BILL NUMBER: S5511

SPONSOR: SEPULVEDA
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the correction law, in relation to
providing records for protection and advocacy services in a timely
manner

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To provide records to the organization appointed by the governor to act
as the federally-mandated protection and advocacy organization repres-
enting disabled New Yorkers.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends the correction law by adding a new section 626 to
instruct DOCCS to provide records to the protection and advocacy organ-
ization within three days of the receipt of a records request.

Section 2 is the effective date.

              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Disability Rights New York (DRNY) is a state-wide non-profit organiza-
tion appointed by the governor to provide individual representation and
systemic advocacy on behalf of individuals with disabilities under the
federal Protection and Advocacy (P&A) law. To accomplish this work,
Congress has granted P0 broad access authority, including access to
records held by agencies who provide services to individuals with disa-
bilities. State prisons and jails fall under P&A jurisdiction.

DRNY regularly makes written requests to DOCCS for records pursuant to
P&A authority. Federal law requires access to records be provided either
within 24 hours, three business days, or "promptly," depending on the
nature of the request. DOCCS' practice is to only issue copies of
records after P&A staff have reviewed records at the prison where the
inmate is located, calculated the page count, and paid fees for the
records. The records are located at prisons throughout the state, and
most records follow inmates when they transfer to another prison; there-
fore access at the facility is frequently not feasible or is an ineffi-
cient option.Even after receipt of payment, DOCCS generally takes weeks
or months to provide DRNY with the requested records.

It is critically important to the work of our state's protection and
advocacy system and the people with disabilities they serve that DRNY
timely receive records. This bill requires DOCCS to produce records in a
timely fashion upon receipt of written request. New York must comply
with federal law. Since DRNY is appointed by the governor to provide
these services, DOCCS should provide the same treatment afforded to
state agencies, to whom they provide records free of charge upon
request.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Negligible
 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately