A02242 Summary:

BILL NOA02242
 
SAME ASSAME AS S05240
 
SPONSORBronson
 
COSPNSRRyan
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd S64-a, Civ Rts L
 
Limits the scope of information disclosed in a published notice of change of name.
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A02242 Actions:

BILL NOA02242
 
01/15/2015referred to judiciary
02/03/2015reported
02/05/2015advanced to third reading cal.13
02/09/2015passed assembly
02/09/2015delivered to senate
02/09/2015REFERRED TO JUDICIARY
06/18/2015SUBSTITUTED FOR S5240
06/18/2015PASSED SENATE
06/18/2015RETURNED TO ASSEMBLY
09/15/2015delivered to governor
09/22/2015signed chap.241
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A02242 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A2242
 
SPONSOR: Bronson
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the civil rights law, in relation to limiting the scope of information disclosed in a published notice of change of name   PURPOSE OF BILL: The bill will amend the publication requirement to protect personal safety by waiving in certain instances the information that must be published for a name change order.   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: The publication exemptions, as required by Section 64-a of the civil rights act, will be amended to include a find- ing by the court of the following circumstances: If the court shall find that the publication of an applicant's change of name would jeopardize such applicant's personal safety, based on totality of the circumstances the provisions of sections sixty-three and sixty-four of this article requiring publication shall be waived and shall be inapplicable. Provided, however, the court shall not deny such waiver solely on the basis that the applicant lacks specific instances of or a personal history of threat to personal safety.   JUSTIFICATION: By limiting and/or waiving the amount of information required for publication purposes, this law will protect petitioner's personal safety. This legislation will follow-up on the Matter of E.P.L. 2009 NY Slip Op 29451   26 Misc 3d 336, which ruled that, "the petition- er requests that notice of the order granting his name change not be published in a newspaper in this county or maintained as a court record accessible to the public. Civil Rights Law § 64-a,authorizes waiver of publication and sealing of the court record upon a finding that publica- tion of a name change would jeopardize the safety of the person whose name is changed." Under the court ruling and this bill those seeking to have the publication of a name change waived, will have such waiver granted based on a showing that such publication, under a totality of the circumstances, may jeopardize petitioner's personal safety without the necessity of showing actual past or historical abuse or violence against the particular petitioner.   LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: A9409 of 2014: passed the Assembly   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: None.   EFFECTIVE DATE: Immediately.
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A02242 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          2242
 
                               2015-2016 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 15, 2015
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by M. of A. BRONSON -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Judiciary
 
        AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to limiting the  scope
          of information disclosed in a published notice of change of name
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1.  Section 64-a of the civil rights law, as amended by  chap-
     2  ter 83 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
     3    § 64-a. Exemption from publication requirements. 1. If the court shall
     4  find  that  the publication of an applicant's change of name would jeop-
     5  ardize such applicant's  personal  safety,  based  on  totality  of  the
     6  circumstances  the  provisions of sections sixty-three and sixty-four of
     7  this article requiring publication shall be waived and shall be inappli-
     8  cable.  Provided, however, the court shall not deny such waiver soley on
     9  the basis that the applicant lacks specific instances of or  a  personal
    10  history  of threat to personal safety. The court shall order the records
    11  of such change of name proceeding to be sealed, to  be  opened  only  by
    12  order  of the court for good cause shown or at the request of the appli-
    13  cant.
    14    2.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, pending such a finding
    15  in subdivision one of this section where an applicant seeks relief under
    16  this section, the court shall immediately order the applicant's  current
    17  name,  proposed  new name, residential and business addresses, telephone
    18  numbers, and any other information contained in any pleadings or  papers
    19  submitted  to the court to be safeguarded and sealed in order to prevent
    20  their inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure while the matter  is
    21  pending.
    22    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05996-01-5
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