NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A2158
SPONSOR: Eichenstein TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to requiring all city agencies issuing summonses to document
violations by photographic evidence when possible and practicable
PURPOSE::
Requires all agencies of the City of New York which issue summons to
document violations with photographic evidence when feasible.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS::
Section 1 of this bill amends Title 7 of the Administrative Code of New
York City by adding a new chapterlOentitled "Evidence for Agency
Summons."
Section 2 sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION::
With the rapidly growing ability of New Yorkers to document everyday
occurrences using mobile phones and other electronic devices, enforce-
ment officials have also been provided with an ability to document
violations of the law. In the interest of promoting transparency and
justice, this legislation seeks to provide both New York City residents
and New York City enforcement agencies with the necessary tools to docu-
ment administrative violations as they occur.
All agencies issuing summonses that are reviewed by the New York City
Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) and the New York
City Department of Finance (DOF) would be required to undergo an analy-
sis of violations that could be proven using photographic evidence.
Agencies would then develop a list of violations that could be proven in
this manner and require enforcement officers to document the substance
of a summons through use of photographic evidence. In circumstances
where the capturing of photographic evidence for these violations is
impracticable, enforcement officers would be required to indicate the
reason why on the face of an issued summons. Furthermore, OATH and DOF
would be required to include collected photographic evidence relating to
a summons on their existing website, giving respondents the ability to
quickly ascertain the nature of the evidence against them. This process
would allow respondents the ability to wage a more effective appeal
against a faulty summons, while also safeguarding the City's interests
when a valid summons has been issued for a violation.
In 2016 alone, 58.1% of summonses reaching OATH's Environmental Control
Board on an appeal were dismissed. Summonses falling into this category
included those issued by the New York City Departments of Sanitation,
Buildings, Transportation, Health, Environmental Protection, and Parks,
as well as other public safety violations issued by the New York City
Police and Fire Departments. With such a high dismissal rate, it is
plausible to assume that much more can be done to preserve the integrity
of summonses issued by City agencies and that a great number of summons-
es issued by the City are currently lacking sufficient evidence. By
implementing the mandatory use of photographic evidence for summonses
where it is feasible to do so, the costs and burdens associated with
addressing violations based upon insufficient evidence will be lessened
for both respondents and the City.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::
01/03/24: A4004- referred to Codes
02/08/23: A4004: referred to Codes
01/05/22: A1970- referred to Codes
01/13/21: A1970- referred to Codes
01/08/20: A2617- referred to Cities
01/24/19: A2617- referred to Cities
01/03/18: A1850- referred to Cities
01/13/17: A1850- referred to Cities
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS::
Minimal.
EFFECTIVE DATE::
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2158
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 15, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. EICHENSTEIN -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to requiring all city agencies issuing summonses to document
violations by photographic evidence when possible and practicable
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Title 7 of the administrative code of the city of New York
2 is amended by adding a new chapter 10 to read as follows:
3 CHAPTER 10
4 EVIDENCE FOR AGENCY SUMMONS
5 § 7-1001 Photographic evidence for agency summons. 1. All city agen-
6 cies issuing summonses that are subject to review by any entity within
7 the office of administrative tribunals and hearings shall review all of
8 the violations for which a summons may be issued to develop a list of
9 violations that can be proven through the use of photographic evidence.
10 2. For any violation appearing on these lists, city agencies shall
11 document such violations by photographic evidence taken at the time of
12 the issuance of a summons. Such photographic evidence may be gathered by
13 using a camera, mobile phone, or any other device capable of producing
14 an electronic picture file.
15 3. When it is either impracticable or impossible for a city agency to
16 document a violation appearing on such lists as prescribed in subdivi-
17 sion two of this section, the issuing agent or officer shall include a
18 statement within the summons explaining why it was impracticable or
19 impossible to do so.
20 4. Photographic evidence shall be included in summons filings made
21 available online at the office of administrative tribunals and hearing's
22 website, allowing a respondent to view the photographic evidence that
23 has been collected against him or her.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02239-01-5
A. 2158 2
1 5. Agencies shall be authorized to promulgate rules relative to creat-
2 ing procedures for the collection of photographic evidence required by
3 this section.
4 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
