S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4280
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 3, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. HARCKHAM -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Govern-
   ment Operations
 
 AN ACT to amend the  public  officers  law,  in  relation  to  accessing
   records under the freedom of information law

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subparagraph iii of paragraph  (b)  of  subdivision  2  and
 subdivision 3 of section 89 of the public officers law, subparagraph iii
 of paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 as amended by section 2 of part GGG of
 chapter  59 of the laws of 2019, subdivision 3 as amended by chapter 223
 of the laws of 2008 and paragraph (c) of subdivision 3 as added by chap-
 ter 47 of the laws of 2018, are amended to read as follows:
   iii. sale or release of lists of names OF NATURAL PERSONS and RESIDEN-
 TIAL addresses if such lists would be used  for  solicitation  or  fund-
 raising purposes;
   3.  (a)  Each entity subject to the provisions of this article, within
 five business days of the receipt of a  written  request  for  a  record
 reasonably  described,  shall  make  such record available to the person
 requesting it, deny  such  request  in  writing  or  furnish  a  written
 acknowledgement  of  the  receipt of such request and a statement of the
 approximate date, which shall be reasonable under the  circumstances  of
 the  request,  when  [such request will be granted or denied] A RESPONSE
 WILL BE GIVEN, including, where appropriate, a statement that access  to
 the  record  will  be  determined in accordance with subdivision five of
 this section.
   (B) An agency shall not deny a request on the basis that  the  request
 is  voluminous  or  that locating, GENERATING or reviewing the requested
 RECORD OR records  or  providing  the  requested  copies  is  burdensome
 because  the  agency  lacks sufficient staffing or on any other basis if
 the agency may engage an outside professional service to  provide  copy-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD03912-01-1

 S. 4280                             2
 
 ing,  programming  or  other  services required to provide the copy, the
 costs of which the agency may  recover  pursuant  to  paragraph  (c)  of
 subdivision one of section eighty-seven of this article.
   (C)  An  agency  may  require  a  person requesting lists of names and
 addresses to provide a written certification that such person  will  not
 use such lists of names OF NATURAL PERSONS and RESIDENTIAL addresses for
 solicitation  or fund-raising purposes and will not sell, give or other-
 wise make available such lists of  names  and  addresses  to  any  other
 person  for  the  purpose  of  allowing that person to use such lists of
 names and addresses for solicitation or fund-raising purposes.
   (D) If [an agency determines to grant a request in whole or  in  part,
 and  if]  circumstances  prevent  AN  AGENCY  FROM  NOTIFYING THE PERSON
 REQUESTING THE RECORD OR RECORDS OF THE AGENCY'S DETERMINATION REGARDING
 THE RIGHTS OF ACCESS AND disclosure to the person requesting the  record
 or records within twenty business days from the date of the acknowledge-
 ment  of the receipt of the request, the agency shall state, in writing,
 both the reason for the inability to [grant the request]  DO  SO  within
 twenty  business  days  and  a  date certain within a reasonable period,
 depending on the circumstances, when [the request  will  be  granted  in
 whole or in part] A DETERMINATION REGARDING DISCLOSURE WILL BE RENDERED.
   (E) Upon payment of, or offer to pay, the fee prescribed therefor, the
 entity  shall  provide a copy of such record and certify to the correct-
 ness of such copy if so requested, or as the case may be, shall  certify
 that  it  does  not  have  possession of such record or that such record
 cannot be found after diligent search.
   (F) Nothing in this article shall be construed to require  any  entity
 to [prepare] CREATE any record not possessed or maintained by such enti-
 ty  except the records specified in subdivision three of section eighty-
 seven and subdivision three of section  eighty-eight  of  this  article.
 When  an  agency has the ability to retrieve or extract a record or data
 maintained in a computer storage system with reasonable effort, it shall
 be required to do so. When doing so requires  less  employee  time  than
 engaging  in manual retrieval or redactions from non-electronic records,
 the agency shall be required to retrieve or extract such record or  data
 electronically. [Any programming necessary to retrieve] THE RETRIEVAL OF
 a  record  OR  DATA maintained in a computer storage system and [to] THE
 transfer OF that record to the medium requested by  a  person  or  to  A
 MEDIUM  THAT  WOULD  allow  the transferred record to be read or printed
 shall not be deemed to be the [preparation or] creation of a new record.
   [(b)] (G) All entities shall,  provided  such  entity  has  reasonable
 means  available,  accept  requests for records submitted in the form of
 electronic mail and shall respond to such requests by  electronic  mail,
 using  forms,  to  the  extent  practicable, consistent with the form or
 forms developed by the committee on open government pursuant to subdivi-
 sion one of this section and provided that the written requests  do  not
 seek a response in some other form.
   [(c)]  (H)  Each  state agency, as defined in subdivision five of this
 section, that maintains a website shall ensure its website provides  for
 the online submission of a request for records pursuant to this article.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.