NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3053
SPONSOR: Weprin TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring parole deci-
sions to be published on a website
PURPOSE:
This bill directs the Board of Parole to publish its appeal decisions on
a public website and create an annual index of such decisions.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 259-i (4) of the executive law to provide that
the parole board shall publish appeal decisions on a web site within 60
days, create an annual index of such decisions, make copies available
and redact confidential information from such decisions prior to publi-
cation.
Section 2 provides for an effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Most agencies within the State operate under the State Administrative
Procedure Act, which provides that agency adjudicatory decisions must be
made public within sixty days. Agencies as diverse as the Office of
Temporary and Disability Assistance, the Department of Labor, the
Department of Tax and Finance and the Department of Environmental
Conservation, among other agencies, post their administrative appeal
decisions on line. The decisions are useful in that individuals and
their attorneys can read appeal decisions in similar cases to see what
kinds of arguments might apply to their cases and because agency trans-
parency is an important tenet of open government. The Board of Parole,
which exercises extraordinary discretion, should post its administrative
appeal determinations so that the public and concerned citizens can have
access to the body of decisions that informs the Board's practice.
Veto message #231 expressed two concerns, first that the effective date
of 30-days was insufficient to create the database necessary to imple-
ment this legislation, and, second, that an appropriation would be
necessary to implement a database. This bill has been amended since the
2016 version to include a one year effective date in order to allow time
to create a database and to provide for an appropriation within the
budget.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
Referred to Corrections, passed Assembly in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
This bill was vetoed in 2016, see veto message #231 of 2016. This bill
has been amended, to address the concerns expressed in the veto message.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
minimal since the Board and DOCCS already maintain web sites
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
none
EFFECTIVE DATE:
One year after the act becomes law
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3053
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 25, 2017
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Correction
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring parole deci-
sions to be published on a website
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 259-i of the executive law is
2 amended by adding a new paragraph (c) to read as follows:
3 (c) All appeal decisions shall be published within sixty days of the
4 determination on a publicly accessible website that includes a word-
5 searchable database and cumulative subject matter index of such deci-
6 sions. Such subject matter index shall be published annually in print
7 form and distributed to all correctional facility libraries. Copies of
8 such individual appeal decisions and subject matter index shall also be
9 made available upon written request to the board. Information which
10 would reveal confidential material that may not be released pursuant to
11 federal or state law shall be redacted from any such website, decision
12 and index.
13 § 2. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a
14 law and shall apply to appeal decisions rendered on or after such date.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06681-02-7
