NY State Senate Bill 2013-S3830

Senate Bill S3830

2013-2014 Legislative Session

Requires county medical examiners or coroners to give the state police forensic laboratory DNA samples of unidentified dead or alive and missing persons upon request

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 08, 2014	referred to finance
Feb 21, 2013	referred to finance

2013-S3830 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A2319
Current Committee:: Senate Finance
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §§838 & 995-d, Exec L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2009-2010: A4533
2011-2012: A5166, A7292
2015-2016: S2170, A1853
2017-2018: S1725, A413
2019-2020: A3616
2021-2022: A5270
2023-2024: A4496

2013-S3830 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires county medical examiners or coroners to give the state police forensic laboratory DNA samples of unidentified dead or alive and missing persons upon request for the purpose of classification and for the state police to forward the samples to the state division of criminal justice services for the purpose of comparison to attempt to determine identity and for the purpose of filing; also provides for the forwarding of records to the National Crime Information Center upon such center adopting a policy to accept such records.

2013-S3830 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                BILL NUMBER:S3830

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the executive law, in relation to the
classification procedure and use of DNA samples to identify
unidentified dead and missing persons

PURPOSE:

Requires county medical examiners or coroners to give the state police
forensic laboratory DNA samples of unidentified dead and missing
persons upon request.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Amends subdivision 1 of section 838 of the Executive Law to provide
for DNA samples to be taken and forwarded to the New York State Police
for analysis. The results will then be forwarded to the Division of
Criminal Justice Services to be maintained in their missing persons
files. The Division shall forward records of unidentified deceased
persons or unidentified body parts to the National Crime Information
Center (NCIC).

Amends subdivision 4 of section 838 of the Executive Law to provide
for the comparison of DNA records received by the Division for the
purpose of identifying the deceased.

Adds a new subdivision 3 to section 995-d of the Executive Law to
ensure that all records, findings, reports and results of DNA testing
performed pursuant to this section shall be treated in a manner
consistent with subdivisions five, six, seven and eight of section
nine hundred ninety-five-c of this chapter.

JUSTIFICATION:

The New York State Police have one of the most advanced forensic
laboratories in the country, making it possible to identify deceased
persons through DNA technology.

Currently, when a person is reported missing, police often use
fingerprints or dental records in attempting to match the missing
individual to any unidentified human remains. This proactive approach
to trying to assist families and bring home missing loved ones would
be greatly enhanced by the use of DNA technology, since DNA
"fingerprinting" is a much more advanced and positive means of
identification than traditional methods, and can also be used
successfully when fingerprints or dental records are unavailable or
unachievable. Police involved in an investigation could obtain DNA
samples from a hairbrush, clothing, bloodstains, etc. and attempt to
match that DNA with DNA taken from unidentified human remains found
throughout the country.

Hundreds of persons are buried in unidentified "John & Jane Doe"
graves each year in New York State alone, many of whom are children.
The psychological trauma that parents and relatives suffer is
justification in itself for government to do whatever they can to
bring even minimal closure to these missing person investigations, by
identifying the deceased and allowing the families to bring their


loved ones home to eternal resting places. Statutory procedure is
necessary to ensure uniform compliance, just as statutory procedure
exists for fingerprinting and for dental records.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2011-12: A7291 referred to Governmental Operations
2009-10: A4533 referred to Governmental Operations
2007-08: A4287 referred to Governmental Operations
2005-06: A5235 referred to Governmental Operations S2888 referred to
Finance
2003-04: A5844 referred to Rules S871 referred to Finance
2001-02: A1778B passed Assembly S2622B committed to Rules 2000:A10145
held in Governmental Operations S7165 committed to Rules

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Minimal additional staffing at the New York State Forensic Laboratory
and Division of Criminal Justice Services.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect on the first day of the calendar month next
succeeding the sixtieth day after it shall have become a law.

2013-S3830 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  3830

                       2013-2014 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            February 21, 2013
                               ___________

Introduced  by Sen. CARLUCCI -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance

AN ACT to amend the executive law, in  relation  to  the  classification
  procedure  and  use  of  DNA samples to identify unidentified dead and
  missing persons

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 838 of the executive law, as added
by chapter 670 of the laws of 1982, is amended to read as follows:
  1.  Every  county medical examiner and coroner shall furnish the divi-
sion promptly with copies of fingerprints on standardized eight inch  by
eight  inch  fingerprint  cards, SHALL FURNISH THE NEW YORK STATE POLICE
FORENSIC LABORATORY PROMPTLY WITH DNA SAMPLES  OF  DECEASED  PERSONS  OR
UNIDENTIFIED  BODY  PARTS,  FOR  THE  PURPOSE  OF  CLASSIFICATION, WHICH
SAMPLES SHALL THEN BE FORWARDED BY THE STATE POLICE FORENSIC  LABORATORY
TO  THE  DIVISION  FOR  THE  PURPOSE OF COMPARISON AND FILING, AND SHALL
FURNISH THE DIVISION PROMPTLY WITH personal descriptions and other iden-
tifying data, including date and place of death, of all deceased persons
whose deaths are in a classification requiring inquiry  by  the  coroner
where  the deceased is not identified or the medical examiner or coroner
is not satisfied with the decedent's identification.  THE DIVISION SHALL
FORWARD SUCH RECORDS REGARDING SUCH  DECEASED  PERSONS  OR  UNIDENTIFIED
BODY  PARTS  TO  THE  NATIONAL CRIME INFORMATION CENTER UPON SUCH CENTER
ADOPTING A POLICY TO ACCEPT SUCH RECORDS.
  S 2. Subdivision 4 of section 838 of the executive law,  as  added  by
chapter 670 of the laws of 1982, is amended to read as follows:
  4.  The  division  shall  compare  the  fingerprints  AND  DNA SAMPLES
received from the county medical examiners or coroners  to  fingerprints
AND DNA BAND PATTERNS on file with the division for purposes of attempt-
ing  to  determine  the identity of the deceased. Other descriptive data
supplied with the fingerprints shall also be compared to  records  main-

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD04571-01-3

S. 3830                             2

tained  by  the  division concerning missing persons. The division shall
submit the results of the comparisons to the appropriate medical examin-
er or coroner and if a tentative or positive identification is made,  to
the  law enforcement authority which submitted the report of the missing
person.
  S 3. Section 995-d of the executive law is amended  by  adding  a  new
subdivision 3 to read as follows:
  3. ALL RECORDS, FINDINGS, REPORTS AND RESULTS OF DNA TESTING PERFORMED
PURSUANT   TO   SUBDIVISION   ONE  OR  FOUR  OF  SECTION  EIGHT  HUNDRED
THIRTY-EIGHT OF THIS CHAPTER SHALL BE SUBJECT TO THE PROVISIONS OF  THIS
SECTION,  AND  SHALL BE TREATED IN A MANNER CONSISTENT WITH SUBDIVISIONS
FIVE, SIX, SEVEN AND EIGHT OF SECTION NINE HUNDRED NINETY-FIVE-C OF THIS
ARTICLE.
  S 4. This act shall take effect on the first  of  the  calendar  month
next succeeding the sixtieth day after it shall have become a law.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.