NY State Senate Bill 2025-S4050

Senate Bill S4050

2025-2026 Legislative Session

Authorizes police agencies to charge fees for searching, copying, and mailing police agency generated records

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 31, 2025	referred to finance

co-Sponsors

2025-S4050 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Finance
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Add §837-y, Exec L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2019-2020: S1629
2021-2022: S1820
2023-2024: S2864

2025-S4050 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Authorizes police agencies to charge fees for searching, copying, and mailing police agency generated records except for where the requesting party is a victim to or was charged with the crime related to such documents.

2025-S4050 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S4050

SPONSOR: SKOUFIS
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to authorizing police
agencies to include administrative costs in fees for copies of police
agency records

 
PURPOSE:

The enactment of this legislation would authorize police agencies to
charge certain fees for searching, copying, and mailing police agency
generated records.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Amends the executive law by adding a new section 837-y by
authorizing local police agencies to charge a fee for searching police
agency records, copying said documents and preparing such documents for
mailing. No fee shall be charged to any public officer, board, or other
specified public entity. No fee shall be charged to a victim of a crime,

an individual accused of a crime, or any such person's attorney. It
further states that such a fee shall be five dollars per request for
searches conducted manually and three dollars for searches undertaken by
electronic medium. The fee for copies of documents other than accident
reports shall be one dollar per page, and the fee for an accident report
shall be fifteen dollars.

Section 2: Sets Effective Date

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Currently, a local police department receiving a Freedom of Information
Act (FOIL) request from an insurance company for a copy of an accident
report may only charge a maximum of twenty-five cents for a copy of that
report. Those individuals involved in an accident cannot be charged any
fee or a copy of the report. The costs of searching, copying, handling,
and mailing these documents exceed the current fee structure.

The state legislature recognized this inequity in the past by making an
exception to the statutes governing this fee structure in that section
202.3 of the vehicle and traffic law, the NYS Department of Motor Vehi-
cles are allowed to charge fifteen dollars for a copy of an accident
report. Local governments are under extreme pressure to cut costs and do
more with fewer personnel. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to provide
local police agencies with the same fee structure as the NYS Department
of Motor Vehicles.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: Senate

2019:S1629A, Amend and Recommit to Finance

2020:S1629A, Referred to Finance

2021:S1820, Referred to Finance

2022:S1820, Referred to Finance

2023:S2864, Referred to Finance

2024:S2864, Referred to Finance

Assembly

2019:No Assembly Same-As

2020:No Assembly Same-As

2021:A10670, Referred to Governmental Operations

2022:A10670, Referred to Governmental Operations

2023:A4407, Referred to Governmental Operations

2024:A4407, Referred to Governmental Operations

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None to the state.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become a law.

2025-S4050 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4050
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 31, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens. SKOUFIS, PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed,
   and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance
 
 AN ACT to amend the executive law, in  relation  to  authorizing  police
   agencies  to include administrative costs in fees for copies of police
   agency records

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 837-y
 to read as follows:
   § 837-Y. FEES FOR COPIES OF POLICE AGENCY RECORDS. 1.  FEES GENERALLY.
 EXCEPT  AS PROVIDED BY LAW THAT NO FEE SHALL BE  CHARGED,  LOCAL  POLICE
 AGENCIES MAY CHARGE A FEE FOR SEARCHING THE POLICE AGENCY RECORDS, COPY-
 ING THE RESULTING DOCUMENTS, AND PREPARING SUCH DOCUMENTS FOR MAILING AS
 PROVIDED  IN  THIS  SECTION.  PROVIDED,  HOWEVER,  THAT  NO FEE SHALL BE
 CHARGED TO ANY PUBLIC OFFICER, BOARD, BODY,  AGENCY,  OR  DEPARTMENT  OR
 VOLUNTEER  FIRE  COMPANY, FOR SEARCHES OR COPIES OF DOCUMENTS TO BE USED
 FOR A PUBLIC PURPOSE.  PROVIDED FURTHER, HOWEVER, THAT NO FEE  SHALL  BE
 CHARGED  TO  A VICTIM OF A CRIME, TO AN INDIVIDUAL CHARGED WITH A CRIME,
 OR SUCH PERSON'S ATTORNEY WHERE THE SEARCHES OR COPIES OF DOCUMENTS  ARE
 RELATED TO THE CRIME SUCH PERSON IS A VICTIM TO OR CHARGED WITH.
   2.  FEES  FOR  SEARCHES  OF  POLICE  AGENCY RECORDS. (A) THE FEE FOR A
 SEARCH WHICH IS MADE MANUALLY BY THE POLICE AGENCY SHALL BE FIVE DOLLARS
 PER REQUEST.
   (B) THE FEE FOR A SEARCH WHICH IS CONDUCTED BY MEANS OF AN  ELECTRONIC
 MEDIUM SHALL BE THREE DOLLARS PER REQUEST.
   3.  FEES FOR COPIES OF DOCUMENTS AND PREPARATION FOR MAILING. THE FEES
 FOR COPIES OF DOCUMENTS, OTHER  THAN  ACCIDENT  REPORTS,  SHALL  BE  ONE
 DOLLAR  PER PAGE. A PAGE SHALL CONSIST OF EITHER A SINGLE OR DOUBLE-SIDE
 OF ANY DOCUMENT. THE FEE FOR A COPY  OF  AN  ACCIDENT  REPORT  SHALL  BE
 FIFTEEN  DOLLARS. ALL COPIES OF DOCUMENTS SHALL BE CERTIFIED AT NO ADDI-
 TIONAL FEE. WHENEVER A  SEARCH  OF  RECORDS  OF  THE  POLICE  AGENCY  IS
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD07900-01-5

 S. 4050                             2
 
 REQUIRED  IN CONJUNCTION WITH A COPY OF A DOCUMENT, THE FEE SHALL BE THE
 FEE FOR THE SEARCH AS PROVIDED IN SUBDIVISION TWO OF THIS  SECTION.  THE
 RESULT  OF  SUCH  SEARCH  WILL BE THE LOCATING OF THE DOCUMENT, OR IF NO
 DOCUMENT  CAN  BE  LOCATED,  A  CERTIFICATION TO THAT EFFECT WILL BE THE
 RESULT OF SUCH SEARCH. THE FEE  FOR  THE  PREPARATION  FOR  MAILING,  IF
 NECESSARY, SHALL BE TWO DOLLARS PER REQUEST.
   §  2.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
 have become a law.

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Senate Bill S4050

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Sponsored By

James Skoufis