BILL NUMBER: S1239

SPONSOR: BAILEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the family court act and the penal law, in relation to
prohibiting public officials from unsealing juvenile police records

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To prevent the unsealing and release of information contained in juve-
nile offender records by public officials and/or employees by making the
offense punishable under the penal law.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

This bill amends section 1 of the Family Court Act by adding ,a new
section 381.4 to provide that, unless authorized by a court of competent
jurisdiction, the release by a public official and/or an employee of
juvenile offender records, and other court records that have been, and
are sealed, shall be specifically prohibited by law.

              

Section 195.00 of the Penal Law is also amended to provide that, unless
authorized by a court of competent jurisdiction, the release by an
appointed or elected public official and/or a public employee of juve-
nile offender records and other court records that have been, and are
sealed pursuant to law, shall be an act of official misconduct.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Under current law, juvenile offender records, inclusive of the records
and entire documents, are sealed after adjudication to protect the
privacy of the entire proceeding. State laws specifically and directly
restrict the access to and disclosure, of the information and the
record. But, while the law clearly makes the release of the record
unlawful, there is no specific penalty attached for violation of the
law. The people most likely to have access to these records, and there-
fore most likely to be the conduit for release and disclosure are public
employees, and appointed and elected officials.  Because no specific
penalty or consequence is prescribed by current law, the only real
deterrent is moral or ethical obligation. Recent behavior by high rank-
ing officials in N.Y.C. has demonstrated that in the absence of
moral/ethical obligations, the law without teeth does not always work.
This bill, if enacted, would put teeth in the law by providing for
penalties appropriate for such misconduct by public officials and
employees who dishonor their oath of office.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2019-20: (S2194) Referred to Children and Families

2021-22: (S3359) Referred to Children and Families

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

No fiscal implications to the state.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law.
 
PURPOSE:
The bill would tighten existing prohibitions on so-called "intra-state
piracy" that restrict local industrial development agencies from giving
financial assistance to a company to lure it from one part of New York
to another.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends subdivision 1 of section 862 of the general municipal
law to tighten the existing prohibition on IDAs giving assistance to
projects that simply move jobs or facilities from one part of the state
to another.
Section 2: Effective Date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The purpose of IDAs is to incentivize companies to locate in the county
or municipality of the IDA through the offer of financial assistance in
the form of tax incentives, payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreements,
and other means. To avoid one municipality using incentives to "pirate"
a company from another part of New York, IDAs are prohibited from using
their funds to incentivize an "industrial or manufacturing plant" moving
from one part of New York to another.  Unfortunately, the existing stat-
ute contains exceptions that are so broad and vague as to render the
prohibition virtually meaningless, and intra-state "piracy" occurs with
regularity. For example, in February, 2019 the Westchester County IDA
granted financial assistance to a business that closed its facility in
Yonkers shipped some jobs out of state and moved other jobs to a new
facility in Rye Brook, another community in Westchester County.
Simply moving jobs from one part of New York to another creates no net
benefit for state residents and should not be encouraged by taxpayer-
funded subsidies.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
Senate
2020- S4674, Referred to Local Government
2021-2022- S1656A, Passed Senate
Assembly
2020- A7200, Referred to Local Governments
2021-2022- A6993A, Reported to ways and means
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.