Bill Text: NY A00121 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Relates to publishing records of public interest by agencies and the legislature on their websites.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 31-4)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to governmental operations [A00121 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A00121-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 121--A 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 9, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BUCHWALD, GALEF, SANTABARBARA, GOTTFRIED, NIOU, SEAWRIGHT, D'URSO, LAWRENCE, ARROYO, BLAKE, COOK, GOODELL, DAVILA, McDONALD, GUNTHER, STIRPE, TAYLOR, REYES, McMAHON, STECK, SAYEGH, RICHARDSON, SALKA, MORINELLO -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. GRIF- FIN, ORTIZ, PAULIN, SIMON, THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit- tee AN ACT to amend the public officers law, in relation to publishing records of public interest by agencies and the state legislature The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 84 of the public officers law, as added by chapter 2 933 of the laws of 1977, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 84. Legislative declaration. The legislature hereby finds that a 4 free society is maintained when government is responsive and responsible 5 to the public, and when the public is aware of governmental actions. The 6 more open a government is with its citizenry, the greater the under- 7 standing and participation of the public in government. 8 As state and local government services increase and public problems 9 become more sophisticated and complex and therefore harder to solve, and 10 with the resultant increase in revenues and expenditures, it is incum- 11 bent upon the state and its localities to extend public accountability 12 wherever and whenever feasible. 13 The people's right to know the process of governmental decision-making 14 and to review the documents and statistics leading to determinations is 15 basic to our society. Access to such information should not be thwarted 16 by shrouding it with the cloak of secrecy or confidentiality. 17 Since the freedom of information law was first adopted, advances in 18 technology have enhanced the ability to gain access to and widely EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00936-04-9A. 121--A 2 1 disseminate public information. Accordingly, the legislature finds that 2 government agencies, when agencies have the ability to do so, should 3 publish records proactively on the internet that are of public interest 4 and available under this article. 5 The legislature therefore declares that government is the public's 6 business and that the public, individually and collectively and repres- 7 ented by a free press, should have access to the records of government 8 in accordance with the provisions of this article. 9 § 2. Section 90 of the public officers law is renumbered section 90-a 10 and a new section 90 is added to read as follows: 11 § 90. Records of public interest. 1. Each agency and house of the 12 state legislature shall publish, on its internet website, when the agen- 13 cy or house of the state legislature has the ability to do so, records 14 or portions of records that are available to the public pursuant to the 15 provisions of this article, and which, in consideration of their nature, 16 content or subject matter, are determined by the agency to be of 17 substantial interest to the public. Any such records may be removed from 18 the internet website when the agency or house of the state legislature 19 determines that they are no longer of substantial interest to the 20 public. Any such records may be removed from the internet website when 21 they have reached the end of their legal retention period. Guidance on 22 creating records in accessible formats and ensuring their continuing 23 accessibility shall be available from the office for technology and the 24 state archives. 25 2. The provisions of subdivision one of this section shall not apply 26 to records or portions of records the disclosure of which would consti- 27 tute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy in accordance with 28 subdivision two of section eighty-nine of this article. 29 3. The committee on open government shall promulgate regulations to 30 effectuate this section. 31 4. Nothing in this section shall be construed as to limit or abridge 32 the power of an agency or house of the state legislature to publish 33 records on its internet website that are subject to the provisions of 34 this article prior to a written request or prior to a frequent request. 35 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 36 have become a law.