S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2520
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 21, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  SKOUFIS, BRISPORT, JACKSON, KRUEGER -- read twice
   and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
   on Investigations and Government Operations
 
 AN ACT to amend the public officers law, in relation to time frames  for
   responding  to  requests  for records under the freedom of information
   act

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. Subdivision 3 of section 89 of the public officers law, as
 amended by chapter 223 of the laws of 2008 and paragraph (c) as added by
 chapter 47 of the laws of 2018, is amended to read as follows:
   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],  including,
 where  appropriate, a statement that access to the record will be deter-
 mined in accordance with subdivision five of  this  section.    IF  SUCH
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT IS NOT FURNISHED WITHIN FIVE BUSINESS DAYS, SUCH REQUEST
 SHALL BE DEEMED DENIED AND IS APPEALABLE.
   (I)  (A)  AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT SHALL INCLUDE A STATEMENT OF THE APPROXI-
 MATE DATE, WHICH SHALL BE REASONABLE  UNDER  THE  CIRCUMSTANCES  OF  THE
 REQUEST  AND  WHICH  SHALL  NOT  EXCEED  THIRTY DAYS FROM RECEIPT OF THE
 ORIGINAL REQUEST, WHEN SUCH REQUEST WILL BE GRANTED  OR  DENIED,  AND  A
 STATEMENT  EXPLAINING WHY SUCH DELAY IS NECESSARY UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCE
 OF THE REQUEST. IF A RESPONSE IS NOT ISSUED BY THE DATE  STATED  IN  THE
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT,  THE  REQUEST  SHALL BE DEEMED DENIED AND IS APPEALABLE,
 EXCEPT AS PROVIDED FOR IN CLAUSE (B) OF THIS SUBPARAGRAPH.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD02197-01-5
 S. 2520                             2
              

 
   (B) AN AGENCY MAY ONLY EXTEND THE RESPONSE DATE BEYOND THIRTY DAYS  IF
 SUCH AGENCY DETERMINES TO GRANT A REQUEST IN WHOLE OR IN PART AND IF THE
 AGENCY  IS  UNABLE  TO COMPLETE ITS RESPONSE WITHIN THIRTY DAYS. IN SUCH
 CASE, SUCH AGENCY SHALL STATE  IN  WRITING  BOTH  THE  REASON  THAT  THE
 RESPONSE COULD NOT BE COMPLETED WITHIN THIRTY DAYS AND PROVIDE A DATE NO
 LATER  THAN  SIXTY  DAYS  FROM RECEIPT OF THE ORIGINAL REQUEST WHEN SUCH
 REQUEST SHALL BE GRANTED IN WHOLE OR IN PART. IN NO CASE SHALL AN AGENCY
 TAKE LONGER THAN SIXTY DAYS TO RESPOND TO A REQUEST. IF A FULL  RESPONSE
 IS  NOT ISSUED WITHIN SIXTY DAYS, THE REQUEST SHALL BE DEEMED DENIED AND
 IS APPEALABLE.
   (II) An agency shall not deny a request on the basis that the  request
 is  voluminous  or  that  locating or reviewing the requested 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 copying,  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.
   (III) 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 and addresses for solicitation  or  fund-raising
 purposes  and will not sell, give or otherwise 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.  If  an  agency determines to grant a request in
 whole or in part, and if circumstances prevent disclosure to the  person
 requesting  the  record  or records within twenty business days from the
 date of the acknowledgement of the receipt of the  request,  the  agency
 shall  state, in writing, both the reason for the inability to grant the
 request within twenty business days and a date certain within a  reason-
 able  period,  depending  on the circumstances, when the request will be
 granted in whole or in part.
   (IV) Upon payment of, or offer to pay, the  fee  prescribed  therefor,
 the  entity  shall  provide  a  copy  of  such record and certify to the
 correctness 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.
   (V) Nothing in this article shall be construed to require  any  entity
 to  prepare any record not possessed or maintained by such entity except
 the records specified in subdivision three of section  eighty-seven  and
 subdivision three of section eighty-eight of this article. When an agen-
 cy 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  electron-
 ically.  Any  programming necessary to retrieve a record maintained in a
 computer storage system and  to  transfer  that  record  to  the  medium
 requested  by  a person or to allow the transferred record to be read or
 printed shall not be deemed to be the preparation or creation of  a  new
 record.
   (b)  All  entities  shall,  provided  such entity has reasonable means
 available, accept requests for records submitted in the  form  of  elec-
 tronic 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  subdivision
 S. 2520                             3
 
 one of this section and provided that the written requests do not seek a
 response in some other form.
   (c) 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 January 1, 2026.