BILL NUMBER: S9729

SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to the examina-
tion of certain sealed records

 
PURPOSE::

This bill would expressly provide for certain sealed records to be made
available to OSC's officers and employees for purposes of conducting a
duly authorized examination into the financial affairs of town and
village justice courts.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS::

Section 1 of this bill amends Criminal Procedure Law ("CPL") §
160.50(1)(d) by adding a new subparagraph vii to expressly include OSC
in the list of persons or entities authorized to access town and village
court records, which were sealed upon the termination of a criminal
action or proceeding in favor of the accused, in furtherance of its
              

constitutional and statutory duty to inspect and examine the accounts
and financial affairs of all officers of municipal corporations.

Section 2 of this bill provides for an immediate effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION::

Article V, section 1 of the State Constitution and the General Municipal
Law ("GML") authorize and require OSC to examine the financial affairs
of every municipal corporation, and the accounts of their officers,
which includes examining the accounts of town and village justice
courts; however, OSC is currently unable to obtain all records necessary
and relevant to conducting such audits.

OSC has been unable to conduct audits of town and village justice courts
because OSC no longer has access to all of the records relating to cases
handled by those courts, the majority of which are parking and speeding
tickets under the Vehicle and Traffic Law ("VTL"). In brief, any time
that a town or village justice "terminates an action or proceeding in
favor of the accused," which most commonly occurs with the dismissal of
a traffic violation, the case is sealed. Historically, town and village
justice courts produced their records directly to OSC during the course
of a financial examination. In accordance with OSC's broad authority
under GML §§ 33 and 34, those records typically included information
from cases that were terminated in favor of the accused, which were
therefore sealed. Recently, however, the function of producing town and
village court records digitally for OSC's inspection was assumed by the
Office of Court Administration (OCA).

Although it supports OSC's mission to continue to audit the financial
affairs of local justice courts, OCA has determined that they lack the
authority to produce records sealed under CPL § 160.50 to OSC.  There-
fore, OCA is not providing personal identifying information (PI I) or
charge-related information to OSC for any dismissed VTL cases.  Without
access to this critical information, OSC auditors are unable to conduct
justice court audits that could uncover theft, fraud, or other financial
improprieties.
Across New York, over 1,200 town and village justice courts comprised of
nearly 2,200 local justices constitute the overwhelming majority of our
State's courts and judges. Each year, more than $210 million moves
through these town and village justice courts; much of it in cash.
However, the justice courts are the only level of New York's trial
courts that are funded and administered by their respective munici-
palities, rather than the State. The justices, judges, and court staff
are all municipal and not state employees. As a result, the justice
courts operate without the comprehensive oversight of the New York State
Judiciary and OCA, which supervise the operation and administration of
the State-paid trial courts. Justice courts are also uniquely diverse
administratively, ranging from large suburban communities whose courts
employ a large professional staff and modern security measures, to the
smallest and most rural communities who employ no full-time staff, rely
on non-attorney judges, and use only a modicum of case-management and
security technologies. In turn, the municipalities in which these
justice courts are located bear the burden of the courts' financial
administration.

Collaborating with State and local police, and district attorneys'
offices throughout the State, OSC has uncovered instances where justice
court personnel have used their offices to misappropriate public funds.
OSC has found that one of the more common ways justice court officials
attempt to conceal theft is by manipulating records of sealed cases. In
order to uncover such manipulation, OSC 's examiners rely on obtaining
accurate PII and charge-related information for each case file examined,
the most notable being the names of defendants and payees, the catego-
ries under which many files and source documentation are stored and
filed by local courts.

OSC's examiners have determined that without access to PII of sealed
records, OSC is currently unable to examine the financial affairs of
justice courts to the extent required to meet Government Auditing Stand-
ards. This legislation is necessary to remedy this recent development
and enable OSC to maintain its successful track record of protecting the
State's taxpayers by uncovering waste, fraud and abuse in the State's
justice courts.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::

New Bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE::

This act takes effect immediately.