Relates to unsealing criminal records in criminal actions terminated in favor of the accused or by conviction for a noncriminal offense; allows disclosure of such records to a party in a criminal proceeding if, on notice to the adverse party and the subject of the records, the moving party demonstrates that justice so requires.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4471
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 6, 2011
___________
Introduced by Sen. NOZZOLIO -- (at request of the Office of Court Admin-
istration) -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be
committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to unsealing
criminal records
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 1 of section 160.50 of the
2 criminal procedure law, as amended by chapter 169 of the laws of 1994,
3 is amended to read as follows:
4 (d) such records shall be made available to the person accused or to
5 such person's designated agent, and shall be made available to (i) a
6 prosecutor in any proceeding in which the accused has moved for an order
7 pursuant to section 170.56 or 210.46 of this chapter, or (ii) a law
8 enforcement agency upon ex parte motion in any superior court, if such
9 agency demonstrates to the satisfaction of the court that justice
10 requires that such records be made available to it, or (iii) any state
11 or local officer or agency with responsibility for the issuance of
12 licenses to possess guns, when the accused has made application for such
13 a license, or (iv) the New York state division of parole when the
14 accused is on parole supervision as a result of conditional release or a
15 parole release granted by the New York state board of parole, and the
16 arrest which is the subject of the inquiry is one which occurred while
17 the accused was under such supervision or (v) any prospective employer
18 of a police officer or peace officer as those terms are defined in
19 subdivisions thirty-three and thirty-four of section 1.20 of this chap-
20 ter, in relation to an application for employment as a police officer or
21 peace officer; provided, however, that every person who is an applicant
22 for the position of police officer or peace officer shall be furnished
23 with a copy of all records obtained under this paragraph and afforded an
24 opportunity to make an explanation thereto, or (vi) the probation
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09806-01-1
S. 4471 2
1 department responsible for supervision of the accused when the arrest
2 which is the subject of the inquiry is one which occurred while the
3 accused was under such supervision, or (vii) a party in a criminal
4 proceeding if, no notice to the adverse party and the subject of the
5 records, the moving party demonstrates to the satisfaction of the court
6 that justice requires that the records be made available to such party
7 in connection with the criminal proceeding; and
8 § 2. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 1 of section 160.55 of the criminal
9 procedure law, as amended by chapter 476 of the laws of 2009, is amended
10 to read as follows:
11 (d) the records referred to in paragraph (c) of this subdivision shall
12 be made available to the person accused or to such person's designated
13 agent, and shall be made available to (i) a prosecutor in any proceeding
14 in which the accused has moved for an order pursuant to section 170.56
15 or 210.46 of this chapter, or (ii) a law enforcement agency upon ex
16 parte motion in any superior court, if such agency demonstrates to the
17 satisfaction of the court that justice requires that such records be
18 made available to it, or (iii) any state or local officer or agency with
19 responsibility for the issuance of licenses to possess guns, when the
20 accused has made application for such a license, or (iv) the New York
21 state division of parole when the accused is under parole supervision as
22 a result of conditional release or parole release granted by the New
23 York state board of parole and the arrest which is the subject of the
24 inquiry is one which occurred while the accused was under such super-
25 vision, or (v) the probation department responsible for supervision of
26 the accused when the arrest which is the subject of the inquiry is one
27 which occurred while the accused was under such supervision, or (vi) a
28 police agency, probation department, sheriff's office, district attor-
29 ney's office, department of correction of any municipality and parole
30 department, for law enforcement purposes, upon arrest in instances in
31 which the individual stands convicted of harassment in the second
32 degree, as defined in section 240.26 of the penal law, committed against
33 a member of the same family or household as the defendant, as defined in
34 subdivision one of section 530.11 of this chapter, and determined pursu-
35 ant to subdivision eight-a of section 170.10 of this title, or (vii) a
36 party in a criminal proceeding if, on notice to the adverse party and
37 the subject of the records, the moving party demonstrates to the satis-
38 faction of the court that justice requires that the records be made
39 available to such party in connection with the criminal proceeding; and
40 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
41 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
