NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4004
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 OF THE BILL:
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 chapter 10 entitled "Evidence for Agency
Summons."
Section 2 sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
With the rapidly growing ability of all New Yorkers to document everyday
occurrences through the use of mobile phones and other electronic
devices, so too have enforcement officials 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 enforce-
ment gencies with the necessary tools to document administrative
violations as they occur. All agencies issuing summonses that are review
by the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH)
would be required to undergo an analysis of violations that could be
proven through the use of 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 captur-
ing 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 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 both that much more can be done to preserve the
integrity of summonses issued by City agencies, and that a great number
of summonses issued by the City are currently lacking sufficient
evidence. By implementing the mandatory use of photo- graphic evidence
on summonses for which it is feasible to do so, the cost and burden
associated with addressing violations based upon insufficient evidence
will be lessened for both respondents and the City.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-2022: A1970 - Referred to Codes
2019-2020: A2617 - Referred to Cities
2017-2018: A01850 - Referred to Cities
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4004
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 8, 2023
___________
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.
24 5. Agencies shall be authorized to promulgate rules relative to creat-
25 ing procedures for the collection of photographic evidence required by
26 this section.
27 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05250-01-3
