S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   10632
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               July 6, 2022
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Paulin) --
   read once and referred to the Committee on Codes
 
 AN ACT to amend the penal  law,  in  relation  to  requiring  background
   checks  prior to the renewal of a license to carry or possess a pistol
   or revolver
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Paragraphs (a), (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g) of subdivision 5
 of  section  400.00 of the penal law, paragraph (a) as amended and para-
 graphs (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g) as added by chapter 1 of the  laws  of
 2013,  and subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (e) as amended by chapter 244
 of the laws of 2019, are amended to read as follows:
   (a) The application for any license, if granted, shall be filed by the
 licensing officer with the clerk of the county of issuance, except  that
 in  the city of New York and, in the counties of Nassau and Suffolk, the
 licensing officer shall designate the place of filing in the appropriate
 division, bureau or unit of the police department thereof,  and  in  the
 county  of Suffolk the county clerk is hereby authorized to transfer all
 records or applications relating to firearms to the licensing  authority
 of  that  county. Except as provided in paragraphs (b) through [(e)] (F)
 of this subdivision, the name and address  of  any  person  to  whom  an
 application  for  any license has been granted shall be a public record.
 Upon application by a licensee who has changed his  place  of  residence
 such  records  or  applications  shall be transferred to the appropriate
 officer at the licensee's new place of residence. A  duplicate  copy  of
 such  application  shall be filed by the licensing officer in the execu-
 tive department, division of state police, Albany, within ten days after
 issuance of the license. The superintendent of state police  may  desig-
 nate that such application shall be transmitted to the division of state
 police  electronically.  In the event the superintendent of the division
 of state police determines that it lacks any of the records required  to
 be filed with the division, it may request that such records be provided
 to  it by the appropriate clerk, department or authority and such clerk,
 department or authority shall provide the division with such records. In
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD16040-03-2
 A. 10632                            2
 
 the event such clerk, department or authority lacks  such  records,  the
 division  may  request the license holder provide information sufficient
 to constitute such record and such  license  holder  shall  provide  the
 division with such information. Such information shall be limited to the
 license holder's name, date of birth, gender, race, residential address,
 social  security  number  and firearms possessed by said license holder.
 Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to change the  expiration
 date  or term of such licenses if otherwise provided for in law. Records
 assembled or collected for purposes of inclusion in the database  estab-
 lished  by  this  section  shall  be released pursuant to a court order.
 Records assembled or collected for purposes of inclusion in the database
 created pursuant to section 400.02 of this chapter shall not be  subject
 to disclosure pursuant to article six of the public officers law.
   (c)  [Each form provided for recertification pursuant to paragraph (b)
 of subdivision ten of this section shall include an opportunity for  the
 applicant  to request an exception from the information provided on such
 form becoming public record pursuant to paragraph (a) of  this  subdivi-
 sion.  Such  forms  shall notify applicants that, upon discovery that an
 applicant knowingly provided false information, such  applicant  may  be
 subject  to  penalties  pursuant  to section 175.30 of this chapter, and
 further, that his or her request for an  exception  shall  be  null  and
 void,  provided  that  written  notice  containing such determination is
 provided to the applicant. Further, such forms shall provide each appli-
 cant an opportunity to either decline to request the grant or  continua-
 tion of an exception, or specify the grounds on which he or she believes
 his  or her information should not be publicly disclosed. These grounds,
 which shall be identified in the application with a box beside each  for
 checking, as applicable, by the applicant, shall be the same as provided
 in paragraph (b) of this subdivision.
   (d)]  Information submitted on the forms described in paragraph (b) of
 this subdivision shall be excepted from disclosure and maintained by the
 entity retaining such information separate  and  apart  from  all  other
 records.
   [(e)]  (D) (i) Upon receiving a request for exception from disclosure,
 the licensing officer shall grant such exception, unless the request  is
 determined  to  be  null and void, pursuant to paragraph (b) [or (c)] of
 this subdivision.
   (ii) A request for an exception from disclosure may  be  submitted  at
 any time, including after a license [or recertification] has been grant-
 ed.
   (iii)  If an exception is sought and granted pursuant to paragraph (b)
 of this subdivision, the application information  shall  not  be  public
 record,  unless  the  request  is determined to be null and void. [If an
 exception is sought and granted pursuant to paragraph (c) of this subdi-
 vision, the  information  concerning  such  recertification  application
 shall  not be public record, unless the request is determined to be null
 and void.] Notwithstanding the foregoing  provisions  of  this  subpara-
 graph,  local  and state law enforcement shall, upon request, be granted
 access to and copies of such application information provided that  such
 information  obtained  by  law enforcement pursuant to this subparagraph
 shall not be considered a public record of such law enforcement agency.
   [(f)] (E) The information of licensees or  applicants  for  a  license
 shall not be disclosed to the public during the first one hundred twenty
 days  following  the  effective  date  of the chapter of the laws of two
 thousand thirteen, which amended this section. After  such  period,  the
 information of those who had applied for or been granted a license prior
 A. 10632                            3
 
 to  the preparation of the form for requesting an exception, pursuant to
 paragraph (b) of this subdivision, may be released only if such individ-
 uals did not file a request for such an exception during the first sixty
 days  following such preparation; provided, however, that no information
 contained in an application for licensure [or recertification] shall  be
 disclosed  by  an  entity  that  has  not  completed processing any such
 requests received during such sixty days.
   [(g)] (F) If a request for an exception is determined to be  null  and
 void  pursuant  to paragraph (b) [or (c)] of this subdivision, an appli-
 cant may request review of such determination pursuant to article seven-
 ty-eight of the civil practice [laws] LAW  and  rules.  Such  proceeding
 must  commence  within  thirty  days after service of the written notice
 containing the adverse determination. Notice of the  right  to  commence
 such  a petition, and the time period therefor, shall be included in the
 notice of the determination. Disclosure following such a petition  shall
 not be made prior to the disposition of such review.
   §  2.  Paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of subdivision 10 of section 400.00
 of the penal law, paragraph (a) as amended and paragraph (b) as added by
 chapter 1 of the laws of 2013, and paragraph (c) as added by chapter 212
 of the laws of 2022, are amended by to read as follows:
   (a) Any license for gunsmith or dealer in firearms and, in the city of
 New York, any license to carry or possess a pistol or  revolver,  issued
 at  any time pursuant to this section or prior to the first day of July,
 nineteen hundred sixty-three and not limited to  expire  on  an  earlier
 date  fixed in the license, shall expire not more than three years after
 the date of issuance. [In the counties of Nassau, Suffolk and  Westches-
 ter]  ELSEWHERE  THAN  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK, any license to carry or
 possess a pistol or revolver,  issued  at  any  time  pursuant  to  this
 section  or prior to the first day of July, nineteen hundred sixty-three
 and not limited to expire on an earlier date fixed in the license, shall
 expire not more than five years after the date of issuance[; however, in
 the county of Westchester, any such license shall be certified prior  to
 the  first  day of April, two thousand, in accordance with a schedule to
 be contained in regulations promulgated by the commissioner of the divi-
 sion of criminal justice services,  and  every  such  license  shall  be
 recertified  every  five  years thereafter. For purposes of this section
 certification shall mean that the licensee shall provide to the  licens-
 ing  officer  the  following  information  only:   current name, date of
 birth, current address, and the make, model, caliber and  serial  number
 of  all  firearms  currently possessed]. [Such certification information
 shall be filed by the licensing officer in the same manner as an  amend-
 ment. Elsewhere than in the city of New York and the counties of Nassau,
 Suffolk  and  Westchester, any] ANY license to carry or possess a pistol
 or revolver, issued at any time pursuant to this section or prior to the
 first day of July,  nineteen  hundred  sixty-three  and  not  previously
 revoked  or  cancelled,  shall  be  in force and effect until revoked as
 herein provided. Any license not previously cancelled or  revoked  shall
 remain  in full force and effect for thirty days beyond the stated expi-
 ration date on such license. Any application to renew a license that has
 not previously expired, been revoked or cancelled shall  thereby  extend
 the  term  of  the  license  until disposition of the application by the
 licensing officer. In the case of a license for gunsmith  or  dealer  in
 firearms, in counties having a population of less than two hundred thou-
 sand  inhabitants,  photographs  and  fingerprints shall be submitted on
 original applications and upon  renewal  thereafter  only  at  six  year
 intervals.  Upon  satisfactory  proof  that  a  currently valid original
 A. 10632                            4
 
 license  has  been  despoiled,  lost  or  otherwise  removed  from   the
 possession of the licensee and upon application containing an additional
 photograph  of  the licensee, the licensing officer shall issue a dupli-
 cate license.
   (b)  [All  licensees  shall  be  recertified  to the division of state
 police every five years thereafter. Any license issued before the effec-
 tive date of the chapter of the laws  of  two  thousand  thirteen  which
 added  this  paragraph shall be recertified by the licensee on or before
 January thirty-first, two thousand eighteen, and not less than one  year
 prior  to such date, the state police shall send a notice to all license
 holders who have not recertified  by  such  time.  Such  recertification
 shall  be  in  a form as approved by the superintendent of state police,
 which shall request the license holder's name, date  of  birth,  gender,
 race, residential address, social security number, firearms possessed by
 such  license  holder, email address at the option of the license holder
 and an affirmation that such  license  holder  is  not  prohibited  from
 possessing  firearms. The form may be in an electronic form if so desig-
 nated by the superintendent of state police] ELSEWHERE THAN IN THE  CITY
 OF NEW YORK, A LICENSE TO CARRY OR POSSESS A PISTOL OR REVOLVER SHALL BE
 RENEWED  TO  THE DIVISION OF STATE POLICE EVERY FIVE YEARS FOLLOWING THE
 ISSUANCE OF SUCH LICENSE. Failure to [recertify] RENEW shall  act  as  a
 revocation  of such license[. If the New York state police discover as a
 result of the recertification process that a licensee failed to  provide
 a  change  of  address,  the New York state police shall not require the
 licensing officer to revoke such license].
   (c) A license to purchase or take possession of a semiautomatic  rifle
 as  defined  in  subdivision  two of this section shall be [recertified]
 RENEWED to the applicable licensing officer every five  years  following
 the issuance of such license. Failure to renew such a license shall be a
 violation  punishable by a fine not to exceed two hundred fifty dollars,
 and such failure to renew shall be considered by the  licensing  officer
 when  reviewing future license applications by the license holder pursu-
 ant to this chapter.
   § 3. This act shall take effect ninety days after it shall have become
 a law and shall apply to renewal forms submitted on and after such date;
 provided, however, that the amendments to paragraph (c)  of  subdivision
 10  of  section  400.00 of the penal law made by section two of this act
 shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as chapter 212
 of the laws of 2022, takes effect.