NY State Senate Bill 2015-S3859

Senate Bill S3859

2015-2016 Legislative Session

Authorizes police agencies to charge fees for searching, copying, and mailing police agency generated records

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 06, 2016	referred to finance
Feb 20, 2015	referred to finance

co-Sponsors

2015-S3859 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A8618
Current Committee:: Senate Finance
Law Section:: Executive Law
Laws Affected:: Add §837-s, Exec L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2009-2010: S2291
2011-2012: S3008
2013-2014: S1816
2017-2018: A1623

2015-S3859 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Authorizes police agencies to charge fees for searching, copying, and mailing police agency generated records.

2015-S3859 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                BILL NUMBER:S3859

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the executive law, in relation to
authorizing police agencies to include administrative costs in fees
for copies of police agency records

PURPOSE:

Enactment of this legislation would authorize police agencies to
charge certain fees for searching, copying and mailing police agency
generated records.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends the executive law by adding a new section 837-s by
authorizing local police agencies to charge a fee for searching police
agency records, copying said documents, and preparing such documents
for mailing. No fee shall be charged for any public officer, board or
other specified public entity.

Subsection 2 states that such fee shall be five dollars per request
for searches conducted manually, and three dollars for searches
undertaken by electronic medium.

Subsection 3 provides that the fee for copies of documents other than
accident reports shall be one dollar per page, and the fee for an

accident report shall be fifteen dollars.

EXISTING LAW:

Current law limits the amount a local police agency may charge fox
such records to twenty-five cents.

JUSTIFICATION:

Currently a local police department, receiving a Freedom of
Information Act (FOIL) request from an insurance company for a copy of
an accident report, may only charge a maximum of twenty five cents for
a copy of that report. Those persons actually involved in an accident
cannot be charged any fee or a copy of the report.  Obviously, the
costs involved in searching, copying, handling and mailing these
documents far exceed the current fee structure.

The State Legislature recognized this inequity in the past, by making
an exception to the statutes governing this fee structure, in that
section 202.3 of the vehicle and traffic law allows the NYS Department
of Motor Vehicles to charge fifteen dollars for a copy of an accident
report.

Local governments are under extreme pressure to cut costs and do more
with less personnel. It is not unreasonable to provide local police
agencies the same fee structure as provided to the NYS Department of
Motor Vehicles.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.


FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None to New York State.

LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Favorable for local governments.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after becoming law.

2015-S3859 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  3859

                       2015-2016 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            February 20, 2015
                               ___________

Introduced  by Sens. ESPAILLAT, PERKINS -- read twice and ordered print-
  ed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance

AN ACT to amend the executive law, in  relation  to  authorizing  police
  agencies  to include administrative costs in fees for copies of police
  agency records

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 837-s
to read as follows:
  S 837-S. FEES FOR COPIES OF POLICE  AGENCY  RECORDS.  1.  EXCEPT    AS
PROVIDED  BY LAW THAT NO FEE SHALL BE CHARGED, LOCAL POLICE AGENCIES MAY
CHARGE A FEE FOR  SEARCHING  THE  POLICE  AGENCY  RECORDS,  COPYING  THE
RESULTING  DOCUMENTS,  AND  PREPARING  SUCH  DOCUMENTS  FOR  MAILING  AS
PROVIDED IN THIS SECTION.  PROVIDED,  HOWEVER,  THAT  NO  FEE  SHALL  BE
CHARGED ANY PUBLIC OFFICER, BOARD, BODY, AGENCY, OR DEPARTMENT OR VOLUN-
TEER  FIRE COMPANY, FOR SEARCHES OR COPIES OF DOCUMENTS TO BE USED FOR A
PUBLIC PURPOSE.
  2. FEES FOR SEARCHES OF POLICE AGENCY  RECORDS.  (A)  THE  FEE  FOR  A
SEARCH WHICH IS MADE MANUALLY BY THE POLICE AGENCY SHALL BE FIVE DOLLARS
PER REQUEST.
  (B)  THE FEE FOR A SEARCH WHICH IS CONDUCTED BY MEANS OF AN ELECTRONIC
MEDIUM SHALL BE THREE DOLLARS PER REQUEST.
  3. FEES FOR COPIES OF DOCUMENTS AND PREPARATION FOR MAILING. THE  FEES
FOR  COPIES  OF  DOCUMENTS,  OTHER  THAN  ACCIDENT REPORTS, SHALL BE ONE
DOLLAR PER PAGE. A PAGE SHALL CONSIST OF EITHER A SINGLE OR  DOUBLE-SIDE
OF  ANY  DOCUMENT.  THE  FEE  FOR  A COPY OF AN ACCIDENT REPORT SHALL BE
FIFTEEN DOLLARS. ALL COPIES OF DOCUMENTS SHALL BE CERTIFIED AT NO  ADDI-
TIONAL  FEE.  WHENEVER  A  SEARCH  OF  RECORDS  OF  THE POLICE AGENCY IS
REQUIRED IN CONJUNCTION WITH A COPY OF A DOCUMENT, THE FEE SHALL BE  THE
FEE  FOR  THE SEARCH AS PROVIDED IN SUBDIVISION TWO OF THIS SECTION. THE
RESULT OF SUCH SEARCH WILL BE THE LOCATING OF THE  DOCUMENT,  OR  IF  NO

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD08746-01-5

S. 3859                             2

DOCUMENT  CAN  BE  LOCATED,  A  CERTIFICATION TO THAT EFFECT WILL BE THE
RESULT OF SUCH SEARCH. THE FEE  FOR  THE  PREPARATION  FOR  MAILING,  IF
NECESSARY, SHALL BE TWO DOLLARS PER REQUEST.
  S  2.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
have become a law.

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Senate Bill S3859

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Sponsored By

Adriano Espaillat