobson
Yes
Montesano
Yes
Rivera
ER
Titus
Yes
Brabenec
Yes
D'Urso
Yes
Jaffee
Yes
Morinello
Yes
Rodriguez
Yes
Vanel
Yes
Braunstein
Yes
Eichenstein
Yes
Jean-Pierre
Yes
Mosley
Yes
Romeo
Yes
Walczyk
Yes
Bronson
Yes
Englebright
Yes
Johns
Yes
Niou
Yes
Rosenthal D
Yes
Walker
Yes
Buchwald
Yes
Epstein
Yes
Jones
Yes
Nolan
Yes
Rosenthal L
Yes
Wallace
Yes
Burke
Yes
Fahy
Yes
Joyner
Yes
Norris
Yes
Rozic
Yes
Walsh
Yes
Buttenschon
Yes
Fall
ER
Kim
Yes
O'Donnell
Yes
Ryan
Yes
Weinstein
Yes
Byrne
Yes
Fernandez
Yes
Kolb
Yes
Ortiz
Yes
Salka
Yes
Weprin
Yes
Byrnes
ER
Finch
ER
Lalor
ER
Otis
Yes
Santabarbara
ER
Williams
Yes
Cahill
Yes
Fitzpatrick
Yes
Lavine
Yes
Palmesano
Yes
Sayegh
Yes
Woerner
Yes
Carroll
No
Friend
Yes
Lawrence
Yes
Palumbo
Yes
Schimminger
Yes
Wright
Yes
Colton
Yes
Frontus
Yes
Lentol
Yes
Paulin
No
Schmitt
ER
Zebrowski
Yes
Cook
Yes
Galef
Yes
Lifton
Yes
Peoples-Stokes
Yes
Seawright
Yes
Mr. Speaker

‡ Indicates voting via videoconference
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A07584 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A7584
 
SPONSOR: Lentol
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to sealing petty offenses This is one in a series of measures being introduced at the request of the Chief Administrative Judge upon the recommendation of his Advisory Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure. This measure would amend section 160.55 of the Criminal Procedure Law to clarify that cases that result in a conviction only for a petty offense fall within the meaning of that statute regardless of the original arrest charge. There is an unusual and unintended anomaly in how executive agencies apply the sealing provisions of CPL 160.55 to convictions where the original arrest charge is a petty offense (e.g., a traffic infraction or violation offense), as distinguished from cases where the original arrest charge is a misdemeanor or felony but later ends only in a conviction for a petty offense. To understand how this anomaly has aris- en, it is necessary to understand the history of the statute, which, in relevant part, currently provides that "(u)pon the termination of a criminal action or proceeding against a person by the conviction of such person of a traffic infraction or a violation   other than loitering or DWAI, unless the court decides to not seal in the interest of justice . . . all official records and papers relating to the arrest or prosecution . . . on file with the division of criminal justice services, police agency, or prosecutor's office shall be sealed and not made available to any person or public or private agency" (CPL 160.55(1)). Despite this unequivocal language, most law enforcement agencies, including the Division of Criminal Justice Services and local police departments, distinguish between cases where an accused is arrested on a top charge that is a violation or traffic infraction and those where the top charge of a misdemeanor or felony offense, but the accused is later convicted only of a traffic infraction or violation. In the latter, all agree that the case should be sealed; in the former, law enforcement records consistently are not sealed. The reasons for this result are found in the history of the statute as reflected in a decades- old, but never updated, McKinney's commentary on the topic. CPL 160.55 was enacted in 1980 and was originally designed to seal non-criminal dispositions that appeared on an accused's criminal history report (the "rap sheet"). At the time, and still today, a conviction for a noncriminal offense could only be reflected on a DCJS rap sheet if the accused was initially arrested on a fingerprintable offense (see CPL 160.10(1)). Where an accused is arrested for a non- printable offense, DCJS does not reflect the arrest and thus the case, regardless of disposition, is not reflected on a defendant's rap sheet. Based on the original reach of the statute, it was understood that seal- ing convictions for a petty offense at DCJS involved only fingerprinta- ble arrests. The practice commentary written at the time of the original statute accurately reflects this state of the law: "This section, added to the CPL in 1980, complements the provisions of the preceding section (160.50), which apply where the entire criminal action or proceeding is terminated in the defendant's favor. The situ- ation covered here is where defendant, having been arrested or charged with a printable offense (CPL § 160.10), ultimately is convicted of a petty offense, except the three specifically excluded." (emphasis added) The statute operated, as reflected in the commentary, until 1994, when the Legislature expanded CPL 160.55 to include sealing not only petty offenses that would be reflected on an accused's rap sheet, but also records of law enforcement, including police and DA records (L. 1994, c. 169 § 81). Obviously, law enforcement agencies possess all arrest records, regardless of whether a defendant is charged with a finger- printable offense. Thus, the distinction that was critical when the statute was first enacted - whether DCJS had any record to seal - became irrelevant to law enforcement records. At that point, a glaring incon- sistency arose that made the sealing of petty offenses at the local law enforcement level dependent on whether the arrest carried a top-count charge of a crime. Ironically, the current application of the statute results in more favorable treatment for those accused of misdemeanors and felonies over those who are initially accused only of a petty offense, an outcome the Legislature surely could not have intended. This measure amends CPL 160.55(1) by adding language to clarify that the statute's scope is gauged solely on the conviction charges as reflected in the final disposition of the case; the arrest charge is irrelevant. The measure retains the prefatory language that the section applies to a "criminal action or proceeding" because petty offense charges, although not criminal, are still part of a criminal action or proceeding when adjudicated in the Unified Court System (see CPL 1.20(16)). This measure, which would have no meaningful fiscal impact on the State, would take effect 90 days after it shall have become law.   LEGISLATIVE HISTORY 2017-2018 (Sen Lanza) (Committed to Rules)
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A07584 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          7584
 
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                      May 10, 2019
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  LENTOL -- (at request of the Office of Court
          Administration) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes
 
        AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to sealing petty
          offenses
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The opening paragraph of subdivision 1 of section 160.55 of
     2  the  criminal  procedure  law,  as amended by chapter 169 of the laws of
     3  1994, is amended to read as follows:
     4    [Upon] Regardless of the class  of  offense  for  which  a  person  is
     5  initially charged, upon the termination of a criminal action or proceed-
     6  ing  against  a  person  by  the  conviction of such person of a traffic
     7  infraction or a violation,  other  than  a  violation  of  loitering  as
     8  described in paragraph (d) [or (e)] of subdivision one of section 160.10
     9  of  this [chapter] article or the violation of operating a motor vehicle
    10  while ability impaired as described in subdivision one of section eleven
    11  hundred ninety-two of the vehicle and traffic law, unless  the  district
    12  attorney upon motion with not less than five [days] days' notice to such
    13  person  or  his  or her attorney demonstrates to the satisfaction of the
    14  court that the interests of justice require otherwise, or the  court  on
    15  its  own  motion  with  not  less  than five [days] days' notice to such
    16  person or his or her attorney determines that the interests  of  justice
    17  require  otherwise  and states the reasons for such determination on the
    18  record, the clerk of the court wherein such criminal action or  proceed-
    19  ing  was  terminated  shall  immediately  notify the commissioner of the
    20  division of criminal justice services and the heads of  all  appropriate
    21  police  departments  and  other law enforcement agencies that the action
    22  has been terminated by such conviction. Upon receipt of notification  of
    23  such termination:
    24    §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
    25  have become a law.
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11521-01-9
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