STATE OF NEW YORK
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6814--A
Cal. No. 1002
IN SENATE
March 12, 2014
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Introduced by Sen. FELDER -- (at request of the Office of Court Adminis-
tration) -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be
committed to the Committee on Children and Families -- reported favor-
ably from said committee, ordered to first and second report, ordered
to a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place
in the order of third reading
AN ACT to amend the family court act, in relation to sealing and
expungement of records in persons in need of supervision cases in the
family court
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 783 of the family court act is amended to read as
2 follows:
3 § 783. Use of [record] records in other court; sealing and expungement
4 of records. (a) Neither the fact that a person was before the family
5 court under this article for a hearing nor any confession, admission or
6 statement made by him or her to the court or to any officer thereof in
7 any stage of the proceeding is admissible as evidence against him or her
8 or his or her interests in any other court. [Another court, in imposing
9 sentence upon an adult after conviction, may receive and consider the
10 records and information on file with the family court concerning such
11 person when he was a child.]
12 (b) For purposes of this section, "sealing" shall mean that all offi-
13 cial records and papers, including judgments and orders of the court,
14 but not including public court decisions or opinions or records and
15 briefs on appeal, relating to the arrest, the prosecution and records of
16 the probation service and designated lead agency, including all dupli-
17 cates or copies thereof, on file with the court, police department and
18 law enforcement agency, probation service, designated lead agency and
19 presentment agency, if any, shall be protected from public inspection
20 and shall not be made available to any person or public or private agen-
21 cy. Such records shall only be made available to the respondent or his
22 or her designated agent.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13718-04-4
S. 6814--A 2
1 (c) Automatic sealing of a proceeding under this article that is
2 terminated in favor of the respondent. (i) Upon termination of a
3 proceeding under this article in favor of the respondent, the clerk of
4 the court shall immediately notify and direct the directors of the
5 appropriate probation department, designated lead agency pursuant to
6 section seven hundred thirty-five of this article and, if a presentment
7 agency represented the petitioner in the proceeding, such agency, that
8 the proceeding has terminated in favor of the respondent and that the
9 records, if any, of such action or proceeding on file with such offices
10 shall be sealed. If the respondent had been the subject of a warrant or
11 an arrest in connection with the proceeding, or law enforcement was the
12 referring agency or petitioner pursuant to section seven hundred thir-
13 ty-three of this article, the notice shall also be sent to the appropri-
14 ate police department or law enforcement agency. Upon receipt of such
15 notification, the records shall be sealed in accordance with subdivision
16 (b) of this section. The attorney for the respondent shall be notified
17 by the clerk of the court in writing of the date and agencies and
18 departments to which such notifications were sent.
19 (ii) For the purposes of this section, a proceeding under this article
20 shall be considered terminated in favor of a respondent where the
21 proceeding has been:
22 (A) adjusted prior to the filing of a petition pursuant to subdivision
23 (g) of section seven hundred thirty-five of this article or subsequent
24 to the filing of a petition pursuant to subdivision (b) of section seven
25 hundred forty-two of this article; or
26 (B) withdrawn or dismissed for failure to prosecute, or for any other
27 reason at any stage; or
28 (C) dismissed following an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal
29 pursuant to subdivision (a) of section seven hundred forty-nine of this
30 article.
31 (iii) If, with respect to a respondent who had been the subject of a
32 warrant or an arrest in connection with the proceeding, or law enforce-
33 ment was the referring agency, the designated lead agency adjusts a case
34 prior to the filing of a petition under this article, the designated
35 lead agency shall serve a certification of such adjustment upon the
36 appropriate probation service and police department or law enforcement
37 agency. Upon receipt of such certification, the probation service and
38 police department or law enforcement agency shall seal any records, if
39 any, on file with such offices in accordance with subdivision (b) of
40 this section in the same manner as is required thereunder with respect
41 to an order of a court.
42 (iv) If, following the referral of a proceeding under this article for
43 the filing of a petition, the petitioner or, if represented by a
44 presentment agency, such agency, elects not to file a petition under
45 this article, the petitioner or, if applicable, the presentment agency,
46 shall serve a certification of such determination upon the appropriate
47 probation service and designated lead agency. If the respondent had been
48 the subject of a warrant or an arrest in connection with the proceeding,
49 or law enforcement was the referring agency, the certification shall
50 also be sent to the appropriate police department or law enforcement
51 agency. Upon receipt of such certification, the records shall be sealed
52 in accordance with subdivision (b) of this section in the same manner as
53 is required thereunder with respect to an order of a court.
54 (v) A respondent in whose favor a proceeding was terminated as defined
55 in this section prior to the effective date of the chapter of the laws
56 of two thousand fourteen which added this paragraph may, upon motion,
S. 6814--A 3
1 apply to the court, upon not less than twenty days notice to the peti-
2 tioner or (where the petitioner is represented by a presentment agency)
3 such agency, for an order granting the relief set forth in paragraph (i)
4 of this subdivision. Where a proceeding under this article was termi-
5 nated in favor of the respondent in accordance with paragraph (iii) or
6 (iv) of this subdivision prior to the effective date of the chapter of
7 the laws of two thousand fourteen which added this paragraph, the
8 respondent may apply to the designated lead agency, petitioner or
9 presentment agency, as applicable, for a certification as described in
10 such paragraphs granting the relief set forth therein and such certif-
11 ication shall be granted.
12 (d) Motion to seal after an adjudication and disposition. (i) If an
13 action has resulted in an adjudication and disposition under this arti-
14 cle, the court may, in the interest of justice and upon motion of the
15 respondent, order the sealing of the records and proceedings.
16 (ii) Such motion must be in writing and may be filed at any time
17 subsequent to the entering of the disposition. Notice of such motion
18 shall be served not less than eight days prior to the return date of the
19 motion upon the petitioner or, if the petitioner was represented by a
20 presentment agency, such agency. Answering affidavits shall be served at
21 least two days before the return date.
22 (iii) The court shall set forth in a written order its reasons for
23 granting or denying the motion. If the court grants the motion, all
24 court records, as well as all records on file with the designated lead
25 agency, the probation service, the presentment agency, if any, and, if
26 the respondent had been the subject of a warrant or an arrest in
27 connection with the proceeding, or was the referring agency or petition-
28 er pursuant to section seven hundred thirty-three of this article, the
29 appropriate police or law enforcement agency, shall be sealed in accord-
30 ance with subdivision (b) of this section.
31 (e) Expungement of court records. Nothing contained in this article
32 shall preclude the court's use of its inherent power to order the
33 expungement of court records.
34 § 2. Section 784 of the family court act is amended to read as
35 follows:
36 § 784. Use of police records. All police records relating to the
37 arrest and disposition of any person under this article shall be kept in
38 files separate and apart from the arrests of adults and shall be with-
39 held from public inspection, but such records shall be open to
40 inspection upon good cause shown by the parent, guardian, next friend or
41 attorney of that person upon the written order of a judge of the family
42 court in the county in which the order was made [or, if the person is
43 subsequently convicted of a crime, of a judge of the court in which he
44 was convicted].
45 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
46 have become a law.
