Bill Text: NY A00768 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits the use of facial recognition and biometric information as the sole factor in determining the existence of probable cause to place in custody or arrest an individual.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to governmental operations [A00768 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A00768-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 768 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 6, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to the use of facial recognition and biometric information for determining probable cause The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 837-w 2 to read as follows: 3 § 837-w. Use of biometric identifying technology. 1. As used in this 4 section: 5 (a) "Biometric identifying technology" shall mean any computer soft- 6 ware, algorithm, product, or application that collects or electronically 7 analyzes biometric information for the purposes of identifying an indi- 8 vidual, including but not limited to facial recognition. 9 (b) "Biometric information" shall mean any measurable physical or 10 behavioral characteristics that are attributable to an individual 11 person, including but not limited to facial characteristics, fingerprint 12 characteristics, hand characteristics, eye characteristics, vocal char- 13 acteristics, and any other physical characteristics that can be used to 14 identify a person including, but not limited to: fingerprints; hand- 15 prints; retina and iris patterns; DNA sequence; voice; gait; and facial 16 geometry. 17 (c) "Facial recognition" shall mean a biometric application or biome- 18 tric identifying technology capable of uniquely identifying or verifying 19 a person by comparing and analyzing patterns based on the person's 20 facial contours. 21 2. Biometric identifying technology shall not be the sole factor in 22 determining the existence of probable cause to place in custody or 23 arrest an individual. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00295-01-1A. 768 2 1 3. Not later than January first, two thousand twenty-three, each 2 municipal police department, sheriff's office, and the division of state 3 police shall adopt a written policy that prohibits the stopping, 4 detention or search of any person when such action is solely motivated 5 by biometric identifying technology. 6 4. If a municipal police department, sheriff's office, or the division 7 of state police fails to comply with the provisions of this section, the 8 division of criminal justice services shall order an appropriate penalty 9 in the form of the withholding of state funds from such municipal police 10 department, sheriff's office or the division of state police. 11 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.