BILL NO A06291
SAME AS No same as
SPONSOR Gabryszak (MS)
COSPNSR Thiele, Raia, Galef, Hooper, Scarborough, Perry, Schimel, Jaffee,
Gunther, Zebrowski
MLTSPNSR Crouch, Finch, McDonough, McKevitt, Titone, Weisenberg
Amd S89, Pub Off L
Removes the "unwarranted invasion of personal privacy" exemption for certain
real property records.
BILL NUMBER:A6291
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public officers law, in relation
to removing the "unwarranted invasion of personal privacy" exemption
for certain real property records
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: Restores the "unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy" exemption when a Freedom of Information Law requests
pertaining to land records.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: This legislation would amend the
public officers law by correcting newly enacted changes to ensure that
New York State citizens are protected from potential identity theft
and privacy invasion.
JUSTIFICATION: This legislation would restore the ability of a county
clerk, or any other official record keeper, to protect the privacy of
New York State citizens from identity theft. This legislation would
enact amendments to the State's Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) to
correct changes that were recently put into place. County clerks and
other government agencies that maintain large amounts of records often
exempted the disclosure of public records based on the fact that the
requested land documents may have contained personal information
(Social Security numbers, dates of birth, bank account numbers). These
actions were taken in an effort to protect citizens from identity
theft. This exemption was permissible under Public Officers Law
because the release of this information was deemed an "unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy" and the records were either not
disclosed or redacted prior to disclosure. This legislation would
restore the exemption to help protect citizens' privacy.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: A.2829 of 2010. A4316 of 2012.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
6291
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
March 25, 2013
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GABRYSZAK, THIELE, RAIA, GALEF, HOOPER, SCARBOR-
OUGH, PERRY, SCHIMEL, JAFFEE, GUNTHER, CASTRO, ZEBROWSKI -- Multi-
Sponsored by -- M. of A. CROUCH, FINCH, McDONOUGH, McKEVITT, TITONE,
WEISENBERG -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental
Operations
AN ACT to amend the public officers law, in relation to removing the
"unwarranted invasion of personal privacy" exemption for certain real
property records
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
1 Section 1. Subparagraphs ii, iii and iv of paragraph (c) of subdivi-
2 sion 2 of section 89 of the public officers law, as amended by section
3 11 of part U of chapter 61 of the laws of 2011, are amended to read as
4 follows:
5 ii. when the person to whom a record pertains consents in writing to
6 disclosure; OR
7 iii. when upon presenting reasonable proof of identity, a person seeks
8 access to records pertaining to him or her[; or
9 iv. when a record or group of records relates to the right, title or
10 interest in real property, or relates to the inventory, status or char-
11 acteristics of real property, in which case disclosure and providing
12 copies of such record or group of records shall not be deemed an unwar-
13 ranted invasion of personal privacy, provided that nothing herein shall
14 be construed to authorize the disclosure of electronic contact informa-
15 tion, such as an e-mail address or a social network username, that has
16 been collected from a taxpayer under section one hundred four of the
17 real property tax law].
18 S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09874-01-3
