S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ 2318--D 2013-2014 Regular Sessions I N A S S E M B L Y January 14, 2013 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. GUNTHER, SCHIMMINGER, WALTER, TEDISCO, BRINDISI, COOK, RIVERA, COLTON, GALEF, SCHIMEL, JAFFEE, SKOUFIS, FAHY, MORELLE, STIRPE, HENNESSEY, ZEBROWSKI, MAGEE, ROBERTS, MOSLEY, P. LOPEZ, McDO- NOUGH, TENNEY, SANTABARBARA, CLARK, BUTLER, RUSSELL -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. ABINANTI, BARCLAY, BARRETT, BLANKENBUSH, BROOK-KRASNY, BUCHWALD, CAMARA, CROUCH, DUPREY, FRIEND, GIGLIO, GJONAJ, GOODELL, GRAF, HAWLEY, McDONALD, McKEVITT, McLAUGHLIN, PAULIN, RAMOS, SEPULVE- DA, SIMANOWITZ, SKARTADOS, STEC, SWEENEY, THIELE, WEISENBERG -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- reported and referred to the Commit- tee on Codes -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- recommitted to the Committee on Governmental Operations in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- reported and referred to the Committee on Codes -- reported and referred to the Committee on Rules -- Rules Committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to the Committee on Rules AN ACT to amend the executive law, the town law, the village law and the not-for-profit corporation law, in relation to qualifications to serve as a volunteer firefighter THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: 1 Section 1. Section 837-o of the executive law, as added by chapter 423 2 of the laws of 1999, subdivision 2 and paragraph (b) of subdivision 3 as 3 amended by section 41 of part B of chapter 56 of the laws of 2010, is 4 amended to read as follows: 5 S 837-o. Search for arson AND SEX OFFENSE conviction records of volun- 6 teer firefighter applicants. 1. Any person who applies for membership in 7 a fire company, as such term is defined in section three of the volun- EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD04572-12-4 A. 2318--D 2 1 teer firefighters' benefit law, or who seeks to transfer as a member to 2 another fire company, shall be required to authorize the submission of 3 his or her name and other authorized identifying information to the 4 division which shall search its files for records indicating whether the 5 person stands convicted of the crime of arson OR A CRIME WHICH REQUIRES 6 THE PERSON TO REGISTER AS A SEX OFFENDER UNDER ARTICLE SIX-C OF THE 7 CORRECTION LAW. The chief of the fire company to which application is 8 made shall provide written notice to the applicant that a search will be 9 conducted, and if the applicant desires to proceed, he or she shall 10 complete a search request on the form provided for this purpose by the 11 division of criminal justice services. 12 2. Within ten business days of receipt from the applicant, the chief 13 of the fire company shall send the completed search request form to 14 either (i) the sheriff's department of the county in which the fire 15 company is located, or (ii) the office of fire prevention and control, 16 as follows: 17 (a) the sheriff's department of the county in which the fire company 18 is located shall be responsible for receiving the search requests and 19 processing the search requests with the division within ten business 20 days of receipt from the chief of the fire company, unless the county 21 legislative body adopts and files with the office of fire prevention and 22 control pursuant to the municipal home rule law a local law providing 23 that the sheriff's department shall not have such responsibility; 24 (b) in all other instances where a county legislative body has adopted 25 a local law pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision, the office of 26 fire prevention and control shall be responsible for receiving search 27 requests and forwarding the search requests to the division. 28 The office of fire prevention and control is hereby authorized to estab- 29 lish a communication network with the division for the purpose of 30 forwarding search requests and receiving search results pursuant to 31 paragraph (b) of this subdivision. 32 3. (a) All searches concerning the application for membership in a 33 fire company shall be conducted under the provisions of subdivision six 34 of section eight hundred thirty-seven of this article without the 35 assessment of any fee to the applicant or fire company and shall pertain 36 solely to ascertaining whether the applicant stands convicted of arson 37 OR A CRIME WHICH REQUIRES THE PERSON TO REGISTER AS A SEX OFFENDER UNDER 38 ARTICLE SIX-C OF THE CORRECTION LAW. 39 (b) The results of the search shall be communicated in writing, within 40 ten business days of receipt from the division, to the chief of the fire 41 company from which the search request originated by either the sheriff's 42 department or the office of fire prevention and control, and shall be 43 kept confidential by the chief, except as provided in paragraph (c) of 44 this subdivision. The results of the search shall only state either 45 that: (i) the applicant stands convicted of arson AND/OR A CRIME WHICH 46 REQUIRES THE PERSON TO REGISTER AS A SEX OFFENDER UNDER ARTICLE SIX-C OF 47 THE CORRECTION LAW, or (ii) the applicant has no record of conviction 48 for arson OR A CRIME WHICH REQUIRES THE PERSON TO REGISTER AS A SEX 49 OFFENDER UNDER ARTICLE SIX-C OF THE CORRECTION LAW. The results of the 50 search shall not divulge any other information relating to the criminal 51 history of the applicant. 52 (c) At the time an applicant is advised that he or she is ineligible 53 for membership due to a record of conviction for arson, he or she shall 54 also be advised of the rights to challenge and appeal the information 55 contained in the record of conviction as provided in the rules and regu- 56 lations of the division. The applicant shall continue to be barred from A. 2318--D 3 1 membership until all administrative and judicial challenges to the accu- 2 racy of such information or appeals therefrom, are ultimately resolved 3 in his or her favor, or if such a determination is unchallenged. 4 (D) IF A PERSON IS DENIED ELECTION OR APPOINTMENT AS A VOLUNTEER 5 MEMBER OF A FIRE COMPANY BASED IN WHOLE OR IN PART ON THE FACT THAT HE 6 OR SHE STANDS CONVICTED OF A CRIME WHICH REQUIRES THE PERSON TO REGISTER 7 AS A SEX OFFENDER UNDER ARTICLE SIX-C OF THE CORRECTION LAW, HE OR SHE 8 SHALL BE ADVISED BY THE FIRE COMPANY OF THE RIGHTS TO CHALLENGE AND 9 APPEAL THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE RECORD OF CONVICTION AS PROVIDED 10 IN THE RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE DIVISION, AND PROVIDED BY THE FIRE 11 COMPANY WITH A COPY OF THE CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD RECEIVED BY THE FIRE 12 COMPANY AND WITH A COPY OF SECTIONS SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY-TWO AND SEVEN 13 HUNDRED FIFTY-THREE OF THE CORRECTION LAW. 14 S 2. Subdivision 17 of section 176-b of the town law, as added by 15 chapter 423 of the laws of 1999, is amended to read as follows: 16 17. Upon application by any person for membership in a fire company 17 operating pursuant to this section, the fire chief shall cause the 18 applicant's background to be checked pursuant to section eight hundred 19 thirty-seven-o of the executive law for a criminal history involving a 20 conviction for arson AND CONVICTION OF A CRIME WHICH REQUIRES THE PERSON 21 TO REGISTER AS A SEX OFFENDER UNDER ARTICLE SIX-C OF THE CORRECTION LAW. 22 WHERE SUCH CRIMINAL HISTORY INFORMATION INCLUDES CONVICTION OF A CRIME 23 WHICH REQUIRES THE PERSON TO REGISTER AS A SEX OFFENDER UNDER ARTICLE 24 SIX-C OF THE CORRECTION LAW, A FIRE COMPANY SHALL DETERMINE WHETHER OR 25 NOT SUCH PERSON SHALL BE ELIGIBLE TO BE ELECTED OR APPOINTED AS A VOLUN- 26 TEER MEMBER OF SUCH FIRE COMPANY. SUCH DETERMINATION SHALL BE MADE IN 27 ACCORDANCE WITH THE CRITERIA ESTABLISHED IN SECTIONS SEVEN HUNDRED 28 FIFTY-TWO AND SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY-THREE OF THE CORRECTION LAW. 29 S 3. Subdivision 19 of section 10-1006 of the village law, as added by 30 chapter 423 of the laws of 1999, is amended to read as follows: 31 19. Upon application by any person for membership in a fire company 32 operating pursuant to this section, the fire chief shall cause the 33 applicant's background to be checked pursuant to section eight hundred 34 thirty-seven-o of the executive law for a criminal history involving a 35 conviction for arson AND CONVICTION OF A CRIME WHICH REQUIRES THE PERSON 36 TO REGISTER AS A SEX OFFENDER UNDER ARTICLE SIX-C OF THE CORRECTION LAW. 37 WHERE SUCH CRIMINAL HISTORY INFORMATION INCLUDES CONVICTION OF A CRIME 38 WHICH REQUIRES THE PERSON TO REGISTER AS A SEX OFFENDER UNDER ARTICLE 39 SIX-C OF THE CORRECTION LAW, A FIRE COMPANY SHALL DETERMINE WHETHER OR 40 NOT SUCH PERSON SHALL BE ELIGIBLE TO BE ELECTED OR APPOINTED AS A VOLUN- 41 TEER MEMBER OF SUCH FIRE COMPANY. SUCH DETERMINATION SHALL BE MADE IN 42 ACCORDANCE WITH THE CRITERIA ESTABLISHED IN SECTIONS SEVEN HUNDRED 43 FIFTY-TWO AND SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY-THREE OF THE CORRECTION LAW. 44 S 4. Subparagraph 5 of paragraph (c) of section 1402 of the not-for- 45 profit corporation law, as added by chapter 423 of the laws of 1999, is 46 amended to read as follows: 47 (5) Upon application by any person for membership in a fire corpo- 48 ration operating pursuant to this section, the fire chief shall cause 49 the applicant's background to be checked pursuant to section eight 50 hundred thirty-seven-o of the executive law for a criminal history 51 involving a conviction for arson AND CONVICTION OF A CRIME WHICH 52 REQUIRES THE PERSON TO REGISTER AS A SEX OFFENDER UNDER ARTICLE SIX-C OF 53 THE CORRECTION LAW. WHERE SUCH CRIMINAL HISTORY INFORMATION INCLUDES 54 CONVICTION OF A CRIME WHICH REQUIRES THE PERSON TO REGISTER AS A SEX 55 OFFENDER UNDER ARTICLE SIX-C OF THE CORRECTION LAW, A FIRE COMPANY SHALL 56 DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT SUCH PERSON SHALL BE ELIGIBLE TO BE ELECTED OR A. 2318--D 4 1 APPOINTED AS A VOLUNTEER MEMBER OF SUCH FIRE COMPANY. SUCH DETERMINATION 2 SHALL BE MADE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CRITERIA ESTABLISHED IN SECTIONS 3 SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY-TWO AND SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY-THREE OF THE CORRECTION 4 LAW. 5 S 5. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after 6 it shall have become a law.