Allows a member of the Niagara county clerk's office to access mental hygiene records to assist in the firearm permit application investigation process.

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S6040-2011 Actions

• Jun 21, 2012: COMMITTED TO RULES
• May 7, 2012: ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
• May 2, 2012: 2ND REPORT CAL.
• May 1, 2012: 1ST REPORT CAL.645
• Jan 4, 2012: REFERRED TO CODES

S6040-2011 Meetings

Codes: May 1, 2012

S6040-2011 Calendars

Floor Calendar: May 2, 2012 , Floor Calendar: May 7, 2012 , Floor Calendar: May 8, 2012 , Floor Calendar: May 9, 2012 , Floor Calendar: May 14, 2012 , Floor Calendar: May 15, 2012 , Floor Calendar: May 16, 2012 , Floor Calendar: May 21, 2012 , Floor Calendar: May 22, 2012 , Floor Calendar: May 23, 2012 , Floor Calendar: May 30, 2012 , Floor Calendar: May 31, 2012 , Floor Calendar: Jun 4, 2012 , Floor Calendar: Jun 5, 2012 , Floor Calendar: Jun 6, 2012 , Floor Calendar: Jun 11, 2012 , Floor Calendar: Jun 12, 2012 , Floor Calendar: Jun 13, 2012 , Floor Calendar: Jun 14, 2012 , Floor Calendar: Jun 18, 2012 , Floor Calendar: Jun 19, 2012 , Floor Calendar: Jun 20, 2012 , Floor Calendar: Jun 21, 2012

S6040-2011 Votes

S6040-2011 Memo

BILL NUMBER:S6040

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
amending the penal law, in relation to allowing a member of the Niagara
county clerk's office to access mental health records for firearm
license applications

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To allow the Niagara County Clerk's
office to access mental hygiene records to assist in the firearm
permit application investigation process.
Access will only be granted to a certified employee of the Niagara
County Clerk's office who is authorized to access clinical records in
accordance with section 33.13 of the Mental Hygiene Law.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends
subdivision 4 of Section 400.00 of the Penal Law to empower an
authorized member of the Niagara County Clerk's office to access the
appropriate records of the Office of Mental Health concerning
previous or present mental illness of an applicant for a firearms
license.

Section 2 of the bill is the effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:
Currently in Niagara County there has been a severe
backlog of pistol permit applications. It appears that the Office of
Mental Health (OMH) is behind in processing the background checks
due to staffing reductions from budget cuts. The Niagara County
Clerk's office, which processes the permits, has suggested that it
can perform the requisite background checks and reduce the time to
close on permit processing by over 60%. The Clerk's office has
indicated it understands that OMH deals with sensitive information,
and has a staff member who has the necessary security clearance to
perform this function.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
Undetermined savings to the State of New York.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.

S6040-2011 Text

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

                                    6040

                              I N  SENATE

                                 (PREFILED)

                               January 4, 2012
                                 ___________

  Introduced  by  Sen. MAZIARZ -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
    printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes

  AN ACT amending the penal law, in relation to allowing a member  of  the
    Niagara  county  clerk's  office  to  access mental health records for
    firearm license applications

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


    Section  1.  Subdivision  4  of  section  400.00  of the penal law, as
  amended by chapter 331 of the  law  of  2005,  is  amended  to  read  as
  follows:

    4.  Investigation.  Before a license is issued or renewed, there shall
  be an investigation of all statements required in the application by the
  duly constituted police authorities of the locality where such  applica-
  tion is made. For that purpose, the records of the appropriate office of
  the  department  of mental hygiene concerning previous or present mental
  illness of the applicant shall be available for inspection by the inves-
  tigating officer of the police authority OR IN  NIAGARA  COUNTY  RECORDS
  MAY BE ACCESSED BY A CERTIFIED EMPLOYEE OF THE COUNTY CLERK'S OFFICE WHO
  IS  AUTHORIZED  TO  ACCESS  CLINICAL  RECORDS IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION
  33.13 OF THE MENTAL HYGIENE LAW. In  order  to  ascertain  any  previous
  criminal  record,  the investigating officer shall take the fingerprints
  and physical descriptive data in quadruplicate  of  each  individual  by
  whom  the application is signed and verified. Two copies of such finger-
  prints shall be taken on standard fingerprint cards eight inches square,
  and one copy may be taken on a card supplied for  that  purpose  by  the
  federal  bureau of investigation; provided, however, that in the case of
  a corporate applicant that has already been issued a dealer in  firearms
  license  and seeks to operate a firearm dealership at a second or subse-
  quent location, the original fingerprints on file may be used to  ascer-
  tain  any criminal record in the second or subsequent application unless
  any of the corporate officers have changed since the prior  application,
  in  which  case  the  new corporate officer shall comply with procedures
  governing an initial application for such license. When  completed,  one

   EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                        [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                             LBD13352-02-1

 S. 6040                             2

  standard  card  shall  be  forwarded  to and retained by the division of
  criminal justice services in the  executive  department,  at  Albany.  A
  search  of  the  files  of such division and written notification of the
  results of the search to the investigating officer shall be made without
  unnecessary delay.  Thereafter, such division shall notify the licensing
  officer  and the executive department, division of state police, Albany,
  of any criminal record of the applicant filed therein subsequent to  the
  search  of its files. A second standard card, or the one supplied by the
  federal bureau of investigation, as the case may be, shall be  forwarded
  to that bureau at Washington with a request that the files of the bureau
  be searched and notification of the results of the search be made to the
  investigating  police  authority.  The failure or refusal of the federal
  bureau of investigation to make the fingerprint check  provided  for  in
  this  section shall not constitute the sole basis for refusal to issue a
  permit pursuant to the provisions of this section. Of the remaining  two
  fingerprint  cards,  one  shall  be filed with the executive department,
  division of state police, Albany, within ten days after issuance of  the
  license,  and  the  other  remain  on file with the investigating police
  authority. No such fingerprints may be inspected  by  any  person  other
  than a peace officer, who is acting pursuant to his special duties, or a
  police  officer,  except  on  order  of a judge or justice of a court of
  record either upon notice to the licensee  or  without  notice,  as  the
  judge  or  justice may deem appropriate. Upon completion of the investi-
  gation, the police authority shall report the results to  the  licensing
  officer without unnecessary delay.
    S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.