Bill Text: NY A01922 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Directs the department of state to conduct a study on the use of legal material in an electronic format that guarantees the authenticity of and access to such legal materials.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-06-12 - REFERRED TO RULES [A01922 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-A01922-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         1922--A
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    January 17, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced by M. of A. LIFTON, STIRPE, O'DONNELL, GALEF -- read once and
          referred  to  the  Committee  on  Governmental Operations -- committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee
        AN ACT to amend the New York state printing and public documents law, in
          relation to enacting the "uniform electronic legal material act"
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  The  New  York state printing and public documents law is
     2  amended by adding a new article 3-A to read as follows:
     3                                 ARTICLE 3-A
     4                    UNIFORM ELECTRONIC LEGAL MATERIAL ACT
     5  Section 15.   Short title.
     6          15-a. Definitions.
     7          15-b. Applicability.
     8          15-c. Legal material in official electronic record.
     9          15-d. Authentication of official electronic record.
    10          15-e. Effect of authentication.
    11          15-f. Preservation and security of legal  material  in  official
    12                  electronic record.
    13          15-g. Public  access  to  legal  material in official electronic
    14                record.
    15          15-h. Standards.
    16          15-i. Uniformity of application and construction.
    17          15-j. Relation of electronic signatures in global  and  national
    18                  commerce act.
    19    § 15. Short title. This article shall be known and may be cited as the
    20  "uniform electronic legal material act".
    21    § 15-a. Definitions. In this article:
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD07919-02-7
        A. 1922--A                          2
     1    1.  "Electronic"  means  relating  to  technology  having  electrical,
     2  digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar  capa-
     3  bilities.
     4    2. "Legal material" means, whether or not in effect:
     5    a. the constitution of the state of New York;
     6    b. the laws of the state of New York;
     7    c.  a  state  agency  rule, regulation or decision that has or had the
     8  effect of law;
     9    d. material published in the New York register;
    10    e. the New York code of rules and regulations;
    11    f. reported decisions of the following  state  courts:  the  court  of
    12  appeals, the appellate division and the supreme courts.
    13    3. "Official publisher" means:
    14    a. for the constitution of the state of New York, the legislative bill
    15  drafting commission;
    16    b.  for the laws of the state of New York, the legislative bill draft-
    17  ing commission;
    18    c. for a state agency rule, regulation or decision that has or had the
    19  effect of law, the state agency;
    20    d. for material published in the New York register, the  secretary  of
    21  state;
    22    e.  for  the  New  York code of rules and regulations, the legislative
    23  bill drafting commission.
    24    4. "Publish" means to display, present, or release to the  public,  or
    25  cause  to  be  displayed,  presented,  or released to the public, by the
    26  official publisher.
    27    5. "Record" means information that is inscribed on a  tangible  medium
    28  or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in
    29  perceivable form.
    30    6.  "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Colum-
    31  bia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory  or
    32  insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.
    33    §  15-b.  Applicability. This article applies to all legal material in
    34  an electronic record  that  is  designated  as  official  under  section
    35  fifteen-c of this article and first published electronically on or after
    36  the effective date of this article.
    37    §  15-c.  Legal material in official electronic record. 1. If an offi-
    38  cial publisher publishes legal material only in  an  electronic  record,
    39  the publisher shall:
    40    a. designate the electronic record as official; and
    41    b.  comply  with  sections  fifteen-d, fifteen-f and fifteen-g of this
    42  article.
    43    2. An official publisher that publishes legal material in an electron-
    44  ic record and also publishes the material in  a  record  other  than  an
    45  electronic record may designate the electronic record as official if the
    46  publisher  complies  with sections fifteen-d, fifteen-f and fifteen-g of
    47  this article.
    48    § 15-d. Authentication of  official  electronic  record.  An  official
    49  publisher  of  legal material in an electronic record that is designated
    50  as official under section fifteen-c of this article  shall  authenticate
    51  the  record.   To authenticate an electronic record, the publisher shall
    52  provide a method for a user to determine that the record received by the
    53  user from the publisher is unaltered from the official record  published
    54  by the publisher.
        A. 1922--A                          3
     1    §  15-e.  Effect of authentication. 1. Legal material in an electronic
     2  record that is authenticated under section fifteen-d of this article  is
     3  presumed to be an accurate copy of the legal material.
     4    2.  If  another  state has adopted a law substantially similar to this
     5  article, legal material in an electronic record that  is  designated  as
     6  official  and  authenticated  by the official publisher in that state is
     7  presumed to be an accurate copy of the legal material.
     8    3. A party contesting the authentication of legal material in an elec-
     9  tronic record authenticated under section fifteen-d of this article  has
    10  the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the record
    11  is not authentic.
    12    §  15-f. Preservation and security of legal material in official elec-
    13  tronic record. 1. An official publisher of legal material  in  an  elec-
    14  tronic  record  that  is  or  was  designated  as official under section
    15  fifteen-c of this article shall provide for the preservation and securi-
    16  ty of the record in an electronic form or a form that is not electronic.
    17    2. If legal material  is  preserved  under  subdivision  one  of  this
    18  section in an electronic record, the official publisher shall:
    19    a. ensure the integrity of the record;
    20    b. provide for backup and disaster recovery of the record; and
    21    c. ensure the continuing usability of the material.
    22    § 15-g. Public access to legal material in official electronic record.
    23  An  official publisher of legal material in an electronic record that is
    24  required to be preserved under section fifteen-f of this  article  shall
    25  ensure  that  the material is reasonably available for use by the public
    26  on a permanent basis.
    27    § 15-h. Standards. In implementing this article, an official publisher
    28  of legal material in an electronic record shall consider:
    29    1. standards and practices of other jurisdictions;
    30    2. the most recent standards regarding authentication of, preservation
    31  and security of, and public access to, legal material in  an  electronic
    32  record  and  other  electronic  records,  as promulgated by the national
    33  standard-setting bodies;
    34    3. the needs of users of legal material in an electronic record;
    35    4. the views of governmental officials and entities and  other  inter-
    36  ested persons; and
    37    5. to the extent practicable, methods and technologies for the authen-
    38  tication  of,  preservation and security of, and public access to, legal
    39  material which are compatible with the methods and technologies used  by
    40  other  official  publishers  in this state and in other states that have
    41  adopted a law substantially similar to this article.
    42    § 15-i. Uniformity of application and construction.  In  applying  and
    43  construing  this uniform act, consideration must be given to the need to
    44  promote uniformity of the law with respect to its subject  matter  among
    45  states that enact it.
    46    §  15-j.  Relation  to  electronic  signatures  in global and national
    47  commerce act. This article modifies, limits, and  supersedes  the  elec-
    48  tronic  signatures  in  global  and  national  commerce  act,  15 U.S.C.
    49  Section 7001 et seq., but does not modify, limit, or  supersede  Section
    50  101(c)  of  that act, 15 U.S.C. Section 7001(c), or authorize electronic
    51  delivery of any of the notices described in Section 103(b) of that  act,
    52  15 U.S.C. Section 7003(b).
    53    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.